Welcome to A New Leaf in Nashville!
Offering a breath of fresh air with hands-on programs, for children two to twelve years old, in a cooperative, bilingual (French-English) environment.
Mission and Philosophy
We are here to provide a safe, warm, supportive and collaborative environment for children and their family. We are here to engage, inspire and listen. We give our students respect and space for self-expression. We give our students a balance between freedom of choice and presentation of the tools that we see each individual needs to continue to develop socially, intellectually, physically and emotionally.
We encourage everyone to try new things to broaden their interests. This is also true for foods! We aim to widen each child's palate for healthy foods. We cook and enjoy meals together. We love to work together on study projects combining arts and sciences. We like to both isolate and integrate skills and concepts, to proceed from concrete to abstract. We love to work outside and play with the world's cultures, languages, and music.
As we have worked with students over the years we have come to appreciate the wisdom of many great thinkers on education. We have found that Maria Montessori's work on child development and methods of instruction provide a marvelous foundation for our school. We also enjoy Reggio Emilia's project based investigations and principles of John Dewey's progressive schools. We greatly value healthy lifestyles with regards to nutrition, outdoor activities, continuity of human relationships, and families getting to know each other, sharing activities, ideas and support.
We invite each family and each child to actively participate and meaningfully contribute to the community. Since our students feel at home, we can nurture them to develop strong, academically well-structured minds. We want to give our students the gifts of purpose and discovery, of asking questions, of figuring out how things work, of exploring past and present events in other parts of the world, of solving problems, of making decisions, of being empowered to shape the future.
Director: Hélène Harvey
E-mail: heleneharvey@bellsouth.net
Phone: 615-356-9136
A New Leaf is licensed by the Department of Human Services and received the highest quality rating: Three Stars in every category!