How would you like to watch 18 lively three-to-five-year-old children building blocks, painting or singing? You can, right here on the De Anza campus.
De Anza has its very own nursery school, located at S74. “The nursery school is set up as a demonstration school to train students who are enrolled in the the nursery school program,” explained Mrs. Doreen Croft, director of the program. “Everyone is invited to visit the school and watch from the observation room, through two-way glass, which enables you to watch the children without them knowing that you are there,” she added.
“THE NURSERY school training program came about because of the increasing demand for qualified, well-trained nursery school teachers,” explained Mrs. Croft. Three years ago, Mr. Nathan Boortz, Director of Technical Education at Foothill College, approached Mrs. Croft about starting a nursery school training school, and from there the plans were approved by an advisory committee and then the curriculum committee. Mrs. Croft was named consultant in the planning of the program and designing of the facilities for the nursery school at De Anza.
“The goal of the school is to give the students experience in working with children, under the supervision of a trained nursery school instructor. The two-year program qualifies students as assistants in public and private nursery schools, as well as government child care centers, and the ‘Head Start’ program,” Mrs. Croft added. “The field of pre-school education is wide open for trained assistants and teachers due to the rising importance placed on pre-school education. The field is not limited to women; men are needed to make good ‘father images’ in the pre-school field,” Mrs. Croft emphasized.
Mrs. Dorothy Hamlin is in charge of the nursery school, which is three mornings a week, 9 to 11:30. “The De Anza pre-school children were selected from the community out of over 400 applicants,” stated Mrs. Croft. “We choose children from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, exceptional children, as well as the so-called ‘average’ child.
“WE ARE TRYING to set up a ‘model society in which the children have good and bad experience as well as conflicts and triumphs. Many adults have the misconception that learning is taking in knowledge; in the pre-school field we feel that a young child can integrate concepts through well-planned activities. How a person solves his problems, beginning when he is a child, affects his whole live and determines if he will be a successful human being, This is the purpose behind the nursery school, to help the children learn how to handle their problems, based on the growing importance of pre-school education,” Mrs. Croft concluded.
Archived from Volume 1, Issue 2.
