Bright Beginnings Preschool

Founded in 1984 by Kathe Petchel, Bright Beginnings is Charlottesville and Central Virginia's Early Childhood Leader. Winning Best of Awards every year, Bright Beginnings provides a high quality, 12 month, full-time program focusing on guiding and engaging children using a developmentally appropriate curriculum designed to well prepare children for a high level of success in kindergarten. This includes providing activities that nurture each child's competence socially, emotionally, physically and academically, Program utilizes a combination of degreed and master's degreed professionals with nurturing caregivers with many years of early childhood experience. Locations are in three beautiful neighborhood settings (Crozet, Mill Creek, Forest Lakes) and the majority of our graduates attend local public school kindergarten with classmates from Bright Beginnings Preschool. Each location serves approximately 140 children. Early childhood program also includes additional curriculum areas such as language arts/early literacy, PE, yoga, Spanish, baby sign language and music specialists for no additional fee. We offer family friendly discounts for multiple children and on-going support of full time working parents by providing extended hours and Friday evening Children's Night Out. Staff are supported and mentored through on-going weekly trainings and twice yearly full day professional development led by local and national early childhood specialists. Training hours for staff and management exceeds licensing regulations by over 300%. Business friendly partnerships provide corporate discounts for multiple local businesses. We offer on-site seminars at workplaces for parents interested in choosing a high quality pre school. We actively participate in community events which focus on families and are supportive of young children. We build relationships by networking within our community and attend national best practices conferences monthly.