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player ready...After ending a traditional pre K-through-eighth-grade program after the 2017-2018 school year, a Norwood Park school has reopened and rebranded as the St. Paul Early Childhood Center, serving students preschool through second grade for the current school year.
In its first year, the school is operating a preschool classroom as well as a kindergarten classroom with two new full-time faculty members, a new school board, and a new executive director, Andrea Sumner.
What is the same is the support from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Norwood Park. The planning for the new program got underway last April.
“It’s a new and fresh and clean slate, and we’re excited,” said Susan Raap, chairman of the Board of Education for St. Paul Early Childhood Center. Raap got involved with the school through her work with the church.
The center is also supported by the Chicagoland Lutheran Educational Foundation and is drawing students from Norridge, Harwood Heights and Edison Park, according to Sumner.
“For over 115 years, providing education for the children in our community has been the mission for the congregation at St. Paul Lutheran Church. And we are excited to have the opportunity to continue that tradition in a new and dynamic format,” said Raap.
Sumner said they did retain some students from the original school program, but she added that when they switched to an Early Childhood Center, enrollment took a hit.
“We lost some kids because they had older siblings,” Sumner explained.
The curriculum at the new early childhood center is a project-based learning program.
“What drew me to it is it is driven by the students,” said Sumner.
There are core subjects and lesson plans for each level, but the day is structured to allow young students to ask questions and explore to find the answers. Educators at the center are then encouraged to tie the students’ interests and questions back into lessons.
Sumner said the program is “completely different from the former school’s approach.”
“We believe children are naturally curious about their world and project-based learning encourages and develops their skills of exploration and discovery,” said Raap.
Classrooms are equipped with not only books and materials for students to look up their answers, but also tablets for more in-depth research into topics. In addition to classrooms and a gymnasium, the school also has a large motor skills room for students, a library, and an art space. There is even a school pet, a hamster that has yet to be named.
The center is offering a wide range of options for parents looking to enroll students, including half- or full-day preschool as well as programs that do not go five days a week. The center is also offering before- and after-school care.
The school is also looking to build a bigger network around the center in the area.
“We’re really trying to get a sense of community,” said Sumner.
One way Sumner said they are working on making these inroads in the Norwood Park neighborhood, as well as surrounding suburbs, is the Wildcat Den drop-in center, a parent and tot playtime for children younger than preschool age, at no charge. Sumner is running the program on Fridays and said it’s possible she could add other days “as needed.”
