Overview

Our mission at The Clifton School is to "Cultivate a community which respects and nurtures the rights of the learner in an environment that fosters life-long learning through collaboration, compassion, creativity, wonder, and curiosity."

We believe each child has a strong personal identity and possesses great learning potential that is to be recognized, appreciated, and nurtured by educators. Our faculty receives on-going training to ensure we provide this environment for learning.

The Curriculum Expectations encompasses The Clifton School's philosophies and core values and translates them into a guidebook for teachers -- a reference for environments, documenation, family relationships, teacher/child interactions, positive guidance, and more.

Our Administration

Our administrative faculty includes an executive director, one site director, an administrative director, two assistant directors, a business manager, two administrative assistants, and two curriculum coordinators.

Our Teachers

All of our teachers meet the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation standards, which require a Child Development Associate Credential (CDA) or A.A. or B.A. in Early Childhood Education.

As a partner in educational work-study programs with Emory and other nearby universities and colleges; paraprofessionals, volunteers and student teachers often join us.

All faculty members also have extensive background checks, and receive CPR and First Aid Certifications, as well as universal precautions training.

We provide regular on-going professional development training for our faculty, with a strong emphasis on teacher collaboration. Opportunities include participation in weekly planning meetings and monthly faculty meetings, attending conferences and in-services, and working individually with consultants in the classrooms.

Our teachers:

Provide nurturing, respectful, encouraging relationships with each child
Create an exciting, inviting, aesthetically-pleasing environment with an emphasis on natural materials
Observe children closely, document learning, and use these observations as a basis for planning
Facilitate children's expression of knowledge through representational media.

The Pedagogista (Curriculum Coordinator)

In Reggio Emilia, there is a shared belief that children have within them an innate understanding of how to relate to the world and a natural curiosity which drives them to learn more. Children are not assumed to be empty vessels to be filled with instruction; they are seen as ready to learn when the right, best, or most appropriate opportunities are offered.

The pedagogista's work at The Clifton School is to develop these kinds of opportunities and to assist teachers with consultation and planning that will facilitate and nurture this ability in children so that they can grow and learn.

As the interests of the children in each classroom are often vastly different, the pedagogista works closely with the teachers to provide a curriculum structure that enables children to investigate their interests more deeply, answer their questions for themselves, and to test out their theories.

On-going projects -- usually in-depth studies of phenomena that happen in a child's everyday life -- may last for weeks, months, or even a year. These studies can cover a wide range of topics, such as math, language, and science concepts.

Additionally, the pedagogista not only developes relationships with center staff, families, and children, but also engages in problem-solving with staff, exploring new options and reflecting on what is going on in the center as a whole.

We believe that children learn through play and that play is children's work
"If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place."

Margaret Mead
The pedagogy of Education is a science that deals with the critical thinking and the design of educational practice.