The FISHPOND Preschool recently joined Eastside Pathways as a partner. Learn about how they are encouraging children to investigate, create, discover and motivating them to add to their understanding of the world.
What role does The FISHPOND Preschool play in the community?
The FISHPOND Preschool provides a child centered, developmentally appropriate, Christian education to children ages 2-5 years old housed inside of Newport Presbyterian Church. The philosophy of our early childhood program is geared to a child-centered education. We focus on the importance of play because we know play provides children with the opportunity to actively explore, manipulate, and interact with their environment. It encourages children to investigate, create, discover and it motivates them to add to their understanding of the world. We also have a focus on school readiness in the areas of reading, writing, math, and problem solving skills. Our program has been in operation for 35 years and we have recently graduated second generation students from the preschool.
How do you get this work done?
We have a dynamic staff, 11 part-time teachers, who guide our curriculum and philosophy through direct instruction, observation, hands on experiences, nurturing, and love. Most staff have been with The FISHPOND for over 8 years and some over 15 years! We work closely together as a team to evaluate our program, how are we meeting the needs of each student in our care, and what we are reading about in the field of early education, brain development, and school readiness. We have strong relationships with our parents and keep the “door open” to communicate with them on a regular basis.
What are ways that people can get involved with The FISHPOND Preschool?
We serve a very diverse population at our preschool, with children coming from Renton all the way out to Issaquah. We’re always looking for information on the various services available to children in the Bellevue School District, as well as, the surrounding ones. We provided scholarships to 15% of our students last school year and will offer them again this coming school year. If you know of families who are looking for a half day preschool program please send them our way!
How will being a part of Eastside Pathways make a difference for The FISHPOND Preschool?
As part of the School Readiness Collaborative we have made some great connections with other partners that have allowed us opportunities that we would not have had before. In partnership with BSD Early Education, we helped host a Kindergarten Readiness Event in May that was well attended and very beneficial for parents. Our preschoolers received hands on science experiences with KidsQuest in the spring and our staff learned so much from this opportunity. We also feel that we are providing the insight of the smaller, church based program to the Collaborative that many people do not know about. There are so many of us on the Eastside and our hope is that families, and the community, will gain a better understanding of the preschool options that are available to their children.
Article submitted by Keri Cable, director at The FISHPOND Preschool