The Highland Presbyterian Church Nursery and Weekday School was originally established in the fall of 1949 as The Weekday School and was a part of the Church’s Religious Education Program and as a service to the community. There were two classes; one for fifteen three-year-olds and one for fifteen four-year-olds. Both groups came Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. until noon, October through Memorial Day. September was considered too hot as the Church had no air conditioning.
The facility used was the original educational facility attached to the Church. A “large muscle” activity room was in the basement. The play yard was an empty lot owned by the City at the end of Highland Ave.next to the Cave Hill Cemetery wall. When the Walker Nevin Education Building was constructed, the school moved to its current location.
Parent meetings were held every other month. The roll was called at these meetings and all mothers were “requested” to attend.
Some years later, a Mothers’ Day Out Program was established to offer a nurturing sitter service for infants through four-year-olds one day per week. The Mothers’ Day Out Program evolved into a Parents’ Day Out Program and expanded to offer services four days per week. The program also expanded its mission to provide caring and appropriate programming for the children enrolled and was no longer just a sitter service.
Sixty four years later, the two well respected programs became one unified school serving infants through Kindergartners. We now enroll one hundred eighty two children in ten different class groupings. While our primary focus is still our morning three hour program, we now hold optional early morning and extended sessions, so we’re actually in operation from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Monday -Friday.
The Nursery and Weekday School provides a warm, nurturing, educational environment where children can discover and explore new concepts, meet new friends, learn to trust new adults, and, as a result, build a strong foundation of self esteem and confidence. Through these child-centered, hands-on explorations children also develop creative thinking, problem solving skills, and a life long love of learning.
Parents are encouraged to partner with the school and we benefit from a high level of parent involvement (though we no longer call roll at meetings). We still visit the children in their homes before school begins, meet at least twice a year with parents (in twos classes and older) for conferences, and offer speakers and courses to help parents with their most rewarding yet challenging job. Parents support the school with a large force of volunteers without whom the School could not function.
The School is operated by a Board of Directors composed of both Church members and parents. We report to the Christian Education Team of Highland Presbyterian Church. Thirty two qualified and experienced faculty and staff implement our program. They include classroom teachers, music resource teachers, studio art teachers, an early interventionist, office managers, a bookkeeper and directors. For sixty plus years, these and numbers of talented people before them have offered the finest in early education to countless children in the greater Louisville community. We hope to continue this tradition for many, many more.