We provide quality care to children aged 6 weeks to 5 years, through developmentally appropriate activities, in a safe environment, facilitated by loving teachers trained in Early Childhood Education.

Description:
The first Licensed Plus center in the state, Little Blessings serves 71 children, ranging in age from six weeks to five years old. We have five separate classes, managed by a staff of twenty full time and five part time employees. In addition to teachers and caregivers, there are administrators, a bookkeeper, and a cook. At its inception in 1992, Little Blessings served 24 children with a staff of seven full time and three part time teachers, one administrator, and one part time cook. We have grown in both numbers and quality in the past one and a half decades. We serve the greater seacoast area, with families currently residing in Barrington, Dover, Greenland, Hampton, Newmarket, North Hampton, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Rochester, Rye, Salem, and Stratham, New Hampshire; as well as Berwick, Eliot, Kittery, North Berwick, and South Berwick, Maine. Little Blessings strives to provide quality early education programs and extended day care, with attention to the whole family, in a nurturing environment, with age appropriate activities, prepared and monitored by a staff of professional caregivers, who exemplify a strong moral and ethical nature. The underpinning to this mission is the philosophy that children learn at their own pace, discovering through their environment and through their senses. The staff ensures a safe, fun, and loving environment for the children. They recognize the importance of a child's social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development. We are a full service child care facility, operating Monday through Friday, 6:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., year round. We provide all meals. We enhance our program with special events such as Family Day, Christmas Pageant, field trips, etc.

Little Blessings is an approved Apprenticeship site for the state of New Hampshire. We are members of the Alliance for Better Childcare and the National Association of Episcopal Schools.

History:
Little Blessings is owned by and housed in Christ Episcopal Church. We operate with our own Advisory Board, which includes a Chairperson, two staff representatives, two parent representatives, two parishioners, and two community members.The Director is a non-voting member.We operate with a separate budget. We began in 1992 as the Church felt the need to offer this important, and limited, service to the community. We have grown from 24 children to 71 and have received several prestigious honors, including the Leaders in Caring Award. Our children designed a Market Square Day logo. We have the second highest number of State credentialed teachers in all child care centers in New Hampshire. In a field that is known for high turnover, we boast 6 out of 20 staff members who have been employed here for the full fifteen years. The Director serves on the NH Infant/Toddler Task Force and the NH Senior Mentor Corps. The Director recently received the prestigious NHAEYC Administrator's Award.

Contact people:

Pat Woollett, Director, (phone), (email) Kelly Coleman, Assistant Director, (phone)

Address:

1035 Lafayette Road Portsmouth, NH 03801 (See a map)

Directions:

Little Blessings is a 5 minute drive from the Portsmouth traffic circle. Follow Route 1 South (beaches) out of the traffic circle. (Route 1 is Lafayette Road). We are approximately 2 miles from the circle, on the left, in Christ. . . (more)

Miscellaneous Information

Name of Executive Director (or equivalent) if not listed above:
	Pat Woollett
Type of organization
	Nonprofit 501(c)3
Is your organization a Health and Human Service agency?
	Yes

Overall Experience   
I helped out with the infants with some other kids from my school we had a lot of fun and want to come back again.

I learned that volenteering is very important for your community. I aslo learned that children are alot to take care of and especially when there are 5-6 of them. posted by JC120390 on October 6, 2004