Rockville Presbyterian Cooperative Nursery School

Created in 1963, RPCNS is a firmly established part of the Montgomery County preschool network. RPCNS offers a nursery school program for two-, three- and four-year-olds under the guidance of the professionally qualified teachers who are carefully selected for their enthusiasm, warmth, awareness and understanding of the growth in children, and mastery of age-appropriate curriculum. RPCNS is a cooperative nursery school. Parent involvement is the foundation of our school model. (Even younger siblings can join the fun in our sibling nursery!) Our school is licensed by MSDE's Office of Child Care, and a Certificate of Approval holder as a private school in the State of Maryland. RPCNS staff members are actively involved with the Potomac Association of Cooperative Teachers (PACT), and RPCNS is a member of Parent Cooperative Pre-Schools International (PCPI). How does a coop work? A cooperative nursery school is a specific type or model of school. The parents of the students are actively involved in their child's classrooms, working as teacher assistants on a regularly scheduled basis, which enables us to keep the adult-to-child ratio very low. In a co-op the teacher, parent and child actively work together to create a successful learning environment for all involved. Co-oping parents benefit by sharing in their child's first school experiences and by getting to know the other children in their child's class and their parents. Our staff is very adept at drawing upon each parent member's unique gifts and talents inside and outside of the classroom. In a co-op all members share the administrative workload through a well-organized system of jobs. The paid administrative staff is kept to a minimum, which helps to keep our overall tuition down.