St. David's Co-op Nursery School

Welcome to St. David's Cooperative Nursery School! We have been offering quality educational pre-school programs to children in the Welland area for over 55 years. Originally developed by the parents of St. David's Anglican Church, our program grew and evolved and was eventually opened to all members of the community. Today, we are no longer affiliated with any religious organization and welcome all families regardless of their culture, beliefs or religious affiliation.

Our current educators have been involved in the program for over 29 years and are as passionate about children as the day they started. Both are qualified ECEs and have completed their Level One training in Quality Child Care Niagara Initiatives. Additionally, St. David's supports the community by hosting Early Childhood Education (ECE) students from Niagara College. We also believe in the importance of parental involvement in the learning process and operate as a cooperative nursery school where parents are expected to participate in the classroom environment about twice a month. Parents will have the opportunity to join in on classroom activities, interact with other children and provide support to the educators. We believe that parental involvement encourages children and fosters a positive view of learning from a very early age.

Our programs are designed to provide children with the skills necessary to successfully transition into junior kindergarten with two, three and five day junior and senior classes. Our focus is on the concept of the whole child, emphasizing each child's social, physical and mental development.

Social: Each child learns to interact within his own age group and with children younger than himself. He learns to share, enjoy cooperative play and to explore. He will learn how to form and foster relationships, to make friends and how to function independently.

Mental: Each child learns about concepts (small/large, over/under, much/little). We focus on the development of language - teaching our children about words, sounds, the alphabet, colours, shapes and numbers. They learn about themselves, the world they live in, how their bodies work and most importantly, "who they are".

Physical: At St. David's, we understand how important physical development is. Our programs are designed to emphasize the development of both gross and fine motor skills. Our children learn how to skip and jump, about rhythm and creative movement. We also focus on the fine motor skills required for kindergarten programs. Our children learn to use scissors, paint, paste, color and do puzzles.

Most importantly we focus on fun. We encourage our children by providing a wide variety of age appropriate toys and activities both indoors and outdoors. We welcome all children and look forward to meeting our new students every year.