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.
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.
Our Mission
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.
