Partners
Pre-K for PA
To Ensure that all chidlren can enter school ready to succeed by making high-quality pre-k accessible to every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania
Easter Seals Disability Awareness
St. Paul’s Preschool is an inclusive school and works closely with many agencies who serve our children with disabilities. The agencies differ each year, but co-operation and open communication between the preschool and each agency contribute to the success of the children.
Easter Seals often brings one or two of their children to our preschool through an integration program. The Easter Seals child attends class with an Easter Seals facilitator and is able to gain social skills and to take part in all classroom activities.
All of the children learn that children might be different but yet are still alike in many ways.
In a typical year, Easter Seals also presents a Disability Awareness Program for all of the 4 and 5-year-old classes. Many types of specialized equipment are brought and explained to the children. Each child is then given the opportunity to use the equipment. Due to COVID-19, this will be put on hold until CDC restrictions are lifted.
If you have a child with disabilities and would like to discuss our integration program, please call us at 412-486-5591.
Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services
St. Paul's Preschool offers annual Children's Vision Screening. Free vision screenings are provided by a professional screening technician. This screening assesses visual acuity, muscle balance and for children ages 3 years and older, color deficiency. The screening uses fun, game-centered activities! This service for our families has helped discover undetected vision defienciencies in many children since we first offered it in 1979.
Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS)
DHS is our regulatory agency. The regulations are kept in the preschool office and can be viewed at any time. They can also be accessed through the link in the Parent Handbook. LIcensing regulations cover health and safety standards and minimum policy and procedure requirements for child care and early learing programs in the state of Pennsylvania.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
This professional organization developed a voluntary accreditation process which addresses many program areas. In February 1993, St. Paul's Preschool was awarded accreditation by NAEYC after a lengthy self-evaluation and outside review process. Our accreditation has been maintained since 1993.
All NAEYC -Accredited programs must:
* Promote positive relationships for all children and adults to encourage each child's sense of individual worth
* Implement a curriculum that fosters all areas of child development: cognitive, emotional, language, physical and social
* Use developmentally, culturally and linguistically appropriate and effective teaching approaches
* Provide ongoing assessments of a child's learning and development and communicate the child's progress to the family
* Promote the nutrition and health of children and protect children and staff from illness
* Employ and support a teaching staff that has the educational qualifications, knowledge, and and professional committment necessary to promote children's learning and development and to support families' diverse interests and needs
* Establish and maintain collaborative relationships with each child's family
* Establish relationships with and use the resources of the community to support achievement of program goals
* Provide a safe and healthy physical environment
* Implement strong personnel, fiscal, and program management policies so that all children, families and staff have high-quality experiences
Pennsylvania Keystone STARS
Keystone STARS is a system of continuous quality improvement (CQI) that guides early learning and school-age programs toward achieving and maintaining high quality and best practices. CQI is an ongoing process that includes reviewing sources of evidence that indicate program quality, planning goals and implementing strategies that move learning progams toward best practices. St. Paul's Preschool has been awarded a STAR 4 (highest) since October 2018.
Each year, this agency visits St. Paul's Preschool to perform speech, language and hearing screenings. Families are able to sign up for a nominal fee for this service. Written results are sent home with every chilld screened giving specific recommendations on any suggested follow-ups from the screening.