Please review our Enrollment Process above and follow the steps. Our school calendar is August through May, and our enrollment season for the Fall begins in February. We will reach out to families on the Wait List in March with next steps and availability. Please Note: we will reach out to families to fill spots during the school year as they become available throughout the year.

Please review our Enrollment Process above and follow the listed steps. Once the Wait List form is completed, you are confirmed on the Wait List. Note that there will be a small fee associated with this form.

The Nest enrolls students ages 3 through 5 for our mixed-age classrooms. Your child must be 3 years old by the start of the school year (beginning of August). If your child has a birthday later in the fall semester and are still interested in enrolling, please contact our administrative team to discuss options.

In addition to meeting the age requirements for enrollment, you child must be able to toilet independently, and be confident in dressing themselves. Our students spend much of their school day in our outdoor classroom settings. We find that the student’s safety, comfort, and quality of experience is highest when they are confident in these self-care skills prior to attending.

The Nest school year follows a traditional academic calendar from August through May and generally follows the Boerne ISD academic calendar. We recognize the Thanksgiving break, Winter Break, and Spring Break that align with the Boerne ISD calendar. We also have summer programming options from June – August.

The core school day schedule is 8:00am – 3:00pm.
Summer programming is 9:00am – 2:00pm.

Families can expect regular weekly e-newsletters from their classroom teachers with a focus on curriculum for the week, pictures, updates, and important reminders. Additionally, regular emails will be sent from the administration with information as needed. Families will also have opportunities to attend regularly scheduled parent information sessions throughout the year around child development-based topics, as well as opportunities for social gatherings during the school day.

Teachers provide opportunities for student-teacher conferences every semester to discuss student progress and revisit individualized academic and development goals. Staff will accommodate ongoing meetings with parents as needed to ensure that each student’s needs are being fully met.

The health and safety of our students, families, and staff is our highest priority. In addition to our existing high standard for safety and sanitizing on our site, we have created additional protocols to engage our school community in addressing additional COVID-19 considerations. We have increased daily and weekly cleaning and sanitizing protocols, implemented physical distancing, limited personnel access for our site, increased our time spent in outdoor learning and play, plus many additional steps.

Read our COVID Policy HERE.

Our regular school day hours are from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. Students arrive between 7:50am and 8:00am and after checking in with their teachers will spend the first part of their day outside exploring our diverse outdoor learning areas with their classmates. Classes will then come together for Circle Time to discuss their lessons, plan, and schedule for the day. School will provide a nutritious morning snack before classes venture on their hike to explore the prairie, splash in the creek, visit the chickens in the teaching garden, play in the mud area, or one of the other unique natural spaces at the Cibolo. After lunch in their covered classroom porch, students will have an opportunity to explore their classroom centers and art spaces and have 1:1 time with their teachers to further their independent learning plans. Students will finish their day outdoors at one of our outdoor learning areas.

At the Nest, we support establishing healthy habits and growth for whole child development. The school will provide a nutritious morning snack for students, and families will provide a lunch for their student. We encourage families to pack wholesome, healthy, and hearty lunches for their child to make sure they have plenty of energy for our day. The Nest is able to support and accommodate student dietary needs and restrictions.

At the Nest we go outside every day and believe that being outdoors and understanding how to adapt and prepare for all weather (cold, rain, heat) is paramount to the resilience and a beneficial learning experience for our students. Of course, this requires partnership with our families to provide appropriate seasonal clothing including a warm jacket, hat and gloves, raincoat, boots, etc.

Our students’ safety is our highest priority. In cases of inclement or extreme weather, we will adapt our day to be inside as necessary to support the comfort, safety, and experience of our students and staff.

Our curriculum is based on a play-based and child-centered model that weaves academics into play and nature. We may visit the creek and investigate water levels to evaluate short and long-term trends, play in the mud and improvise counting opportunities with frogs, or jump on rocks along the creek to engage counting, balance, and coordination. Our experienced teachers prioritize dedicated daily one-on-one time with each student to advance individualized learning and skill-building.

Our curriculum is customized with attributes from Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and Waldorf methodologies, all integrated to support extended learning opportunities, authentic challenges and skills building, and individualized learning that stems from students’ innate curiosity.