The Harbor School embraces the uniqueness of each young child and teaches students to celebrate this in themselves and in each other. Our holistic approach nurtures confident, kind, and capable learners.
Early childhood education has been our specialty at The Harbor School since 1973. An intentionally small school, our small classes focus exclusively on Preschool through 3rd Grade when children are discovering and developing their individual learning styles and dispositions. The early childhood years are a critical developmental stage that forms the foundation of a child’s future educational growth and advancement.
We believe that our differences enrich us and make our community stronger. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is a core school value and is infused across our program.
We educate each child as a unique learner with differentiated instruction and individualized attention so that children develop and thrive to reach their fullest potential. We accomplish this with dynamic, experienced teachers in every classroom and a curriculum that increases in rigor, individual responsibility, and social awareness over the course of a child’s time at Harbor.
To meet the developmental needs of the whole child, our program has three key components: academic, social/emotional, and physical.
Our academic curriculum is both intellectually challenging and individually responsive to each child's developing learning style. We know that learning is more meaningful when it is hands-on, inquiry-based, and interdisciplinary. Harbor teachers facilitate learning based on student interests and integrate subject areas within authentic learning experiences, as students make, create, and design. Working in small groups and one-on-one with students, our teachers can identify, adapt, and respond to students’ diverse learning styles and dispositions at an individual level.
Our social emotional curriculum informs a child’s evolving understanding of community, beginning in the early years with identity and friendship, and expanding to encompass the larger school community, care for our world, and service to others. Students develop social skills with kindness and empathy, learn how to understand and respond to emotions, and practice mindfulness.
Our curriculum builds both fine motor and gross motor skills. Our holistic approach builds the fine motor skills necessary for success in prewriting and writing tasks. Through physical education classes, yoga, and outdoor play, our program fully integrates movement, coordination, and cooperative play, and develops confidence and sportsmanship. We know that movement stimulates learning and the brain, and we incorporate movement breaks throughout the day.
We know that early childhood education is a partnership, and we pride ourselves on the close and accessible relationships we foster with all our families. We work as a team with our families at every stage in a child’s development to shape their child's educational journey. Our enduring reputation with local independent and public schools allows us to help find the best next fit for our graduates.