Harbor City School is a non-profit, independent, and Reggio Emilia inspired preschool located in the heart of East Boston.
Harbor City School was created in 2010 by a small group of parents in the community. At Harbor City School, we strive to provide nurturing, caring, and stimulating learning environments for students aged 2 years 9 months to 5 years old.
HCS prides itself on working closely with families. We believe parents and caretakers are the first educators of their children. Following our Reggio inspired model, we partner with families to help develop our students to the best of their ability.
HCS also celebrates the diversity of our neighborhood. Just two stops from downtown by MBTA, we are thrilled to be steps away from vast green spaces with playgrounds, sprinkler parks, a community garden plot, the East Boston branch of the Boston Public Library, and bike trail just outside our door. We anticipate forming connections between students, families, and our community that will extend well beyond the preschool years
HCS believes in providing a nurturing, safe, creative, and educationally appropriate environment for all children. We welcome all children and families into our school, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, political beliefs, family structure, or potty training status. Our statement of values is as follows:
Harbor City School operates in adherence with our founding values of respect and honor of the diversity of human beliefs, experience and expression, without adherence to any organized system of belief or faith. We strive to develop an environment in which each child’s unique interests, learning styles, and mode of self-expression is cultivated. At Harbor City School, children will develop an understanding of what it means to be a member of a community; that they are responsible for their actions and the effects they have on those around them. We teach against all forms of discrimination, intolerance and injustice in the world and in our interactions with each other. As members, children will develop ways to contribute to the classroom and value the contributions of others. We recognize and value our differences as opportunities to learn from one another, as well as celebrate our similarities and common goals. Harbor City School will be a place in which all families feel valued, represented, and welcome to contribute to the school environment, regardless of race, religion, sex, political beliefs, family structure or life choices.
“Learning and teaching should not stand on opposite banks and just watch the river flow by; instead, they should embark together on a journey down the water. Through an active, reciprocal exchange, teaching can strengthen learning and how to learn.”
Malaguzzi, L. 1998, ‘History, ideas and philosophy’, in Edwards, C. Gandini, L. and Forman, G. 1998, The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach, Ablex Publishing, Greenwich (p83).
