The New School-West, Los Angeles

The New School-West (NSW) is a private, non-sectarian school created in an atmosphere of caring, respect, and acceptance for all people. We welcome everyone and are committed to a community that is free of bias and discrimination on the basis of race, creed, religion, sex, national origin, disabilities, or sexual orientation. By working together with our families, it is our goal to provide the safety net necessary to support each child's need to identify and express his or her feelings and develop the skills to problem solve collaboratively with peers. To do this effectively, we must be aware of the importance of recognizing behaviors and determining what they mean instead of labeling children with adjectives that judge them rather than help them. Because we place such importance to this, we offer a variety of parent gatherings to help connect us in a united philosophy of modeling positive interactions with each other. It is through our modeling that the children will learn to care for and respect each other as well as themselves. NSW has followed the guidelines of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) since its beginning in 1987. NAEYC believes that through a nurturing, high quality early childhood education (ECE) program, each child is given the opportunity to grow socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively and creatively. By incorporating developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) with individual awareness, children develop the understanding of concepts about themselves, others, and the world around them. Since 1996, NSW has been inspired by the Reggio approach and in 1999 began applying its principles which continue to influence how we learn together with our children, families, and surrounding community. The Reggio approach tells us that it's important to slow down, observe, listen, reflect and find meaning in everything we do. We have adjusted our schedules and our environments to accommodate for the necessary time we know children need to work through their ideas and our small group work is organized for extended thinking. That means teachers are working with the children to enhance learning with opportunities to revisit their work over an extended period of time. There are many opportunities for children to share their ideas and learn from each other as they negotiate their world.