On Saturday, April 14th, many of us gathered at the Oregon Golf Club to participate in our largest fundraiser of the year, our annual auction. We are so grateful to all of you who generously supported the auction that evening, and especially to all of you who volunteered endless hours leading up to the evening… [read more]

In this issue:

• The Stars Were Shining
• Calendar
• The Mini Auction
• The Marylhurst School
• Oregon City Food Drive
• Mount Burns Photography
• Scholastic Book Sale
• Summer Program
• The Robins Class
• A Show of Force. by Ann Brown
• Wishes & Hopes
• Auction THANK YOU’s

Read the complete April 2012 Newsletter here.

Applications for the 2012-13 school year are currently being accepted for our preschool and primary school programs on a space available basis. Call 503-650-0978 to schedule a personalized tour.

Families interested in learning more about our 1st/2nd grade blend class are invited to attend a primary round-up on Thursday, May 3rd from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. The primary school (K-1/2 blend) admissions process also includes a student visitation, as well as a parent conference.

*Application fee waived for twos program.

Visit out Admissions page for applications.

View our complete school calendar…

Registration is currently open for our 2012 Summer Camps offered to children ages 3 – 8 years.

Camps run M-Th from June 25 until August 23 between 9am and 1pm. All programs are held at the Barclay School in Oregon City and taught by The Marylhurst School teachers. Visit our Summer Camps page for full details.

On Saturday, April 14, the Marylhurst School will host its annual fundraising auction at the Oregon City Golf Club.

Our motives are simple: to gather that evening to help provide the resources that enable the faculty of Marylhurst to accomplish its educational mission, realize its vision, and bring to life its philosophy. It is your children we care so deeply for. Their successful growth will foster a stronger future community… [read more]

In this issue:

• The Party of the Year!
• Calendar
• The Marylhurst School
• Oregon City Food Drive
• Bee Hive News
• The Owls Class
• First in a Series. Or Second. Maybe Third. – by Ann Brown
• Wishes & Hopes
• Auction Update

Read the complete March 2012 Newsletter here.

Dear Marylhurst Families,

Our most important fundraiser of the year will take place on April 14th at the Oregon Golf Club. This is a reminder that all Marylhurst families are required to procure one item for the school auction. You may be thinking that the cost of your tuition covers our expenses for the school year, but it does not. We use auction funds to bridge the gap and cover costs from operating expenses and teacher salaries to… [read more]

In this issue:

• A Message from the Board
• Calendar
• Your Safety
• Away We Grow
• Empty Community Clothes Closet
• Childcare During Conferences
• Fun Fridays
• THANK YOU – Jon Ochs
• Healthy Eating
• Broccoli-Cheese Quiche Recipe
• The Tortugas Class
• Life Outside the Comfort Zone – by Ann Brown
• The Marylhurst Dad
• Wishes & Hopes
• Auction Update

Read the complete February 2012 Newsletter here.

We are writing on behalf of the faculty and board to keep our community up-to-date on recent events regarding plans to expand Marylhurst Early Childhood Center to include elementary grades. Please read this information carefully and bring any questions you may have to a member of our steering committee.

As you may remember, we hired an educational consulting firm last spring to begin our initial process of planning for expansion. Why? Each year, parents approach our director and ask why we don’t have an elementary program. As parents prepare to leave Marylhurst, along with typical anxieties of transition, they wonder which elementary programs are a natural extension of our emergent curriculum. The answer becomes apparent quite soon because there are not many programs like MECC. We found out important factors from that research study. The most important factors were that our families come here predominantly for two reasons: our faculty and our curriculum. So, each year, we are asked the question regarding how we might expand our philosophy and curriculum to include elementary children. This year, we left it in the hands of an objective research institution to help us answer the question about whether or not we were ready to expand. The answer was yes – the research group indicated that we have incredible faculty and strong leadership in place to go through this process.

This summer, we developed a steering committee who met several times about what expansion would look like. We met with the research team, the board, developed a business plan and began discussing hard questions about our curriculum and growth.

