Plum Hill School
The last year at Plum Hill Preschool has been full of growth and continued capacity building, thanks to the generous support received from a 2020 MVYouth Expansion Grant. After decades of seasonal renting, support from MVYouth allowed Plum Hill to purchase a year-round home. Owning our own facility has given us opportunities to expand programming, broaden our reach into the Island community and nearly double our capacity for serving year-round Island families with quality early childhood education and care. Now in its second year, our nursery program is full and thriving, offering families of younger toddlers aged 16 months - 2.9 years an affordable and enriching introduction to Waldorf-inspired early education. Both our nursery and preschool classrooms continue to operate at capacity, with long waitlists. In the coming years, it is our goal to begin to investigate our ability to expand even further, offering a second preschool classroom, so that we can better serve the growing number of Island families in need of quality preschool programming. With the financial flexibility afforded us by the expansion grant, we have been able to invest meaningfully into our tuition support fund, making our programs affordable and accessible to all Islanders, regardless of income. And with the ability to be in our space year-round, we have been thrilled to introduce a thriving summer program, Plum Summer. Serving children aged 3-11 Plum Summer is a Waldorf-inspired day camp, beloved by year-round and visiting summer families alike. We look forward to continued growth within our school community and are filled with gratitude for the doors opened to us by the support and confidence we've received from MVYouth.
Plum Hill School
This year at Plum Hill School we've continued to settle in to our new year-round home. Fall was full of Waldorf festivals - we shared dragon bread on the beach in September and carried handmade lanterns through the woods in November. As we head deeper into the winter we are remembering fondly our times together through all seasons.
This past summer was especially memorable as we held our second year of summer camp, “Plum Summer.” We were delighted to see many returning faces and welcomed new friends, sharing joyful days full of crafts, magic and wholesome summer fun.
Our new nursery program is thriving. Quality care for the youngest Islanders continues to be in high demand, and we are thrilled to be able to provide this service in our newly renovated Buttercup Room. Sharing Waldorf rhythms and traditions with children aged 16 - 33 months has been an exciting new adventure. As a result of this expansion in our offerings our staff has more than doubled in the past few years. We are grateful to have a dedicated group of young teachers who are all committed to furthering their Waldorf teacher education.
With funds granted by MVYouth we were able to continue improvements to our spaces, indoor and out. We focused this year on expanding our play yard as well as investing in our teachers by providing more opportunities for continuing education. We are so grateful for the support of MVYouth donors and a grant that has enabled us to broaden our reach into the community and provide a stable home for our early childhood programs.
Plum Hill School
Plum Hill School remains committed to providing quality Waldorf inspired programming to Island children in a nurturing and respectful environment. With the first phase of our expansion complete, and having settled into our new home off Old County Road, we were eager to dive into phase two, launching our summer program and opening our first toddler-age classroom. In June of 2021, we welcomed families to Plum Summer, our Waldorf inspired outdoor day camp serving children 4-9 years old. The children spent their summer exploring themed weeks such as Birds, Bees and Flowers, Farming, Natural Dyeing and the Power of Plants, Music, Storytelling,The Fair and more.
In September we opened the Buttercup Room, our long-awaited Nursery program for children 15 months-33 months old. With the support of MVYouth, we have been able to welcome in 13 new families and meet the Island’s established need for quality nursery care.
As our school grows, our goals are to invest in our community by offering need-based scholarships to families and support to our teachers by funding opportunities for continuing education and professional development. The generous support of MVYouth donors has allowed us to expand our programs and build a forever home for our special school. We are so very grateful!
Plum Hill School
Plum Hill Preschool, operated by the non-profit Island Waldorf Community, remains committed to the mission of supporting the unfolding capacity of all Island children and offering affordable, quality early childhood education in a nurturing and respectful environment. As part of our school’s campaign to find a permanent home and expand our programming to reach more Island children, we applied for and were funded by MVYouth in August of 2020. Thanks to the generous support of MVYouth, we were able to complete the purchase of a property in West Tisbury, allowing us to achieve our long-term dream of securing a year-round space after operating out of seasonal rentals for many years. We were also able to make all of the necessary upgrades and improvements in order to open in September without missing a beat! MVYouth funds were also used to help our school adapt to the ever-changing landscape created by offering childcare during a pandemic: we were able to purchase all of the extra cleaning supplies, extra toys and PPE to keep our school, students and teachers safe and comfortable as we reopened in the fall. Now that we are settled into our new home and adjusted routines we are eager to move into the next phase of our project: expanding our offerings to include a toddler program, opening September 2021. We are currently conducting a nation-wide search for educators and are already fully enrolled with a growing waitlist. Additionally we plan to offer our very first Waldorf-inspired summer program, a long-time dream finally made possible now that we’ve found a permanent, year-round home. We are incredibly grateful to MVYouth for showing a commitment to early education by supporting our program and allowing us to provide more Island families with a unique and accessible childcare experience.
Plum Hill School
PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT: The Plum Hill School received a $350,000 Expansion Grant to make necessary renovations to a property they purchased this summer in West Tisbury and to establish a toddler program that will serve nine children ages 15 months - 2.9 years old beginning in the summer of 2021. The Plum Hill School has been in operation as a Waldorf Preschool for 19 years and currently serves roughly 20 children ages 2.9 - 6 years old. They estimate they have educated roughly 400 children since their inception. The school has operated out of a rented house in West Tisbury, moving out every summer and returning every September. In addition to allowing the school to develop a new toddler program, the new property will enable the Plum Hill School to run a summer program for toddlers and preschool-aged children.
Phase One of the school’s plan is underway and will be completed by their anticipated September opening. It includes site work and renovations to tailor existing space to be used as classrooms and comply with licensing requirements. Phase Two includes building or reconfiguring existing space to create a classroom that will house their toddler program, installing a play yard for this age group, purchasing start-up supplies to run a new summer program, and installing solar panels.