Our School
Mission
Christ Church Episcopal Preschool educates young children, creates community among families, school and church, and honors and nurtures children in the Episcopal tradition.
Vision
Christ Church Episcopal Preschool is a ministry of Christ Church Christiana Hundred serving children eighteen months through pre-kindergarten from the community. Through a developmentally-appropriate, play-based and literacy-rich curriculum, we seek to promote a child's full potential, intellectually, emotionally, physically and spiritually.
To accomplish this vision, Christ Church Episcopal Preschool provides:
- first-rate, certified teachers and administrators
- small class sizes
- daily prayer and focus on spiritual growth, community outreach,
and Episcopal Identity - age-appropriate curriculum in language, math, science, and social studies
- special programs such as art, music and Spanish
- physical exercise and health education curriculum
- opportunities for students from all backgrounds
- safe, comfortable and well-equipped learning spaces
- award winning outdoor classroom
- diverse outdoor recreation
- extra-curricular childcare
- a beautiful and safe campus
- a caring, supportive and nurturing community of teachers,
parents, clergy and parishioners
Guiding Principles
Children
We strive for excellent teaching to meet children's needs.
Diversity
We welcome all children at CCEP regardless of race, religion, social or ethnic background.
Teachers
We strive for an environment that promotes mutual respect, trust,
and development of the professional staff.
Teamwork
We collaborate to achieve optimal goals for children and staff.
Renewal
We continually seek to improve all aspects of CCEP.
Management
We manage ourselves with integrity and respect for one another.
Communications
We engage in two-way communications that are honest, clear and timely.
Ethical Behavior
We uphold ethical and moral behavior in all aspects of CCEP.
A Proud Participant in Delaware Stars
CCEP was recently awarded its fourth star in the Delaware Stars Quality Rating Program. What does it mean to be a 4-Star School? It means that we have met high standards in the areas of Family and Community Partnerships, Qualifications and Professional Development, Management and Administration, and Learning Environment and Curriculum. A school may achieve one star by simply having a license from Delaware’s Office of Childcare Licensing. To achieve each subsequent star, schools must meet higher and higher standards in the four domains listed above. Here are some examples of standards we achieved:
What does it mean to be a 4-Star School? It means that we have met high standards in the areas of Family and Community Partnerships, Qualifications and Professional Development, Management and Administration, and Learning Environment and Curriculum. A school may achieve one star by simply having a license from Delaware’s Office of Childcare Licensing. To achieve each subsequent star, schools must meet higher and higher standards in the four domains listed above. Here are some examples of standards we achieved:
- Providing an inclusive learning environment, based on an inclusion statement adopted by the Board
- Regularly communicating with families, sending individualized daily reports to parents of our youngest children, weekly reports to parents of older children, and holding regularly scheduled parent conferences
- Seeking feedback from families about how we can improve our program; acting on this feedback
- Hosting many family-centered events each year
- Working with specialists, therapists, and community agencies to ensure that all children’s needs are met
- Employing highly qualified staff with degrees or significant coursework in early childhood education or a related field
- Participating in self-evaluations; setting goals for improvement
- Taking ongoing professional development classes
- Compensating our staff well
- Retaining our staff
- Holding regular staff meetings and planning meetings
- Managing our resources well
- Maintaining low teacher/student ratios
- Undergoing an Environment Rating Scales assessment in randomly chosen classrooms with a minimum score of 4.00
- Basing our curriculum and lesson plans on the Delaware Early Learning Foundations
Our reputation is spreading in the community as a distinguished school with a highly qualified and caring staff. Our enrollment numbers for the fall of 2012 are very strong. Delaware Stars has helped us be intentional about keeping our standards high and engaging in continuous self-evaluation and improvement.
Our reputation is spreading in the community as a distinguished school with a highly qualified and caring staff. Our enrollment numbers for the fall of 2012 are very strong. Delaware Stars has helped us be intentional about keeping our standards high and engaging in continuous self-evaluation and improvement.