Hampshire College Children's Center

The Hampshire College Children’s Center is a college-based early childhood center serving children eight weeks to five years of age, through an infant, toddler, and preschool program.

The Center is 25 years old and has inhabited its present home since 1988. The present facility was designed with input from staff and parents to meet the needs of children and families.

The Children's Center is a unique community comprised of varied constituencies: children, parents, teachers, Hampshire College work-study student assistants, Hampshire students and faculty who utilize the center as a laboratory for study, and many visitors who come to observe and learn more about the work we do.

The Children's Center is dedicated to nurturing a community that honors and is enriched by the contributions of all who play, learn, work, teach, study and visit it.

We have 44 children enrolled, half of whom are Hampshire affiliated. The majority of the other children and families are affiliated with the other four colleges. We also welcome families from the local community.

As educators, we have been inspired by the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy since 1990, and the schools of Pistoia, Italy since 1998.

History
The Hampshire College Children’s Center was founded in the fall of 1982 by Hampshire College staff who saw the need for an on-campus child care program. The first year, nine children were cared for and taught in the basement of a college dormitory. Today, the center serves forty families, approximately 65% of whom are affiliated with the college. In August of 1988, we moved to our current site, which was designed and built specifically for the Children’s Center and funded by Hampshire College.

Facility
Spaces at the Children’s Center include:

* Infant room * Toddler room * Preschool * Atelier * Playroom * Playground

The campus of Hampshire College is also available to the children for exploration. Children and their teachers frequent the community gardens, hiking trails through woods, farm center, art galleries, theaters, and athletic fields. The children also visit our neighbors at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art for story times and creative endeavors in the studio.

Our Program

 * Infant Room: 2 - 14 months
 * 8:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. - 7 children
 * 8:15 a.m. –  3:30 p.m. - 4 children


 * Toddler Room: 15 months – 2 years, 8 months
 * 8:15 a.m.– 3:30 p.m. - 9 children
 * 8:15 a.m.– 4:45 p.m. - 4 children


 * Pre-School: 2 years, 9 months – 4 years, 11 months
 * 8:15 a.m.– 3:30 p.m. - 18 children
 * 8:15 a.m.– 4:45 p.m. - 10 children

Ages listed are as of August 1.

Calendar
The academic year runs from late August to mid-June. We are closed for Thanksgiving, winter recess (1 week), March spring vacation week, a few national holidays, and staff curriculum days. There are three days off between the academic year program and the summer program, and 10 days off after the summer program for teacher meetings, planning, and set-up.

Summer Program
A nine week summer program is enrolled separately, though all families enrolled in the prior academic year are guaranteed slots. Families can enroll a minimum of four summer weeks. Summer hours are ½ days (8:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) or full days (8:15 a.m. – 3:45 p.m.).

Philosophy
The Hampshire College Children’s Center strives to provide a loving, safe, and culturally diverse atmosphere for children, parents and staff. Our goal is to create an environment which honors and supports children’s diverse interests and abilities, and their family’s heritage and traditions.

We seek to provide a flexible program which respects individual differences in children’s temperaments and learning styles, while encouraging cooperation among the children. Our primary goal is to foster children’s self-awareness and self-esteem, to build their sense of trust, to encourage their creativity, and to nurture empathy. Most importantly, our program provides an atmosphere of mutual trust and caring among the children, parents, and staff.

We believe that children learn best through experience, interaction, active exploration, experimentation, and appropriate adult example. We also believe that the environment is a teacher, and so each classroom design is carefully planned and evolves throughout the year to meet the needs of the children. Teachers act as guides, observers and facilitators of children’s discovery, as parents’ allies, and as collaborators with one another. We view the children as teachers as well. Our groupings contain a mixture of ages, and we encourage children to act as caregivers and teachers of their peers.

As educators, we have been inspired by the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy since 1990, and the schools of Pistoia, Italy since 1998.

Application Procedures
Enrollment from the waiting list for summer and fall programs takes place in April and early May (and, on occasion, as an opening arises). Applications are placed on the waiting list, which “rolls over” from year to year.

Admissions Policies
Admissions priorities are as follows:


 * 1) Presently enrolled children. The exception to this is that admission to the infant room does not guarantee admission to the toddler room. Admission to the toddler room will follow the admission priorities detailed below.
 * 2) Siblings of presently enrolled Hampshire children. Siblings are defined as children concurrently attending the center.
 * 3) Wait list children of new Hampshire-affiliated families. Hampshire affiliation is defined as follows: at least one of the child's parents or primary caregivers is a student, benefitted faculty, staff member, or administrator at Hampshire College, whether full or part-time, including Five College faculty based at Hampshire College, but excluding those whose employment contract or expected period of employment is for a period of less than a full academic year.
 * 4) Siblings of other presently enrolled children. Five College first; then community.
 * 5) Five College-affiliated families on the waiting list. First priority in this category to “Cultural Village” employees, e.g. Eric Carle Museum, Yiddish Book Center, and also Hampshire College alums.
 * 6) Community families


 * Note: Admission to the infant room does not guarantee admission to the toddler room. Admission to the toddler room will follow these priorities:


 * 1) Presently enrolled Hampshire families
 * 2) Siblings of presently enrolled Hampshire families
 * 3) New Hampshire-affiliated families
 * 4) Presently enrolled ‘other’ families (first 5-college; then community)
 * 5) Siblings of presently enrolled ‘other’ families (5-college; then community)
 * 6) New Five-college families
 * 7) New Community Families


 * If a Hampshire-affiliated family declines enrollment in the toddler or pre-school group, the following year their waiting list status will be that of a 5-college affiliated family.
 * Once a child is admitted to the toddler room, s/he is guaranteed admission until kindergarten-eligible.


 * Admission into the program does not guarantee schedule requests.

Affirmative Action Policy
The Hampshire College Children's Center is committed to the goal of multi-racial and multi-cultural diversity in staffing and enrollment. Beyond its adherence to the principle of non-discrimination, the Center will strive, whenever possible, to achieve greater racial and cultural diversity among the children and families it serves, as well as among its staff and student assistants. Therefore, families identifying their members as belonging to federally-designated minority groups (African-American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian/Pacific Islanders) will be given priority in admissions, within each admissions priority category

Age, Gender, and Scheduling Needs

 * The age and gender of the incoming child and the child care scheduling needs of the family are also important considerations in enrollment decision making.


 * Age of children for placement in a group is computed as of August 1.


 * Due to variables of age, gender, affirmative action, socio-economics, and scheduling needs, admission and schedules may be at the discretion of the Director.

Tuition
Tuitions are computed on a yearly basis, with families billed monthly, a month in advance. Voucher slots are available. Modest tuition subsidies are granted to income-eligible families. Community Partnership subsidies are also available.