So, where are we now? So far, we have broken down our steering committee into three subcommittees: communication, facilities, and curriculum.  The communication team is being led by Sheila and myself and is comprised of several wonderful faculty members. They are working on getting the word out about MECC’s plan for expansion, ways to market, branding and logo information, web design, and finalizing key pieces of philosophy and mission statements that will go to the larger public. Second, the facilities team, headed by Stephanie Dow, is working on an exploratory search for a building. As you may guess, we are near capacity at our Barclay building. This team is working with a commercial realtor to assess the market for buying or leasing buildings within a five-mile radius of our current school. They are also looking into a long-term lease for our current building and what necessary changes would  need to take place to accommodate primary grades. Finally, the curriculum team, headed by Mary Mahorney, Jessica Bernert, and Britta Daubersmith are working with other key faculty members to bridge the preschool curriculum (that we already know and love) to a primary school curriculum. The exciting aspect here is that the preschool philosophy will truly drive the primary school curriculum. This means that the emergent curriculum, educational pedagogy and philosophical underpinnings that make us who we are will not be lost as children move through Marylhurst – this team is working tirelessly to ensure that graduates of the Marylhurst program have common threads that bind them all. Our plan is to expand and include a first and second grade beginning fall of 2012. We will then add a grade each year through fifth grade.

In the meantime, we are also developing a budget and meeting with outside entities to gather more information about school expansions. We have hired a project manager to oversee our time line and help us track progress including meeting times. We are asking ourselves thoughtful questions and going to legitimate sources to see how others have done this before us – what has worked and what has failed. We are creating a dynamic, transparent process where no questions are turned away.

While we are going through this process, it has, of course, raised other questions. We continue to discuss what tuition will be, how to create a news feed to the larger public, and what an admissions process would look like that would be genuine to Marylhurst. As we go through this process, many more questions will undoubtedly come up. As we know the answers to these questions, so will you. This is an emerging process that requires patience and effort on everyone’s part. We will deliver information to our MECC community first and then be available to answer questions from our internal community before moving to the community at large. That said, the following group of people make up our steering committee. Please do not hesitate to contact anyone on the steering committee – she can then forward you to the correct person to speak to if she cannot answer your question. Contact information for each of us is located in the MECC Directory.

Sheila Walker – MECC Director

Amy Stoeber – MECC Board President

Mary Mahorney – Kindergarten Teacher

Jessica Bernert – Kindergarten Teacher

Britta Daubersmith – Owl Parent and Veteran Teacher

Stephanie Dow – Squirrel Parent and Legal Counsel

Now you’re officially updated on the status of our school and plans for expansion. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. We will be hosting two informational meetings about the expansion plan in January at the following times:

Wednesday, January 11 at 12 noon

Thursday, January 19 at 6:30 pm

For those of you who are thirsty for more, here is the Marylhurst vision statement, as recently revised by our faculty… 

All children travel a unique path.  In our community of creators, explorers, and citizens, we honor each journey.

Marylhurst Early Childhood Center is expanding into The Marylhurst School.

Join us for our annual Open House on Saturday, January 21st from 9am to noon.

Marylhurst is a 41-year-old school housed in the historic Barclay Building of Oregon City. Preschool and k-6 primary grade programs feature an emergent curriculum, 6:1 teacher-child ratios, Spanish dual-language classes, enrichment programs in art and science, before and after-care, and parenting workshops. The primary grade expansion will roll out with a 1st/2nd grade blend in 2012, a 3rd/4th grade blend in 2013, and a 5th/6th grade blend in 2014.

Families interested in learning more about preschool and primary grade programs are invited to visit classrooms, meet teachers, talk with the director and experience our wonderful child-centered environment first hand.

Please let us know if you plan to attend by completing our Open House RSVP form, or emailing vp@marylhurstecc.com for more information.

All children travel a unique path. In our community of creators, explorers and citizens, we honor each journey.

View our complete school calendar…

We are writing on behalf of the faculty and board to keep our community up-to-date on recent events regarding plans to expand Marylhurst Early Childhood Center to include elementary grades. Please read this information carefully and bring any questions you may have to a member of our steering committee… [read more]

In this issue:

• Expansion Update
• Calendar
• Inclement Weather
• MECC Open House
• Primary School Round-Up
• Registration for 2012/2013
• Gratitude
• New Enrichment Class
• Opportunity
• Good Neighbors
• Scrip Scraps
• Vegitarian Lunches
• Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip
• Protein Bread Recipe
• The Turtles Class
• “Do As They Do” by Ann Brown
• Wishes & Hopes
• Auction Update

Read the complete January 2012 Newsletter here.

In this issue:

• Sheila’s Message
• Calendar
• Celebration of Giving
• MECC Open House
• Inclement Weather
• You are all so sweet!
• Healthier Holiday Cookies/Recipes
• The Mice Class
• “Chewing on some tough issues” by Ann Brown
• Wishes & Hopes
• Auction Update

Read the complete December 2011 Newsletter here.

We have several opportunities to give back to our community now and at our celebration, including the “Giving Stars”, and Blankets and Bears for the Children’s Center in Oregon City.

Please see the office for details. Feel free to bring a treat to share in the Frogs room, where hot cider and hot chocolate will be served.

View our complete school calendar…