St. Alban's Early Childhood Center, DC

About Us: Founded in 1972 by Margaret Sloan, a former parishioner of St. Alban’s Church, St. Alban’s Early Childhood Center (SAECC) is a not-for-profit organization guided by a Board of Directors comprised of parents, staff, two St. Alban’s Parish representatives, and interested community members from the metro area. The Center has been accredited by the National Association for the Education of young Children (NAEYC) since 1997. SAECC is economically and ethnically diverse. Our 55 children come to us from all over the DC Metropolitan area and from a wide range of economic, ethnic and religious backgrounds. We also actively seek a mixed group of teachers and staff. Together, we provide an atmosphere in which all individuals are valued and respected. Nurturing and strengthening a sense of self-respect and respect for others is fundamental to our philosophy of education. To support our policy of economic integration of families, we hold a contract with the DC Department of Human Services, which partially funds slots to low income families. Our Board of Executive directors and Parents’ Association raise funds to supplement tuition for middle income families through sliding scale slots. The SAECC curriculum is based on NAEYC standards – the highest in early childhood education. Our educational program includes creative expression, languages, reading readiness, math, science, music, outdoor play and emotional development. During indoor and outdoor play, with carefully selected materials, children establish important foundations for conceptual learning. Children become increasingly independent as they learn to dress themselves, set tables for lunch, serve their own food and drinks and clean up after themselves. They learn about their environment through neighborhood exploration and about the city by taking field trips (mostly on public transportation). Teachers have degrees in Early Childhood, Child Development, and/or Education. Assistant teachers have a Child Development Associate Credential (CDA) or are in the process of obtaining one. All staff members have CPR and First Aid Training. Staff training is, also, continuous. All staff receives a minimum of 30 hours of training per year. Before being hired, all staff must submit an incident free criminal background clearance, three positive references, a positive health report ensuring they are free from any communicable diseases including TB. Staff submits clearances annually. At St. Alban’s Early Childhood Center, we educate the whole child. Philosophy: The philosophy behind our curriculum is that young children learn best by doing. Learning requires observing, exploring, and experimenting to find out how things work and why they work the way they do. Children expand their imaginations creatively through use of various mediums. Through use of real materials, children begin to take their explorations from a concrete level to an abstract level of thinking. Children explore the world around them by using all their senses: touching, tasting, smelling, looking and listening. Our educational curriculum is based upon child-initiated and teacher-facilitated activities. Teachers plan and supervise activities, which enhances children’s self-esteem, encourages problem solving, and facilitates language development. We respect children’s developmental stages by tailoring activities and expectations to the age, interests and abilities of the individual child. The activities planned for the children, the way the environment is organized, the selection of toys and materials, their daily schedule and the language staff use with the children are all designed to accomplish the goals of our curriculum and to give each child a successful start in school. Above all else, we want children to enjoy their day, make friends and to benefit developmentally from their child care experience. St. Alban's Early Childhood Center is a child care center in Washington, DC. We are open from 7:00am to 6:00pm. To learn more about us, please send us an email.