by Honor Taft, Head of School

Since 1987, Friends Preschool has offered a warm, loving, and play-based approach to early childhood education for hundreds of Boulder children. As with our entire faculty and staff, our preschool team has demonstrated tremendous resilience and flexibility this year including pivoting to an outdoor program for our youngest students. Simultaneously, we have been planning for the next school year, and we are excited to share that we will offer a full-day preschool option beginning in fall 2021-22. 

At Friends School we provide a dynamic program that is developmentally appropriate for each age and stage of our students. In preschool, we know that providing time and space for play is key for early childhood development. Our talented and experienced teachers facilitate social and emotional, cognitive, gross-motor and fine-motor experiences that ensure children are joyfully learning and growing. Our preschool program provides the very best foundation for personal and academic success for our students as they transition into Kindergarten and beyond. 

Our priorities of providing an exceptional play-based preschool remain as strong as ever, and now families will also be able to enroll their children in a full-day program at Friends School. We will have two mixed-age (3 & 4yr old) classes with 14 to 16 students in each class. 

2021-2022 Preschool Schedule offerings include:

• Full Day: Monday-Thursday 9:00am-3:00pm;  Friday 9:00am-1:00pm
• Half Day: Monday-Friday 9:00am-12:00pm

For our preschoolers with siblings in Friends elementary school, families will be able to drop off their preschool children from 8:45-9:00am and pick them up from 3:00-3:15pm (1:00-1:15pm Friday). The new  full-day option dovetails seamlessly with the elementary schedule, making it easier for a family with children in both our Elementary and Preschool Divisions. We are excited to be able to better support working families with this option, while still maintaining a limited number of half-day places for our youngest children. By adding a full-day option, we are creating greater connection across the school and our community, while increasing accessibility for a diverse range of families. In this way we are also able to expand our social emotional curriculum. These are all core values at Friends and goals highlighted in our strategic plan. 

Please join me in celebrating this important addition to our preschool program.