Heffalump Co-operative Nursery School
Preschool in Palo Alto, CA 94306
We are a small non-profit parents’ co-operative preschool. Founded in 1972 as an alternative to traditional programs Heffalump has grown further each year in providing a unique and enriching experience for all the children parents teachers and friends involved with it.
The atmosphere at Heffalump is one that is warm supportive and nurturing. Our limited enrollment of seventeen children (providing a teacher/child ratio graphicof less than one to six) parent involvement and the quality of our staff offers the richness of an intimate situation in an environment that beckons for exploration.
Children at Heffalump range in age from 2 through 5 years. The dynamics of this type of grouping offers the children a broad span of experience.
- Child Ages:
- 2 years - 5 years
- Licenses & Accreditations:
- California Department of Social Services: Community Care Licensing Division
- Preschool:
- Yes
- Hours of Operation:
- 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Mondays - Fridays
Want more information?
- Classroom Ratios
- Director and Teaching Staff Bios
- Course and Teaching Material
- Menus, Activities, and more...
In our program we maintain a balance between teacher-directed activity and unstructured time. Within the general structure of each day we have a central project or activity. We follow a monthly curriculum that contains graphicthemes for each week and the daily activities (art science cooking gardening music or drama projects or fieldtrips) relate to this theme. Typical themes include topics such as “Animals” “Shapes” “Feelings” “Energy” “Communication” and “Film Making.” Projects range from simple finger painting to building a functional eleCenteronic robot. Our field trips take us to parks children’s homes the firehouse the zoo tours of local businesses berry picking in Pescadero and on boat and train trips.
We place a strong emphasis on the importance of the children’s play and see it as the method with which they accomplish their most profound growth.
graphicUsing the children’s ideas and imaginations as the seeds for many of the projects and trips brings an additional dimension to much of the activity at Heffalump allowing the children to truly own the exciting experience of learning. The level of engagement that can be fostered by this sensitive approach benefits children in the immediate satisfaction of accomplishment and also generates an ongoing enthusiastic positive relationship with learning. It is a special thing for us to share in.
We do not pressure children with achievement-oriented instruction. Accomplishment of specific skills (reading writing etc.) is only graphicincidental within the broader view of what is appropriate and of lasting benefit to our children. While we continually encourage the children to expand their horizons and gladly work further on specific skills with those who demonstrate an appropriate interest we do not ‘alphabeat’ our children. We believe the positive effects of being tantalized by their own innate desire to learn and developing their own internal resources far outlast the transient merit of acquiring a performance-oriented skill.
HeffalumpDreamWhile we actively monitor and support the growth and development of all facets of the children’s personalities our primary focus is on their emotional and social well-being. Underlying our program is the genuine concern that our children be able to know themselves feel good about being who they are and grow to share this with others. We seek to empower our children to become happy well-adjusted and self-actualized individuals.
Joining the Heffalump community provides parents with the opportunity to be directly involved in their child’s early education experience and to share this with other parents. It is a rewarding endeavor and also importantly one in which all of us who participate have fun.
