Our Story
The Esperanza School originally opened its doors in a tree shaded Montrose neighborhood in 1972.
The Esperanza School works to create a learning environment for the whole child, inspiring their minds, empowering self worth and experience each child proudly makes their unique contribution to the community which is their school and school becomes a purposeful and special place.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
From its inception our philosophy has been guided by the wisdom of Jean Piaget, a celebrated Swiss educator who believed that children gain true knowledge and abiding self respect through direct experience.
With this Piagetian foundation, our school works to create a learning environment for the whole child, to inspire their mind, empower self worth and support their spirit.
We believe that by providing a nurturing, playful and consistent environment with clear boundaries, goals and guidelines, children are empowered to make good choices independent of adult interference.
Learning to make good choices for oneself is a key to learning to ask questions, formulate ideas, problem solve and act as unique individuals. Beginning as infants in our care and continuing throughout, our use of positive and directed language, appropriate goal setting and acknowledgement requiring introspection will build to achieve our mission and our goals.
We believe it is also our responsibility to help educate our parents to assist their children in this journey by providing developmental information about their child, regular updates regarding classroom activities as well as one-on-one conferences.
Rather than rules, the children of Esperanza have certain responsibilities. They are called the Five Jobs and they are:
- 1. To have friendly touches
- 2. To have listening ears
- 3. To take care of myself as best as I can
- 4. To learn
- 5. To have fun
A child not “doing their job” may be asked the simple question, “Did you forget what your job is?” empowering them to re-choose their behavior.
At Esperanza, we expect our parents to view the enrollment of their child in our school as more than a business transaction. We work to develop a relationship with each family built on trust, mutual respect, our open door policy, and clear and available lines of communication. Opportunities for parent involvement within the school and classroom are available and encouraged through our Parent Partnership Program.
The teachers of Esperanza are a varied and dedicated group of caregivers ranging in tenure on any given day from 2 days to 20 years. They strive every day to learn something new not only about children, but also themselves. We acknowledge that the children of Esperanza by pushing our buttons, asking tough questions and testing boundaries give us the daily opportunity to look inside and challenge ourselves, our beliefs and our histories. Our teachers attend in excess of 20 training hours per year studying child development, curriculum development, classroom management and more. All are CPR and First Aid certified annually and many have additional specialized training in related areas. Each Lead Teacher is responsible for creating monthly lesson plans based on themes which are repeated and reviewed throughout the month in language, art, science, math, motor development and music for optimum learning. These plans and a newsletter from your teacher are published and distributed each month so our parents may “follow along”.
The administrative and management staff are dedicated to supporting the teachers of Esperanza and our parents. They may be seen having a knee-high conversation with a child, sweeping the front porch or substituting in a classroom. Their training, dedication and flexibility compliment and support the environment already in place.