Get Schooled: Kensington School Teaches Littlest Students

By Amber Lester Kennedy Friday, February 10, 2012

In the fall of 2010, I visited the shell of what would become The Kensington School, a pre-school and child development center for infants and toddlers.

At the time, the Easter Circle building held little more than wood frames and sheets of drywall. But owner Rachel Johnston could picture the end result: classrooms where teachers and aides would help babies use their motor skills, toddlers learn how to play together and four-year-olds read well before pre-K.

One year after opening for business, Rachel and her staff invited me to see how her dream became reality. I visited this week, and was amazed to find the school exactly as she had described it to me in 2010 – rooms full of happy (and calm!) babies and toddlers. I went to daycare as a kid, and let me tell you, my memories of it could be summed up with the word “chaos.” Kensington School has a decidedly more structured day compared to my daycare, and that’s because it is, above all else, a school.

When Johnston became a mother a few years ago, she found there weren’t enough spots for infants at area preschools and daycares to meet the demand. Ultimately, her mother, Priscilla Krakaur, retired from Walsingham Academy to help care for her grandson, and Johnston resolved to provide another option for parents in the Williamsburg area.

She envisioned a preschool and child development center with a curriculum that not only prepares children for pre-K and elementary school, but exposes them early to socialization and physical activity. One year later, 85 families are enrolled at the school.

The school accepts students from six weeks old to 5 years old. Infants advance “grades” or classrooms every six months, because advancement happens so rapidly in the first two years. The students can attend the school on several different schedules: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday to Friday; three full days; two full days; five half-days; three half-days; and two half-days.

The school employs 23 teachers and aides, most of whom have earned associate’s or bachelor’s degrees. For the babies, they act as daytime caregivers, but also work on physical development and use of motor skills, such as helping a baby hold a spoon. The curriculum includes lessons in baby yoga and sign language, which can help babies communicate before they develop speech. Johnston told me many parents have been motivated to learn some sign language after seeing their children use signs at home.

As the babies age, they learn potty-training at school, basic Spanish and lessons about nature. But by being socialized so early, they are also learning how to interact with each other. I was impressed to visit an infant room, where a teacher sat with two babies happily playing with each other, while another relaxed in a playswing and another napped. Although the school was generally quiet, school director Kathryn Mirick reported that the babies are able to sleep through vacuuming, crying, temper tantrums and more.

In the older classrooms, students are learning their numbers, their ABC’s, how to write and how to draw. They also enjoy visits from guest speakers. New Town Dental Arts recently spoke to the students about dental hygiene, and an archaeologist taught them about how to dig for fossils. Richmond-based company Stretch and Grow visits to do basic physical fitness with the kids, tossing balls and playing with a parachute.

The school has a small library where students can check out books, and the Williamsburg Regional Library bookmobile visits on the second Thursday of each month.

Kids also learn little lessons about self-sufficiency and responsibility. When I visited, the five-year-old class was busy cleaning up after lunch, with students dumping their trash and washing their hands in a flurry of activity.

With a year of hard work behind her, Johnston said she’s starting to reap the rewards. “The first baby we had is still here. It’s fun to watch them come in as an infant and watch them grow…just the other day, the teacher came in and said a baby was getting ready to say the first words,” she said. “It is really amazing.”

I know many new parents can’t fathom putting their babies in daycare, but Kensington’s staff works to make sure many of parental anxieties can be eased. Parents get twice-daily email reports of when their babies slept, ate and what they’ve done that day. The doors are only accessed through a fingerprint identification system, which allows the school to have an open-door policy for parents to visit. Moms are able to come in and breastfeed, if necessary, but there are also refrigerators devoted to storing each baby’s bottles of milk. The facility also has a dishwasher and washer and dryer – better to clean up quickly after the inevitable accidents.

I don’t have any kids yet, but I was impressed to see how ambitious the curriculum is for even the littlest students. It was a good reminder that we are never too young to start learning.

To learn more about the Kensington School, including tuition rates and enrollment info, click here.

CW Hosts Homeschoolers This Month

Homeschoolers and their families can participate in hands-on history lessons during Colonial Williamsburg’s Homeschooler Experience from Feb. 11-26.

The programs include special tours of the Benjamin Powell House, visits with the historic trades workers, hands-on activities at the art museums and more. Programs cost $5 per person per program. To purchase a ticket, call 1-800-280-8039 or click here.

Support Yorktown Middle at Pancake Breakfast

Yorktown Middle School’s Choral Connection Booster Club will host a pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 17 in the YMS cafeteria.

The cost is $5 for all-you-can-eat pancakes, two years of age and older. Children 2 and under are free. All proceeds benefit students of the YMS choral department.

Virginia Students Rank Third in AP Test Achievement

For a fifth consecutive year, Virginia students rank third in the nation in achievement on Advanced Placement (AP) tests.

The College Board reports that 25.6 percent of Virginia’s 2011 high school graduates earned a qualifying score of three or better on at least one AP exam, compared with 18.1 percent for the nation’s students.

The most popular AP course among Virginia’s 2011 seniors was U.S. Government and Politics, followed by U.S. History, English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, Psychology, Calculus AB, World History, Biology, Statistics and Environmental Science.