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Nursery at Harley

Bringing joy in learning to our 3 & 4 year-olds

Joy In Learning

Our experienced early childhood educators understand how children develop, viewing each moment as  teachable and masterfully guiding their class with consideration for each student. The children are engaged in a highly intentional way. By creating classroom environments filled with lively discussion, collaboration, social interaction, and play, the wonder of learning is opened up to young children.

Our Key Values in Nursery

Curiosity

All Learning Starts with Questions

“Why is water wet?”, “What are shadows made of?”, “How do fish breathe underwater?”

Relentless curiosity is part of every child’s natural drive to understand the world. It makes perfect sense that those who are fresh in the world long to learn more about it. Whether using questions to learn about a topic of interest, test a boundary or explore the world, this is an integral part of a youngster’s life.

Our Responsive Classroom approach focuses on the essential relationship between academic success, cognitive growth, and social emotional learning. This empowers our faculty to create safe, joyful, and engaging learning communities where all students have a sense of belonging and feel significant. 

Balance

Where Community and Independence Meet

As a member of both a classroom and a larger school community, our Nursery students learn social confidence in a vibrant learning environment. They are encouraged to explore and forge their own understandings through inquiry-based experiences. Our teachers model and coach social interactions so that children can discover ways to negotiate their world as their own social skills develop. They are acutely aware of how to engage each child at their level, offering appropriate challenge. Students understand that they are known and valued as part of their classroom family. 

Opportunity

Door-opening Experiences Engage Young Learners
The way young children grow and mature can be seen through changes in their play and social skills. Our faculty, who are specifically trained in early childhood education, encourage learning through play in all areas. They follow an evidence-based approach to teaching that focuses on engaging academics, positive community, and developmental awareness. By creating a shared sense of purpose in the class, teachers and children are ready for positive and productive learning where risk-taking is encouraged and each individual voice matters. 

Creativity

Readiness for a Lifetime of Growth and Problem Solving

From pretend play to flexing their gross- and fine motor skills, our students engage in experiences that stimulate growing minds and trigger imagination. They begin learning Spanish, swim in our pool, explore outdoors, make and move to music, play on our natural playground, develop confidence as they build skills in physical education classes, help in our microfarm, and participate in creative arts. They are provided with a broad experience as they build their foundation for exploring the world around them.

Confidence

Children are activators of their own learning. They thrive when new opportunities and topics are provided and gain confidence from meaningful practice to move from exploration to mastery. Nursery maximizes discoveries with other children and guidance from trusted teachers. The social-emotional components of early childhood include:

  • sense of self-feeling good about themselves and what they can do.
  • social skills-getting along in life with others.
  • emotional skills-recognizing, expressing, and managing a wide range of feelings.

Being in a supportive community allows students to learn from each other. As Nursery students’ language, thinking, and planning capabilities increase, they are better able to wait for things they want, to negotiate solutions to everyday problems, and make decisions for themselves.

About Our Faculty

The average tenure of our Nursery faculty is 11 years. They are trained to create safe, joyful, and engaging classroom and school communities. Their emphasis is on helping students develop academic, social, and emotional skills in a learning environment that is developmentally responsive to their strengths and needs. Each Nursery classroom has two teachers.

Harley Highlights

  • Hands-on, experiential learning
  • Year-round program with our summer option
  • Extended day before and after care
  • Spanish, swimming, creative arts and music, gross-motor activities
  • Discovery and outdoor play
  • Small class sizes, allowing faculty to build deep connections with students
  • Experienced, vibrant educators who understand and are passionate about children as learners
  • Thoughtful, structured schedule

Healthy lunches and snacks are included (gluten-free, allergen-free and diet-sensitive options available)

Why I Teach at Harley: Marlene Heuer

Thinking of applying?

Explore our enrollment and application process.

Financial Assistance Opportunities

A Harley education is possible for your child.

The Harley School

1981 Clover Street
Rochester, NY 14618
(585) 442-1770

©2023 The Harley School

Our Upper School is filled with formal and informal opportunities for students to take on leadership roles. Whether following passions or learning new skills, student-driven opportunities take many shapes. 

  • Independent study: one trimester, full year, and multi-year projects have included automating our solar chimneys, coding handmade musical instruments, or developing a class on financial literacy for underserved high school students.
  • Serving on student council: 
  • STEM: Climate curriculum program, biomimicry program, NASA Hunch program

At Harley, our students learn how to evaluate social systems in order to identify complex problems in society through a lens of social justice. They take a hands-on approach to working for a fair, equitable society by researching, exploring and evaluating different perspectives, and offering solutions—both theoretical and practical.

Our faculty integrate social justice into our broader curriculum to assist students in gaining a foundational knowledge about what makes a democracy function. By gaining skills in ideating supportive pathways they become more exposed and experienced to how communities can undergo healing and restorative actions.

Students may create independent studies with supervising teachers throughout their Upper School experience or, during Grade 12, they can design Capstone projects—intensive collaborations with Harley faculty and off-campus mentors—involving rigorous academic study and culminating in public presentations. They are empowered to create their own curriculum, set goals, and work on time management skills in order to accomplish their objectives.

Independent Studies run the gamut from The Psychology of Sports to Furniture Design to The Neuroimaging of Alzheimer’s Disease. Capstones, meanwhile, are as diverse as the students who pursue them: Fictional Rochester, Autobiographical Art, Biomimicry Education, Organic Fuel, and Rochester Refugees. 

Indicative of Upper School curiosity and creativity, pursuits such as these distinguish our graduates in college. Through deep dives of this sort, Harley students master more than speaking, writing, and computing: they learn to communicate, advocate, collaborate, organize, listen, and empathize. 

About

Academics

Key Programming

Enrollment

Letter from the Head of School

Letter from the Editor

Features

Central Work that Matters: DEI

Harley Black Alumni Network

Climate Crisis Curriculum

Citizen Scientists

Joy Moss: Storytelling Roots

In Every Issue

Class Notes

Diane Donniger Award

By the Numbers

From the Archives

What’s (Who’s) New at Harley

Divisional Highlights

Alumni Profile: Vandebroek

Alumni Profiles: Keller

HAC Athletics

2021 Lives of Great Purpose Awards

1000 Words

Commencement 2022

Reunion 2022

In Memoriam

Retirements and Fond Farewells

Letter from the Head of School

Letter from the Editor

Features

Central Work that Matters

Affinity Group Forms

Climate Crisis Curriculum

Citizen Scientists

Joy Moss: Storytelling Roots

In Every Issue

Class Notes

Diane Donniger Award

By the Numbers

From the Archives

What’s (Who’s) New at Harley

Divisional Highlights

Alumni Profile: Vandebroek

Alumni Profiles: Keller

HAC Athletics

2021 Lives of Great Purpose Awards

1000 Words

Commencement 2022

Reunion 2022

In Memoriam

Retirements and Fond Farewells