Sudbury Cooperative Pre-School

My twins started at the Coop this year with great success. I was worried because they were extremely attached to me, but the Coop made the transition a pleasure. I looked at a few preschools before choosing the Coop and many of the schools discouraged parents in the classroom, even if the child was upset, but the Coop was different.
I couldn’t imagine leaving my girls upset about leaving me, and I prepared myself to spend some time in the classroom until they got to know and trust their teacher, and eventually be okay with me leaving. However, I only stayed one morning before my girls were confident and happy, and I could leave them smiling… not crying.

Here a few things that made the transition easy:
Before school starts the teachers visit each child’s home so the kids have a familiar adult face on the first day of school.
They have modified schedule for the first few weeks to ease the children into a full day at school (away from their parents).
There’s always a parent in the classroom which I think is comforting. Parent-​helping is part of the school’s philosophy and one parent from each family helps about once a month.
The classes are small with only about 8 – 10 students in each classroom.
My girls love school so much they just started doing Stay and Play (extends the day until 2:30) which gives me a very nice break.