Happy Hollow School Mission and Philosophy

The founder, preschool - kindergarten faculty and families of Happy Hollow School believe the early childhood years are the most vital ones in the educative process. Research and most importantly, experience, has demonstrated that fostering a love for learning in these early years builds a foundation that supports a lifetime of academic and social success. Building this foundation of a love for learning has been Happy Hollow School's mission for more than 50 years.

The faculty of Happy Hollow School appreciates your child's uniqueness and strives to help him/her realize their fullest potential by providing an environment that is developmentally sound and in an atmosphere of warmth and concern. Happy Hollow School avoids an "institutional" surrounding and has found that a warmer, more homelike environment is better suited to nurturing a child in these early years while helping to build confidence in themselves and their own future.

Happy Hollow School offers an activity-oriented preschool - kindergarten curriculum that fosters and supports the child's natural way of "learning through play". The classrooms are arranged with interest centers to provide developmentally appropriate activities available to the single child or to small groups. The emphasis is on exploration and process, questioning and discovery. For more than fifty years the Preschool at Happy Hollow School has been dedicated to "learning through play". Recent research has shown that our commitment to "learning through play" and the methodology we employ has improves executive function, concentration and self-control in preschool children. While we are gratified by these findings on executive function, we still believe it boils down to our students "building the foundation for a life and love of learning". For the Preschool and Kindergarten at Happy Hollow School, "learning through play" isn't just an activity - its central to our philosophy and the success of our graduates for more than 5 decades.

You can listen to Old-Fashion Play Builds Serious Skills, a report by National Public Radio on the growing body of research that demonstrates the importance of not just play, but the right kind of play for a growing, happy and fulfilled child, by opening this link.

Our dedicated, degreed and certified preschool - kindergarten teachers are facilitators, guiding the children in planning, selecting and exploring various material in ways that teach readiness skills and concepts and how to get the most out of imaginative play. The teacher-to-child ratio varies but is always at least 1 to 7-10.