Westminster Child Care Center

Westminster Child Care Center is a private, non-profit preschool serving children from 6 weeks to five years of age, serving approximately 80 children. The center, for over 43 years, has upheld its mission to serve a very diverse community.We are located one block from UVA. We hire educated individuals who want to make a commitment to the goals of our child development center and will embrace our Project Work/Reggio Inspired philosophy and participation in the Virginia Star Quality Initiative (VSQI). Our emergent curriculum is child-based and focuses on intense hands-on experiences. This approach begins in the toddler classrooms and helps stimulate community and awareness among every age. An important piece of our program is family participation in lessons, field trips and projects.

Our educational philosophy is based on project work & the Reggio Emilia approach. Our emergent curriculum is child-based and focuses on intense hands-on experiences. This approach begins in the toddler classrooms and helps stimulate community and awareness among every age. An important piece of our program is family participation in lessons, field trips and projects.

We currently enroll a range of 80-90 children in our seven rooms. Child-staff ratios vary within each of the seven classrooms, but are well below state licensing limits. Each classroom is designed to serve children of a particular age range. Our teachers have various educational backgrounds such as a 4 year degree in a child related field, master credits in Education, a 2 year Early Childhood Certificate, a CDA (Child Development Associate National Credentialing Program), and/or various years of experience working with children. All of our teachers receive continuous early childhood training and meet or exceed training requirements set by Licensing. As a non-profit center, our staff salaries are funded by tuition fees. We strive to retain quality staff by providing fair wages and benefits. We also employ two full-time floating teachers that fill in for teachers' illnesses and vacations and/or provide extra help to the classrooms during the day.

WCCC employs some college students as part-time afternoon floats to provide extra help to our classrooms and support classrooms as the 7:30 a.m. teachers leave for the day. They are trained in the philosophy of the center and count in licensing ratios.