The Nest

Play-based and child-centered

Savannah River Academy’s Nest includes children from age three (by September 1st) through kindergarten. It is a play-based program where young children are able to embrace their natural curiosity and love of learning through play and active exploration. Research states that 80% of brain development takes place between birth and the age of five.  This research finding is near and dear to our hearts, and we understand that it is our job to help build a healthy foundation for future growth, development, and joyful learning for our children.  

In the Nest, nature is a teacher too! Outdoor settings are essential for healthy development because they stimulate all the senses of the child.  Nature provides the purest sense of “loose parts play”, which is strongly linked to creativity and critical thinking. We use the natural spaces around Savannah River Academy’s campus to serve as mediums for our children’s limitless imaginations!  

At the Nest, we believe that children are naturally creative and find joy in the creative arts.  When given a multitude of opportunities to create, they are learning a host of skills, along with growing their self-esteem.  In the Nest Preschool, our children are offered inspiring and open-ended materials to create their own individual works of art.  Our belief is that no two pieces of art should be the same! To celebrate our children’s creativity, the Nest proudly displays child-made art at the Jessye Norman School of the Arts and at Savannah River Academy.

The Nest strives to help children develop skills that will aid them in an ever-changing world. We aim to teach skills such as independence, teamwork, time management, problem-solving, creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, perseverance, leadership, and decision-making.  With these skills, we believe our children will stand the greatest chance of achieving gratifying levels of personal, social, and economic success. 
 

Testimonials 

We are so thrilled with the specials in Nest this year. My younger son’s favorite is music. He loves it so much! And Spanish is one of the highlights of my older son's week. Every day after school, we work on a few school skills to give him a little extra one-on-one practice, and today, while we are working on math, he asked if he could count in Spanish as well. I actually think he counts in Spanish better than English. I had to look up the numbers to check if he was correct because I only knew from 1-10 but he kept going.

I’m thrilled that at four years old my child can do basic addition using manipulatives and answer in two languages! We are so blessed to have such high-quality teachers as their main teachers and also in specials this year!