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About MVNS

A School Operated as a Community 

At Mill Valley Nursery School (MVNS), our experienced educators, board members, and families work together to create a welcoming and inclusive play-based learning environment where children are given the space and time to explore the world around them. At MVNS, children are valued as whole, capable, and active participants in our community. Teachers and parent-teachers work in tandem with the children in our program to explore and create learning opportunities together.

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Our Mission

Mill Valley Nursery School is a non-profit, parent participation preschool built on relationships and playful exploration.  Our school philosophy fosters a child’s natural curiosity of the world, and the emergent curriculum empowers children to be life-long learners who contribute meaningfully in creating a more equitable world. Within our nurturing, inclusive and deeply engaged community, children and adults learn and grow beside one another. We believe in the power of community and that we can all thrive with families helping families and friends helping friends.

Program Overview

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Mill Valley Nursery School is a non-profit, play-based, parent-participation cooperative preschool, and the only one of its kind in Mill Valley. We cap our enrollment at 24 families (24 children ages 2.5 to 5-years-old), who own and operate our school under the guidance of our Director. This cultivates close-knit relationships, which are the foundation of our safe and nurturing learning environment.

 

We prioritize time for pursuing interests, developing relationships, and engaging in play and exploration through both structured and unstructured play. With guidance from patient, loving adults, children learn to navigate our cottage and outdoor areas with gusto and ease. Young children learn through interacting with their environment and the world around them. Our large outdoor play space features a flower and vegetable garden, swing set, chicken coop (with our two wonderful chickens), sandbox (with therapeutic-grade sand), climber, imaginative play house, garden house, bicycle area, water play area, and much more! The children have the option to be outside rain or shine. When it's wet, we find lots of salamanders and worms and utilize our covered spaces and wear our rain-suits.

Our History

Mill Valley Nursery School was founded as a parent participation nursery school in 1941 by six Mill Valley mothers. Since its inception, MVNS has been rooted in the motto, "friends helping friends and families helping families." 

 

On February 14, 1957, the school was incorporated as a non-profit. The school continued to grow and in 1967 it moved to its present location at 51 Shell Road. 

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Our school has been stewarded by decades of dedicated community members caring for the wellbeing of the campus and students. Over time, MVNS has become the epicenter of a multi-generational community of creativity, exploration, and lifelong learning. 

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MVNS is member of the California Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools. The CCPPNS is a state-wide community of parents and educators committed to teaching and inspiring families through parent involvement and mutual support. Parent participation nursery schools and preschools are founded on the principle that the best education will result from an active partnership among parents, teachers, and children.

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Meet the Team

Miranda Webster

Director and Lead Teacher, She/Her

School Director Miranda Webster (she/her) brings extensive experience in early childhood education, expertise in child development, a passion for inquiry and play-based learning, and pedagogy inspired by the schools for young children in Reggio Emilia, Italy.  Miranda possesses her Master’s in Education, emphasis on early childhood, and Bachelor’s in Child Development from Mills College. Most recently, Miranda worked as the lead teacher/interim director of the Bay Area Discovery Museum's onsite preschool, The Discovery School. Having attended a cooperative nursery school as a child, Miranda knows first-hand the magic of a parent-participation preschool. She sees immense value in parents' opportunity to observe their child’s learning, growth, and development while assisting in the classroom. Backed by current research on child development, the brain and nervous system, and culturally-responsive education, Miranda brings a curiosity-driven approach to her work with young children. She focuses on supporting the development of self-efficacy, a growth mindset, and a life-long love for learning.  Miranda’s teaching is centered around empowering the voice of the child through child-directed play and participation in our community as seen, heard, and valued citizens. Miranda expands the traditional definition of teaching to consider the role of the child as co-creator in our emergent, contextual curriculum.

Board Members

Mill Valley Nursery School is led by the families we serve. 
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Jessica Diaz France
Community Chair

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Alicia Davis Gaide 
President

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Erica Setness

Treasurer

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Leslie Moyer
Membership

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Laurel Shear
Secretary

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