The Pre-Kindergarten at Penn Charter will open in September 2008 in a newly designed space adjacent to campus at the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd on The Oak Road.

The new program for four-year-old girls and boys builds on Penn Charter's tradition of Quaker education as well as best practices in teaching and learning for young children.

Joan Rosen, a member of Penn Charter's Lower School faculty for nine years, has worked to develop the pre-kindergarten and its curriculum and will serve as director. Rebecca Cox, also a member of the Lower School faculty, will coordinate an exciting arts integration feature that will be a key component of the new program.

Read more about the pre-kindergarten ...

Comprehensive Goals
Arts Integration: Teaching students music and drama has been linked to better visual thinking, problem solving, language and creativity. Building on current research as well as our own experience in Penn Charter’s Lower School, we will integrate music, movement, drama and the visual arts into each day’s activities.
The comprehensive goals of our program are:
Fostering “habits of mind”
Providing different approaches to learning
Nurturing social and emotional development
Enhancing children’s cognitive understanding of their world
Expanding children’s repertoire of skills
Developing language
Caring for children’s physical well-being and motor development

Faculty Leadership
Joan Rosen, Director, joined the Penn Charter faculty nine years ago. A gifted and passionate educator, Joan has enriched the kindergarten program with her ideas and energy, integrating thematic social studies and science with the learning of academic subjects such as math and language arts. For the past year, she has worked to plan the program and the curriculum for Penn Charter's new pre-kindergarten. Before coming to Penn Charter, Joan taught in several local schools and worked in a preschool. Joan received a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's in elementary education from Chestnut Hill College. She and her husband live in Andorra and have three children.
Rebecca Cox, Teacher and Arts Integration Program Coordinator, will teach and coordinate our Arts Integration Program. Rebecca has been teaching at Penn Charter for three years. Rebecca has a B.A. in theater studies from Earlham College and a master's in elementary education from Antioch New England Graduate School.

Location and Space
Location: We are entering into a partnership with the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd to use now-vacant classroom and nursery school space. The location of the church on The Oak Road offers a comfortable neighborhood setting in a church that has been part of the East Falls community for more than 80 years. Because the church backs up to our own campus, it also provides easy access to all of Penn Charter's resources.
Design: Our new 4,300-square-foot pre-kindergarten space will be modernized throughout so students play and learn in an open, light-filled space. We will have two classrooms, an activities space, and a community room that can be used as an indoor play space. The facility will include an office, a full kitchen and bathroom facilities. We will build a new outdoor play area directly outside one of the entrances to the building.

Hours and Costs
Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Calendar will correspond with Penn Charter's September to June academic calendar.
Morning drop-off begins at 7:30 a.m. (no charge)
After-school extended day: 2:45 to 5:45 p.m.
Cost: Core program: $14,000
After-School Extended Day: Parents may design an after-school schedule that meets their needs, selecting the option of one, two or three hours per day for one to five days per week. As a first-year incentive, after-school prices will reflect a 20 percent discount from Penn Charter's K-5 extended day fees. For a breakdown of cost, contact Debbie McIlvaine at dmcilvaine@penncharter.com or 215-844-3460 ext. 199.

Admissions Process
Once famiies have completed an application for admission, we will:
1. schedule a meeting for you with our pre-K director.
2. provide you with a teacher recommendation form for your child's teacher to complete, if applicable.
3. schedule a time for child observation and screening.