Fostering a caring, cooperative school environment that supports positive relationships and respectful interactions is our priority. We believe in a play-based approach in which children are encouraged to construct their own knowledge. Kinhaven teachers provide an environment that promotes learning by doing – moving from concrete, hands-on experiences to more abstract concept development through a healthy balance of child-directed and teacher-guided activities, as well as time for children to work individually, in small groups and in large groups on meaningful pursuits.
Kinhaven School subscribes to the development of the “whole child” and is attentive to a constant monitoring and provision for this development. In both scripted and unscripted opportunities, the faculty strives to take advantage of the teachable moments that happen every day by fostering the intellectual, creative, social, emotional, and physical growth and development of our students and to inspire a lifelong commitment to learning.
Utilizing the research-based High Scope approach, children learn through play, making choices, and manipulating varied high-quality materials to deepen their understandings and extend their language.
Family Involvement Our community values parental involvement. Families entering Kinhaven School are welcomed into a caring, engaging community working together to offer our children a rich early childhood education.
The Kinhaven School is professionally managed, but operates as a membership organization to encourage the involvement of all of our families in the education of their children. We believe that our school is a place where children thrive, in part due to the role that families play in all aspects of learning and school administration.
At Kinhaven School, parents are invited to serve their obligated "JOBS" through a variety of means: from governance to grounds maintenance to administrative service to substitute teaching, there are as many ways to engage in the Kinhaven School as there are ideas. Parental involvement is critical to the mission of Kinhaven School, and is a necessary mechanism to help control the growth of costs in operating our school. Kinhaven is an independent school, and therefore receives no subsidies in rent or staffing as church-affiliated schools may. The 2024-25 School Plan is available.
We encourage all parents to serve at least one year on the Board of Directors during their tenure at Kinhaven. Each class has one parent that serves on the Board. The Executive Board and Committee Chairs set school policy and oversee functions such as hiring, finance, membership, JOBS coordination, and fundraising.