Early Childhood Education

At GCCSA Head Start & Early Head Start, we believe in promoting excellence through education. We provide teachers with mentoring and technical support that benefits children and families. We implement developmentally appropriate activities for our early learners that result in social competence and school readiness.

GCCSA’s early childhood program is based on sound child development principles on how children learn and grow, as well as the Head Start Performance Standards. Emphasis is placed on fostering the development of the whole child, including social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and intellectual development.

Children are active learners. They learn best from a purposeful play that provides hands-on activities of their choosing, within a safe, nurturing and interesting environment. An appropriate balance is maintained between teacher-directed and child-initiated activities. We allow children to make choices within their environment and experience the subsequent consequences to those choices under the guidance of supportive staff. This helps develop decision-making skills that will serve our early learners well in later life.

GCCSA’s Head Start & Early Head Start programs support children’s growth and development in a positive learning environment through a variety of services, which include:

• Early learning: Children’s readiness for school and beyond is fostered through individualized learning experiences. Through relationships with adults, play, and planned and spontaneous instruction, children grow in many aspects of development. Children progress in social skills and emotional well-being, along with language and literacy learning, and concept development.
• Health: Each child’s perceptual, motor, and physical development is supported to permit them to fully explore and function in their environment. All GCCSA early learners receive health and development screenings, nutritious meals, oral health, and mental health support. We connect families with medical, dental, and mental health services to ensure that our children are receiving the services they need.
• Family well-being: GCCSA Head Start & Early Head Start parents and families are supported in achieving their own goals, such as housing stability, continued education, and financial security. Our programs support and strengthen parent-child relationships and engage families around children’s learning and development.