St. Paul Early Childhood Center is a Christian preschool and child care center that is open to our community in Ann Arbor and the surrounding areas. We offer two programs and have two separate locations. SPECC Liberty Campus is located at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor's old west side and offers an infant/toddler program and a preschool program. SPECC Earhart is located on the campus of St. Paul Lutheran School in northeast Ann Arbor and offers a preschool program. Liberty enrolls children from the ages of 6 weeks to 5 years. Earhart has a three-year-old class and a four-year-old class and accepts children from the ages of 2 1/2 to 5 years. Both locations provide a variety of scheduling options to accomodate the needs of children and their families. Please check our campus links to find out more about the programs at each of our sites.

Philosophy

St. Paul functions in the capacity of assisting parents by providing a Christian, caring, and loving environment. We strive to create a safe, clean, nurturing atmosphere, where a child can grow physically, socially, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.

A play-based program is provided where developmentally appropriate practices are designed to help each child learn according to his/her ability. It is the philosophy of SPECC that children learn though exploration and play. Children should be given time and opportunity to: interact with materials and objects, explore and use their natural curiosity, to learn about the world, and develop social skills through interactions with others. Play-enriched environments result in an individual who can think and process information. Because children learn through hands-on activities, we believe they should be allowed to experience a variety of activities throughout the day. We recognize that children are at various stages and abilities. Children are allowed to choose their own activities within a wide range of offerings, as well as participate in teacher guided activities.

As a Christian center, we provide a moral and spiritual emphasis. This stems from a Christ-centered atmosphere due to Christ's example as our guide for daily living. Mixed aged groups, which stay together for as long as three years with the same group of caregivers, create long-term bonds between teachers and aides. Positive interactions result from this nurturing atmosphere.

History

St. Paul Early Childhood Center is a non-profit Christian school, administered under the direction of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Our school has been in operation since 1987. It beagan at Liberty Street as a program for infants and toddlers. It expanded to include a preschool at Liberty in 1992 and a second preschool at Earhart Road in 2005. All programs are licensed by the state of Michigan.