The Ann Pappajohn Vassilliou Child Study Center is Pine Manor College's laboratory nursery school. The CSC serves children two years, nine months, through five years of age in developmentally appropriate preschool, extended day and camp programs. The Child Study Center strives to offer an exemplary early childhood experience for children from surrounding communities and provides an on-campus site for Pine Manor students to observe and work with young children under the supervision of a staff of professional mentor teachers.

The CSC's philosophy is developmentally based and equally focuses on all aspects of a child's development: physical, social, emotional, and cognitive. The program embraces the National Association for the Education of Young Children's concept of "developmentally appropriate practice," which strives for optimum development of the child, but does not hurry children through any of the sequential developmental stages. Curriculum is planned using a combination of teacher-selected topics and topics that are identified by observing the children's interests and building curriculum from those interests. Teachers plan daily activities that support the children's explorations of topics and support them in their learning through play. They carry out curriculum and developmental goals by facilitating play, acting as resources to the children, and through helping children to construct knowledge through play. Specific skills are developed as children work in the various learning centers that are located throughout the classrooms.

• Preschool
Our program operates according to the College's academic calendar throughout the school year and extends into June, beyond the close of the College's year. The CSC currently offers two multi-age groupings for preschoolers who are two years, nine months, through five years of age. They attend morning nursery school from 8:45 to 11:45. Downstairs children attend five mornings per week, and upstairs children may attend two, three, four, or five mornings. Our upstairs class serves a multi-age grouping of 12 children and is staffed by two mentor teachers. Our downstairs multi-age grouping occupies the five first floor rooms, enrolls 27 children, and is staffed by three mentor teachers.

• Extended Day Program
An extended day program is available Monday through Thursday for families who need longer program hours for their children. Currently the extended day program offers "Breakfast Club" on Monday through Thursday, where up to six children may arrive at 8:00, have a breakfast snack, and begin their day early. On Monday through Thursday afternoons, children may participate in "Lunch Bunch" until 1:00 or "Extended Day" until 2:30.

• Summer Camp Program
The CSC's Camp Program runs for seven weeks from mid-June until the end of July, Monday through Thursdays from 8:45 to 2:30. Camp is an outdoor program and enrolls up to 24 preschoolers. The youngest children may attend from 8:45 to 11:45, with the older children staying until 2:30.

• Application
Applications should be made during the fall of the year before desired enrollment. A rolling admission system is used. Available spaces may be reserved by signing a contract and submitting a nonrefundable deposit once a family has decided that our program is the best match for their child. We do not require that children be toilet trained, as we believe it to be a developmental task that should not be rushed. We do not interview children, as we are most interested in determining a good philosophical match between parents and the CSC Program. We welcome diversity of all kinds and are a handicap accessible facility.

• Tuition
Tuition for the five-morning nursery school program for the 2003–2004 academic year is $5,885. Part-time programming in the younger group is priced proportionately according to the number of days of attendance. Extended day services are billed according to usage at a comparable rate. Some partial scholarship support is available.

• Contact Us
If you have further questions, or would like to receive an application packet, please e-mail the Director, Jean Prescott, at PrescotJ@pmc.edu, or call and leave a complete mailing address and phone number at 617-731-7039. We look forward to hearing from you.