Our Administrative Lead

A Word From Our Administrative Lead

There’s No Place Like Home!

Home is where the heart is. It is a place where family fellowships and where we feel comfortable. Home can be a safe haven, a place of excitement, learning, love, and growth. There’s no place like home!

Given most children spend considerably more time at school than home, we find it important that school feels like home – especially in Early Childhood. There’s no place like St. Philip’s!

St. Philip’s embodies a warm, nurturing, God-centered spirit that welcomes each child and their families with opened arms. We are because they are. We are family.

The Early Childhood Department is the core of what St. Philip’s has to offer in educating the whole child. Teachers instantly become the familiar face, the safe and comfortable space.

We know academics are important, however, in Early Childhood we can’t lose sight of nurturing the emotional, social, and spiritual realm of the child. In today’s society, there’s so much pressure for kids to be competitive, even at this level. Today, kids are also so busy “swiping screens” and “pushing buttons” that they are losing out on critical skills. At St. Philip’s, we want to make sure our preschool kids can read AND tie their shoes. There needs to be a

balance.

We strive to provide structure and high expectations as it relates to behavior and achievement, while allowing children to be children. Two through five year olds learn through play. During play, they learn to hold a conversation, use their imaginations, and even problem solve. We have to be very careful not to take them from play too quickly and unfortunately this is a trend we are seeing in pre-school and Kinder programs around the country. Many experts believe this will have a negative effect on learning and child development in the long run. Telissha Wesson has taught at St. Philip’s for 25 years. She brings an “old school” sensibility and wisdom to her new role as Early Childhood Administrative Lead. “ “ In Early Childhood we can’t lose sight of nurturing the emotional, social, and spiritual realm of the child.

I have a great respect for Early Childhood teachers. Some of our strongest faculty members teach in our Early Childhood program and that is intentional. Our EC team is doing an amazing job of ensuring our youngest scholars are learning in a nurturing environment how to listen, build vocabulary, develop empathy, learn responsibility, and grow more secure socially and emotionally. Academics builds from this. What we do at St. Philip’s – the “home away from home” - is an extension of what we hope all of our children receive on a daily basis as we partner to ensure the development of a spiritually, academically, emotionally, and socially sound child.