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Hopefully you've looked around and The Grove School feels like a great place for your child. Fantastic! We’d love to meet up with you in person, answer your questions and tell you more first hand. Shoot us an e-mail or give us a call and we’ll get back to you shortly.
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We're looking for rare individuals. Teachers with degrees in early childhood or environmental education and a fire in the belly to make a difference. Administrators with a head for business and a heart for helping children reach their full potential. People who are so invested that they'll stay with us for years, growing and developing our educational community. Is that you?
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Kids learn through play, but what about the grown ups? The Grove School is a playground for everyone. Join the fun!
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The Grove School is participating in the North Carolina Star Rated License system.  This is a system that is used to provide parents with information pertaining to the quality and practices of an individual center or preschool, like The Grove School.  The star system rates day cares and preschools on a 1-5 star scale.  Even before the doors of The Grove School were opened, it has been our commitment to attain the highest rating, five stars.

When we opened January 18, we were issued a temporary license, as are all facilities.  The temporary license is issued for a 6 month period.  Since the evaluation of some of our staff was not completed by the end of our 6 month license and results from a test I took in June were not back, we scored three out of a possible five stars.  This is only temporary.  All of our staff credentials have been submitted and are in process for evaluation by the state.  When that evaluation is complete, we are confident that we will be given sufficient points to push our license to a five star license.

During our temporary license period, we had several visits from the licensing consultants from the Department of Child Development and we also participated in the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scales (ECERS) and the Infants and Toddlers Environmental Rating Scales (ITERS).

The NC Star Rated License system rates centers on these three areas: Program Standards, Educational Standards, and Quality Point.

PROGRAM STANDARDS points are based on an evaluation of the daily environment at our school. This includes the following three focus areas:

  1. Program Environment – sufficient space for activities, a variety of play materials and a clean and comfortable play area
  2. The Number of Staff per Child
  3. The Interactions Between – adults and children, children with other children, children with activities and materials

We scored a perfect 7 out of 7 points on program standards.  This includes the results from our ECERS and ITERS assessments.

The EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS component of the star system pertains to the qualifications of the staff.  This is the component that is still under review for The Grove School.

Studies have shown that the more education and experience a child care center administrator has, the greater the impact on the center because of improved management and better classroom practices. Teachers with more early childhood education and experience interact better with children and create more enriching classroom experiences. Studies have shown that children whose teachers had higher qualifications did better both academically and behaviorally at least into early elementary school.

To earn higher points in the education component of the rated license child care staff must complete or have completed more formal education and have experience working with preschool children. The number of points a center can earn for staff education is based on:

  • The education and experience levels of the administrator
  • The number of lead teachers with child care credentials
  • The number of lead teachers with more early childhood education and experience
  • The number of teachers with formal education and/or experience

Our staff education and experience levels qualify us to attain five star status.  We are just now playing the waiting game.

The final component in the star system is the quality point.  We earned our quality point in multiple categories.

Even though we do not control the timing of the staff credential evaluation process, we anticipate its completion some time this fall.  Naturally, we will share the news with you as soon as we get it.

If you would like more information regarding the NC Star Rating Systems, visit the DCD website: http://ncchildcare.dhhs.state.nc.us/parents/pr_sn2_ov_sr.asp.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

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