History
Grandparents, kind enough to
be on pick-up duty, say that setting foot on our playground
propels them back in time to when they were here in the
same playground, picking up their own children from DNS.
Dover Nursery School is indebted to having been part of the
local community for years and years. Our families join us
from Dover and all the towns surrounding Dover.
DNS began in the first
owner’s home but has been a grateful tenant of The
Dover Church in Dover since the 1970s. We are not a
church-based school in affiliation or program. Shelley
Poulsen became the fourth owner of DNS in 2004 and she has
held onto the heart-ful approach of educating young
children while looking to see how early education has
changed. The school will be undertaking the NAEYC
self-study process this year in its continuing efforts to
evaluate the successes and challenges of the program.
Like many nursery schools
located in churches, we began as a mixed-age setting where
students came to socialize and become comfortable with
caretakers outside of the home. Those aspects have remained
in our program because of the wonderful benefits they
offer. In addition, we separate by age when curriculum is
connected to developmental capabilities and interests.
Despite expanding our physical space as recently as this
past year, the school has maintained an intimate capacity
of 24 students per day so that the teachers and families
feel like they know each other.
Each year there is room for
returning families who have become the fabric of DNS as
well as new families who are enamored with our close-knit
community.