Every year, young children are welcomed as "honored guests" into Bing's light-filled classrooms that open wide to a sprawling terrain of hills, rabbit hutches, fruit trees, and play structures.
Program Overview
At Bing, children are encouraged and empowered to take learning into their own hands—literally. Blocks, paint, sand, water, and clay are not only vehicles of their unbridled imaginations, but also tools through which they shape and understand their worlds.
Children can enroll at Bing from the age of two until they are age eligible for public kindergarten. Children are enrolled for half-day morning or afternoon sessions. The nursery program sessions are scheduled for 3.5 hours while the two-year-old program sessions are 2.5 hours.
As a laboratory school, our programs are designed to facilitate Stanford faculty research and teaching through observation and participation. Families are expected to consent for their children to participate in research. Since the studies are presented as "games," children typically welcome the opportunity to participate.
Nursery Program: For 3-5 year-olds
The Nursery School Program encourages a balance of child-initiated and teacher-facilitated activities.
It offers children a variety of choices provided within a carefully prepared indoor and outdoor environment. Emphasis is on learning through play in an environment designed to encourage discovery, independence, and social interaction.
To develop self-esteem and social competence, children are encouraged to help themselves, take initiative, and become increasingly independent. The environment includes art, dramatic play, unit blocks, manipulatives, language arts, books, music, water and sand play, building of large structures, gardening, running, climbing, animal care, and a variety of large and small motor activities.
Our goal is to encourage each child's natural curiosity and interest in learning. We feel it is important for children to actively participate in the learning process, and therefore provide many opportunities for learning by doing, for both indirect and direct acquisition of new knowledge and skills.
The nursery school program operates three classrooms with mixed-age groupings. The half-day program offers multiple placements: morning or afternoon, and 2, 3, or 5 days per week. Please note that there are only a limited number of 5-day placements for older children.
Two's Program: For children at least 24-months old by the start of enrollment
The Two-Year-Old Program encourages the growth of independence, social awareness, sensory exploration, development of physical skills, and language development.
Children play in a planned indoor and outdoor environment designed to provide a variety of materials to explore. Activities include blocks, clay or play dough, easel painting, sand, water, and large and small motor activities.
Once a child is comfortable in the group environment, seeking out teachers for support and developing increased peer social skills, the teachers and parents may plan for parent-child separation on an individualized basis. The timeframe for accomplishing this separation can vary from a few days to several months.
Parents and caregivers are encouraged to join the class at the closing storytime before picking up their child.
There is one classroom for two-year-olds. Half-day placements are available during the morning or afternoon session, with an enrollment of 2- or 3-days per week.
Additional Program Information
Bing Nursery School programs are designed, and enrollment decisions are made, to fulfill the research and training needs of the University, the group needs of each classroom, and parent's needs for their children. Priority may be given to a child of a specific age and sex due to programmatic or research needs. Occasionally, other research needs, classroom needs, or individual development needs may add additional criteria to the group composition. Bing Nursery School does not discriminate regardless of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marital or family status, political beliefs, or parental status.
Bing Nursery School offers a needs-based scholarship program available to all families after they are accepted into the program and a discounted tuition rate for Stanford-affiliated families.
The school employs a teaching staff of over 40 early childhood educators. Since it's founding, Bing has sought to hire highly trained and experienced teachers in the field of early childhood education. We believe that the most essential qualities of any teacher at Bing are warmth and sensitivity to the developmental needs of children and their families.
Parent Engagement
Parent involvement is an important aspect of any school. Parents are welcome to share their time, interests, and talents in the classroom by leading a cooking activity, music experience, or other developmentally appropriate activity. Parents are also asked to participate in school-wide events and fundraisers and encouraged to join various educational events throughout the year. More information about these opportunities is provided below.
Accreditation
Accreditation
We are proudly accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).