Location
The South Whidbey Children’s Center is located on Whidbey Island, in the town of Langley.
Being based in our small, rural community gives our families and their children opportunities to grow and develop without the constant stimulus and pressure that you might find in more populated areas.
Our Center is located in a converted home. You will immediately feel welcome when you walk through the doors. We often hear from our families how amazing it smells, as we prepare our nutritious snacks for the children. Children feel a sense of comfort, familiarity and safety in their exploration. At SWCC your family will find warm, colorful classrooms, activity spaces and a large outdoor play space, where we encourage and support your child’s exploration of the environment around them.
Our facility and outdoor play space have taken on an iconic familiarity in our community over the decades and we are committed to maintaining a real, grounded space for learning, while also participating in the most up-to-date early learning practices available.
Best Practices Education
SWCC offers the highest quality early education available, in a rural, home-style setting. We are a safe, nurturing and equitable space for children and families from all backgrounds.
We are rated by Early Achievers, a Washington State quality rating and improvement system for early childhood education centers. Currently, we are rated at Level Four and are one of the highest rated centers in our five-county region. To learn more about our accreditations, please click here
We have adopted HighScope curriculum, a learning model supported by over 50 years of research and development. HighScope curriculum focuses on engagement, play, developing relationships and encouragement. Most importantly, HighScope helps to develop the fundamental skills that determine success in adult life, such as critical thinking and decision making. To learn more about our curriculum, please click here
70% of our teaching staff hold degrees in child development, early childhood education, elementary teaching and recreational education. All of our staff participate in annual professional development.
Conflict Resolution for Long Term Success
Conflict is a fact of life, as we adults well know! At SWCC, we believe conflict resolution and self-advocacy are important life skills. In early childhood settings, conflict arises because young children are very goal oriented and have not yet learned how to modulate their feelings nor do they have empathy for other’s perspective.
With this in mind, we support your child by providing a consistent routine, encouraging their language development and playing in partnership with them. When conflict does arise, we use our adopted curriculum, HighScope, to turn it into a learning experience. We approach the situation calmly, acknowledge your child’s feelings, ask for them to describe what happened, restate the problem back to the children involved, ask for their ideas on how to solve the problem and we provide follow up support. If two children are involved we make sure to take all feelings into consideration. Our goals are to help children to become independent, use their critical thinking skills, be kind towards others, feel safe in expressing their feelings and know when and who to ask for help if needed.
Measurable Outcomes
At South Whidbey Children’s Center we base our curriculum and approach to childcare in research-supported methods with an emphasis on learning through play and fostering natural curiosity, self-learning and joy.
To learn more about the research surrounding HighScope, Early Achievers, and Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines, please click here.