The Importance of Early Childhood Education

After more than 30 years in education, spanning both early childhood and elementary school leadership, I find myself at a transition point. At the end of this year, I will be moving into the position of Head of Doherty and the new Head of the Early School as we move closer to our unification in 2027-28. At that point, I will be shifting my focus exclusively to early childhood education.

People have questioned me about why I have made this choice, wondering if I think it will limit me. Honestly, it feels like the opposite. I see it as an invitation to dig deeper into the most formative years of our students’ lives. The Early School is the place where curiosity is unbridled, relationships are at the very foundation, and learning is driven by wonder. How could this ever feel insignificant?

We know that often, as a parent peeks through the classroom window and sees their child building a block tower, negotiating with a classmate over who gets the red crayon, or sprawled on the floor lost in a picture book, somewhere in the back of their mind, they wonder, are they actually learning anything?

The answer is yes, and it is more than you might imagine.

What looks like play is actually some of the most sophisticated cognitive and social development of your child’s entire life. When your child works through a disagreement over that crayon, they are practicing conflict resolution. When their block tower falls, and they try again, they are building resilience. When they sit in a circle and listen to a friend’s idea, they are learning empathy. Every moment in their classroom is a learning moment. It just doesn’t always look the way we expect it to.

What I have learned in my years in education, and research clearly supports, is that the habits of mind children develop in their earliest years don’t stay in the classroom. They travel with them everywhere. Children who learn to take risks early become students who aren’t afraid to raise their hands. Preschoolers who practice working through conflict become teenagers who can navigate hard conversations. Those who are encouraged to ask questions become adults who never stop being curious. The learning that happens in early childhood is essential, far more so than most of us ever stop to consider.

Here is the part that might surprise you: your child, right now, already embodies many of the qualities we spend years trying to develop in older students. As a matter of fact, these attributes are key in our Portrait of a Learner.

Young children ask questions without fear. They share ideas without worrying whether those ideas are “good enough.” They think creatively, fail without shame, and bounce back with ease. They listen openly and sit comfortably with the differences between them and their classmates. The world, over time, has a way of chipping away at those qualities.

Our job in the Early School is to protect them while they’re still intact, and give your child every opportunity to build on them. To create spaces where those qualities don’t get quietly buried under pressure and self-doubt, but instead get to grow.

Neuroscience has made one thing very clear. The early years are not a warm-up. They are the main event. Brain development in the first years of life happens at a pace that will never be replicated. The connections being made right now are laying the groundwork for everything that comes later. This doesn’t mean you need to get a jumpstart and overschedule your child.

It means that the gentle, wonder-filled, relationship-centered experience of a great early childhood classroom is exactly what your child needs most. Not flashcards. Not test prep. Just curiosity, connection, joy, and guidance.

That is exactly what you will find in our Early School classrooms.

So, as I begin this transition, I know that this shift will challenge me in the best possible way. It will allow me to focus my energy where I believe it matters most. It also reminds me to stay curious alongside the children, to support and learn from the educators doing this work every day, and to keep pushing our thinking about what truly excellent early childhood education looks like. I don’t take that responsibility lightly, and I don’t take it for granted. As I step into this next chapter, I do so with a renewed sense of purpose and the kind of excitement that can only come from being in a place where learning is truly joyful.