The Laurel Hill School

The Infant Program is the first stepping stone on the path to a Laurel Hill education.

Consistent with the School’s 35-plus-year tradition of providing top-quality, child-centered education, the Infant Program offers a safe and vibrant space in which your baby will flourish during the first, all-important months and years of life. Your child’s physical and nutritional health needs are always fully met at Laurel Hill. And the total environment of your baby’s day is authentically warm, inviting and nurturing without compromise!

Prepared through the early childhood experiences at Laurel Hill, your baby will be helped to establish the primary foundations of intellectual and personality development. The earliest experiences set the stage for ongoing healthy growth throughout childhood and into adolescence and adulthood. Laurel Hill is your partner in attaining the very best care for your child during these most tender and precious years.

Philosophy and Goals

Infancy and the early years are all about establishing selfhood and security through safe and loving bonds with others, and maximizing the capacities of all five senses to interpret the environment. Laurel Hill offers the very best in both essential domains of development – emotional and cognitive. Your child will be treasured by his or her Laurel Hill caregivers, and will always feel secure and supported by loving hands.

The Infant Program embraces the School’s long tradition of individualized care. Current thinking in child development emphasizes that educators and caregivers must attend both to the universals of development, including major cognitive and motor milestones, and to each child’s unique pace and pattern within that framework. Our approach to each child is attuned to his or her needs – physical, intellectual and emotional. While always exposing every child to the full breadth of resources and activities available to them, we are sure to allow each child’s natural rhythms and temperament to determine his or her daily schedule. Infants are fed, changed and napped on demand. Their naturally occurring personality traits are respected and accommodated so that the fullness of the Program is experienced by each child. Progression toward milestones is always encouraged and assisted, but never undertaken in a way that a child might experience negatively.

We understand the struggle that many parents endure as they decide on an infant program. Parents wonder if any institution can be trusted to care for and protect their children with the extreme care that parents themselves would.

The Setting

Our large, bright, colorful Infant Room is nestled snugly within the Laurel Hill preschool center, surrounded by the sights and sounds of a working school. The Infant Room has its own exit opening directly onto the private School grounds as well as an indoor entryway. Tots 6 weeks – 12 months and tots 13 – 24 months are in separate rooms.
The Infant Room is airy and sunlit, and equipped with everything your baby needs. Our cozy natural wood cribs, rocking chair, and changing table are sure to remind your baby of home.

THE STAFF

Professional, warm, and caring, our faculty is sensitive to the unique qualities and needs of each child. Teachers and educational assistants possess the vital capacity to guide boys and girls with wisdom, and to regard all children with respect.

Our faculty is engaged in extensive ongoing professional development workshops. Prior to the beginning of each school year, the Laurel Hill School provides each staff member with opportunities to investigate and experience a multitude of new strategies, methods, and educational programs to be utilized in their classrooms. Class size is small, and the educational setting is based on genuine warmth, affection, and high incentive activities.

Parents as Partners

We value the special relationship between parents and our school.

At Laurel Hill, our long history of serving children with respect, warmth, and attention to individuality is a tradition you can depend on. Our community roots are deep and we are sure that learning more about Laurel Hill may be as near as your neighbor.

We maintain an open door policy for our children’s families every single day. If you have a moment, feel free to drop by for a feeding, a story or a snuggle! We will be thrilled to see you and to welcome you into our day.

Practical Matters – Hygiene, Nutrition and Security

Every aspect of our Infant Program is designed to protect children’s health and safety,and maintaining rigorous hygiene in the Infant Room is an essential element of this goal. Laurel Hill procedures include . . .

• Building and classroom security for arrival, dismissal and pick-up of children
• Full-time nurse on duty
• Childproofed cupboards, electrical outlets and door knobs
• Finger guards on all entry and exit door edges
• Toss-away shoe covers
• Regular sanitizing of toys, floors and play, work and service areas
• Frequent laundering of bedding, washcloths and bibs
• Protective gloves worn by staff for diapering and other personal baby needs
• Changing table liners discarded after single use
• Frequent hand washing in classroom sink
• Complete sanitation procedures for safely storing food and removing waste.