Our Philosophy
Your child comes first in the warm, caring atmosphere of CPI. The primary goals of our program are for your child to feel good about himself/herself and to enjoy school. CPI’s teachers enthusiastically support your child’s curiosity and creativity while teaching skills such as listening, following directions, getting along with others, sharing, making choices, and following classroom rules. Each day your child will explore and create by participating in art, sensory, science, music, dramatic play, free play, outdoor play, manipulatives, and blocks.
Primary Goal
CPI’s primary goal is to support all our children by creating caring and inclusive social play environments that can naturally promote child development in all areas of learning. Literacy, math, social studies, science, music and arts are all emphasized through a framework of play and hands-on experiences. We want all of our children to enjoy coming to school each day, and develop positive feelings about themselves, their community, and the choices they make!
- Self Discovery & Independence
- Communicating with Others
- Development of Self-Help Skills
- Good Safety Habits
- Sharing with Others
- Respecting Others
- Self-Control
- Self-Expression
- Fine & Gross Motor Skill Development
- Following Directions
- Learning to Work in a Classroom Atmosphere
- Listening to Others
Physical Development
Children learn most easily through guided play activities. Through the use of crayons, finger paints, building blocks, glue, scissors, and seasonal outdoor activities, our children are exposed to excellent opportunities for the early development of small and large muscles and hand-eye coordination.
Intellectual Development
Listening to stories, poems and records, sharing ideas through discussions, play acting, finger plays, games and short field trips all help in the intellectual development of our children. They develop and strengthen their powers of observation, concentration, imagination, and memory. The children are encouraged to think creatively, distinguish between things that are real and things imaginary, and to express their opinions of objects and ideas. Field trips with the group to places of interest and similar activities help to broaden their experiences and add to their self-confidence and independence. Their memories are sharpened by activities involving the recounting of the new experiences they have at CPI.
Social Development
Our children get their first lessons in community living at CPI by becoming contributing members of the group. They learn to share, take turns, help their companions, receive help from others, interact with other children to achieve common goals without causing friction and follow as well as lead the group. They learn to share experiences through their conversations with others, to listen while others talk and that it can be fun to contribute to group conversations.
Emotional Development
Teachers and participating parents make children feel wanted, loved, and secure in what is for many their first experience away from home for any length of time. The preschool provides our children with a receptive and constructive forum for the expression of their feelings. We work to help them enhance their individuality, confidence, and self-assurance, while exposing them to group rules. They learn self-control, self-reliance, and are provided with opportunities to make choices. Consideration for others is always encouraged.
History of CPI
CPI was created in the summer of 1969 to fill the need for a parent participation nursery school in the Centreville area. The forerunner of CPI was a loosely organized cooperative playgroup of two- to four-year-old children. This cooperative was subsequently incorporated as an accredited Virginia non-profit corporation. The name Centreville Preschool, Inc. was adopted at the start of the 1970-71 school year. After a brief period of operation in local homes, the school began holding classes at Ox Hill Baptist Church in Chantilly in September 1971. In 1979, CPI moved to Centreville Methodist Church where it remained until May 1985. CPI then moved to Newgate Blvd. in Centreville, where a great deal of hard work by CPI members transformed a former residence into an excellent cooperative education facility. Those efforts were rewarded when CPI was named Preschool of the Year for 1986/87 and 1990/91 by the Virginia Cooperative Preschool Council (formerly the Northern Virginia Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools)! In 1991, CPI moved to the Utterback House in Historic Centreville, and remained there for over 30 years. In 2022, the school relocated to its current location at Centreville Presbyterian Church, 15450 Lee Hwy.
