Birth to Age 8 Gathering

At New London Public Schools’ Birth to Age 8 Early Childhood Center, we believe that high-quality early childhood education can play a key role in uplifting our students, their families, and our entire community. This belief is supported by research and by our decades of experience working with children, and so, it animates everything that we do.

We also believe that the best way to provide high-quality early childhood education is through multifaceted supports which leverage the strengths of our diverse New London community. That’s why we’re partnered with a coalition of community members, local organizations, and city agencies to support our students’ educations with wraparound services extending far beyond the classroom.

Our work is further motivated by three specific areas of focus.

First, we aim to create a welcoming, inclusive environment in which all students and families feel a sense of belonging and support. We provide bilingual outreach, with an emphasis on personal calls to family members to build our relationships, maintain a consistent presence of familiar faces during our onsite events, serve community meals at every event, and offer childcare services.

Second, we facilitate opportunities for meaningful family-to-family engagement and relationship-building. Our onsite community events enable families to get to know each other through fun, hands-on activities, alongside their children.

Third, we support the attainment of academic, social-emotional, and family learning goals. Our onsite community events include informational and skill-building workshops for families. During such gatherings, families interact directly with our staff, practice supporting their children’s skill development, and gain access to take-home activities to ensure that learning continues at home. Our staff solicit and act upon ongoing family feedback to strengthen our programming.