For more than 35 years Hilltop has provided high quality, child-centered, early childhood education for 2-10 year olds in our pre-school and after school programs. Hilltop is a magical place for learning and a vital component of our community’s early learning network.

Description:
Our work is based on the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. In these schools for young children, each child’s intellectual, emotional, social, and moral potential is carefully cultivated and guided. The principal educational vehicle involves children in long-term engrossing projects, which are carried out in a beautiful, healthy, love-filled setting. We believe that all children have remarkable capabilities and have a right to a childhood filled with play, exploration, and excitement about learning. We implement anti-bias practices and an inclusion of diversity which does not stereotype, trivialize, or objectify. We seek a team approach in our caregiving and teaching, and strive for collaboration with families and the wider community. We see children as enormously creative, and capable of complex learning through self-directed play. We strive to foster an emergent curriculum, one that arises out of the children’s interests and responses to the prepared classroom environment and experiences.

History:
In late fall 2006, Hilltop received notice it is losing its lifelong home atop Queen Anne and must relocate. We are in the final stages of a remodel of our new home, at 4 Nickerson along the ship canal. In order to be able to open our doors on January 2, 2008, we will need hundreds of hours of volunteer labor in December 2007 to finish the project.

Contact people:

Jamie Flaxman, Special Projects Manager, (phone), (email) Ilene Stark, Program Director, (phone), (email) Julie Hankes, Administrative Assistant, (phone), (email)

Address:

2400 - 8th Ave. W Seattle, WA 98119 This location is handicap accessible (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.hilltopcc.org

Miscellaneous Information

Liability
	No
Does your organization welcome court-ordered community service volunteers?
	No
Does your organization have volunteer positions for youth 12-18?
	No