St. Christopher's Preschool, Chester

St Christopher's Pre-School is a child care center in Chester, MD. At St Christopher's Pre-School, we enroll children as young as 24 months through 5 years old. Our goal at St. Christophers Preschool is to provide each child with the opportunity to develop & learn important developmental & educational skills; as well as Gods unconditional love for each one of us. We provide a semi-structured environment in which the children can explore and begin to develop & appreciate their own independence and early childhood experience! We do our very best to work with each child individually; so that they are growing and learning at their own pace! About us: St. Christophers Preschool is blessed to be in our 16th year of operation. Each year, our program runs more smoothly and expands. As a business centered on children, our program continues to evolve as we learn what aspects of our program benefit our students. Licensing: St. Christophers Preschool is licensed by the Maryland State Department of Education, Office of Child Care and has been issued a Letter of Compliance license. This license stipulates that we must comply with all of the health, safety standards and regulations put forth by the State of Maryland. We receive regular inspections to verify that we are in compliance with all regulations; this includes inspections by the State Fire Marshall and an inventory of all student Health Inventory Paperwork. All of our classes and classrooms are covered under this license. Staff Requirements: All St. Christophers Preschool staff members are required to obtain criminal background checks through a Parish service, State and Federal agencies; as well as complete a medical exam that includes a TB test. Our staff members are also certified in First Aide, CPR & AED as well as emergency preparedness and medication administration. Our teachers all carry a minimum of a 90 hour certification in Early Childhood Education as well as participates in continuing education classes throughout the school year. Curriculum: The staff at St. Christophers Preschool utilizes numerous resources to create a custom theme based curriculum that aligns with the standards children will need as they prepare to enter elementary school. As we expand your childs learning with our curriculum we offer the following developmental areas in our program: academic skills teaching and assessments, gross motor activities, fine motor activities, literacy skills, computer skills, music, chapel, science, physical education, and art. Our staff uses books, crafts, music, learning centers and activities centered around our weekly theme as we introduce and reinforce language and math skills. As we are a Catholic Preschool, we also implement religious themes into our curriculum and introduce and practice prayers daily. St. Christophers Preschool Staff strives to keep families informed and updated on our program and curriculum throughout the year by posting items on calendars outside our classrooms and through class and school wide newsletters. Field Trips: St. Christophers Preschool offers Family Field Trips throughout the school year. These trips are voluntary for our students & families but highly recommended. We try to plan a minimum of one family field trip during the school year. In past years we have visited places such as the zoo and the aquarium. Children that attend MUST be accompanied by an adult and families are welcome. Transportation is not provided for these field trips. We also bring field trips into the school throughout the year, such as special school events, special visitors relating to our weekly themes and outside community members to allow our students to see the resources available in our community. St. Christophers Preschool organizes these field trips as an extension to the themes we are learning throughout the school year. We feel that at the preschool age children do not benefit from child only field trips. The expense and difficulties with transportation outweigh the value of these types of field trips. To learn more about us, please send us an email.