Calvary Young Children's School is a ministry of Calvary United Methodist Church. The school began in the fall of 1968 with three classes (3-,4-, and 5-year olds), 29 children, two teachers, and one director/teacher. Calvary Young Children's School was granted a license in 1968 by the Tennessee Department of Human Services, and it has been awarded a license every year since then.
A Mother's Day Out program was started in 1973, and it provided care for those children whose ages ranged from ten months old to three years old. Mother's Day Out (later called Parent's Day Out) and Young Children's School were combined in 1979, but retained their own identities, under the umbrella name "Weekday Ministries for Young Children." In 2001, the name "Young Children's School" replaced "Weekday Ministries for Young Children," and all children since that time have attended Young Children's School.
The school grew over the years in the following ways: number of children enrolled; age span of children served; and types of programs offered. Before Care, After Care, and a pre-kindergarten class were added during the 1980s, and the size of Young Children's School grew to 20 teachers and more than 100 children by 1988. In 2008, the minimum age for enrolling in the school was lowered from ten months to six weeks.
Calvary Young Children's School was first accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) in 1997. Although recently choosing to not continue its NAEYC accreditation, the school still follows NAEYC guidelines. Since the introduction of the Tennessee Department of Human Services' Environment Rating Scale in 2001, the school has achieved the highest rating (3 stars) every year.
In 2012, Calvary Young Children's School has an enrollment of 161 children and a staff of 33 dedicated teachers and administrators. Much has changed since 1968, but one feature that has never changed is our ministry to provide quality education in a safe, nurturing environment.