SIDC works tirelessly to create a community where families, staff, and students treat each other with respect. We do this by constantly evolving, allowing for the integration of new ideas, and focusing on tolerance, compassion, and appreciation of our differences. Teamwork between these stakeholders allows us to collaborate and create culturally competent networks and partnerships. SIDC takes pride in our ability to instill reliability and integrity in our students by teaching them to be moral agents, active members of democracy, and responsible, fair, and altruistic problem-solving citizens of the future. Both our staff and our families are expected to role-model these behaviors for our students and one another. SIDC’s education is geared toward not only well-rounded academic skills, but also teaching life-long, independent and interpersonal skills. Our teachers, Early Education professionals, teach interdisciplinary knowledge, inquisitiveness, patience, exploration, autonomy and character-building. We strive to create opportunities for families to extend this learning at home. Our school represents a home-away-from-home for our families and we believe communication and cooperation in parent-school-community partnerships allow us to be the resilient, ever-growing, proactive and understanding Center it is today. We are actively working to serve and continue representing a diverse community of learners and provide a safe, warm, and supportive environment to all those with us. SIDC provides a warm and caring environment to all families regardless of special needs, lifestyles, race, or religious beliefs. To ensure high quality childcare, SIDC’s philosophy rests on seven core principles: -Each child is a unique individual with differing needs, rhythms and rates of development. Interaction with each child takes place in accordance with the child’s own level of maturation and unique temperament. -Children are naturally motivated to learn. SIDC emphasizes a safe and stimulating environment, filled with age-appropriate materials that encourage freedom of exploration and the development of competence. -Children develop a sense of security by learning to trust. We therefore stress the importance of consistency and appropriate responses to the child’s expressed needs. -One of the prime ways children learn is through their interactions with the people around them. To this end we attempt to integrate children and staff of diverse backgrounds. -The best group care setting for a child’s development is one that closely models care given in the home and supports each child’s primary caregivers, their parent(s). We work to accomplish this through close contact with parents and parent participation. -Children develop a valuable self-concept when respect and consideration are used on a daily basis in interactions. -Small group size, as well as low child-to-staff ratios, help encourage a warm loving environment.