Saint John Preschool is a mission of Saint John Catholic Church and is licensed by the Connecticut State Office of Early Childhood.  Located in the parish center, the preschool is committed to modeling and teaching Christian morals and values, while creating a caring and safe environment that fosters curiosity and love for learning.  It serves the community of Darien and surrounding towns.  The school is open and welcoming to children of all faiths who are ages two through five.  Two, three, four, and five-day programs are offered for preschool children.

The program at Saint John Preschool is designed to promote the emotional, social, spiritual, cognitive, and physical development of each child.  We create a warm and accepting environment that contributes to the development of positive self-esteem as well as encouraging cooperation and interaction among children.  We support the development of independence, self-reliance, and problem solving.  Learning experiences are intentionally designed to stimulate creativity and encourage investigation of the environment.
 

Through play and directed learning experiences, we intentionally plan opportunities that support learning across all domains of development and are appropriate to each child’s age, stage, and style of learning.
 

We believe that early school experiences represent a time when social interaction and play will stimulate creativity, exploration, and self-awareness.  It is a time when children develop a sense of their own uniqueness and sets the stage for success in elementary school and beyond.  Free from the pressures of workbooks and rote learning, we provide hands-on experiences and facilitate purposeful play.
 

Our pedology brings together varied approaches to education by design, drawing from NAEYC Developmentally Appropriate Practice as well as child development theorists and research.  We are committed to following best practice in the field of early education and remain aware of the constantly developing knowledge base that is available to us.