PPNS was founded in 1961 by Wendy Pfeffer and Beverly Thurman, two teachers with young children who identified the need for a community-based preschool in our area. Working with Pastor Walter Coats, Wendy and Bev planned a school that would be an outreach to all local families and originally opened with classes for threes and fours. Over the years, additional classes have been added, including the first two-year-old program in our area, which opened in 1985 after the addition of a two new classrooms specifically tailored to the needs of very young children. Today, we offer morning classes for children aged 2 through 5, early drop-off and lunch bunch options for all ages, and afternoon enrichment programs for children in our three-year-old and Pre-K classes.
We recently celebrated our 60th anniversary with an all-school party and a new school bus play structure for our playground. We are enrolling our second generation of students whose parents have fond memories of their PPNS preschool days. What a wonderful legacy!
Throughout the school’s history, our philosophy and mission have stayed the same: a child’s work is play, and open-ended intentional play guided by caring and highly qualified teachers gives children the freedom and environment to think expansively and creatively, and gain the skills necessary for elementary school, both in traditional academic subjects and in social and self-help skills.