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Almaden Parents’ Pre-school was founded in 1969 by
a group of parents in south San Jose who wanted to participate in their
children’s
early childhood education. They formulated a philosophy that was based
on sequential development. The parents wanted to be there with the
teachers to witness the discoveries and learning that would take place.
Together, parents and teachers would create an environment that would
be happy, safe, and secure so that the children could grow physically,
emotionally, socially and intellectually. The school opened in September
1969 at its present location with 72 member families.
APPS continues to develop the whole child through the dedication of
its teachers and the active participation of parents.
After 30 years of dedication to APPS, parent participant,
teacher and Director Nancy Fraser retired in 2009. Nancy had taken
over the position of Director in 2004 from Betsy Ding, who had taught
at APPS since 1975 and whose family is still part of APPS. Nancy
was recognized with awards and accolades including Teacher of the Year
by the California Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools and
an Honorary Life Achievement Award for signficant devotion to the parent
participation movement.
In 2009, our wonderful 2-Day / 4-Day teacher and Assistant
Director, Sanyoo Bharadwaj, was excited to step into the role
of Director. We were fortunate in our opportunity to hire a former
APPS participating parent, Angela MacEwen, as Assistant Director and
teacher for our Two-Timers and 3-Day classes.
Sanyoo A Bharadwaj, Director,
2-Day and 4-Day Teacher
Sanyoo brought us unique vision and experience when she began teaching
at APPS in 2004. She became Assistant Director in 2006 and then Director
in 2009. Sanyoo Bharadwaj has a BA from India and has done her Early
Childhood Education Certificate through UC Santa Cruz. . She was a parent
participant and board member at Eastside Parent Participating Nursery
School for three years. Her years at EPPNS gave her an enduring passion
for nurturing the growth and development of young children.
After her daughter’s
graduation from EPPNS, she stayed on as a teacher. Sanyoo has taught
as a substitute teacher at Mulberry School- in their elementary and pre-school
program, while her daughter was enrolled there. She is currently a
Parent participant in her daughter's middle school program at Discovery
Charter School.
During the pursuit of her vocation as an early childhood
educator, Sanyoo has consistently worked in helping these programs
advocate the creation of a community to support the “whole child”.
'A child's work is play', is her mantra. She has been married to Rajesh,
her husband of twenty five years. She is the proud mother of Nupur,
an eighth grader with a passion for singing Operatic arias and show
tunes.
Sanyoo will continue to enrich her APPS experience by teaching
the 2-Day and 4-Day classes.
Angela MacEwen, Assistant Director,
Two-Timers and 3-Day Teacher
Angela is a former participating parent, having attended APPS
from 2004-2006 with her youngest daughter Lia. In her two years as
a participating parent she served as both a committee member and Chairperson
for the Santa Saturday event.
Angela holds an AA
degree from San Jose City College in Early Childhood Education with
infant toddler and montessori certificates and is currently working
towards an Child Studies degree at West Valley, specializing in Adult
Education and Supervision of Childcare professionals. She has always known
that her passion was teaching pre-school aged children. She strongly believes
that the pre-school experience is a golden opportunity to instill a
life-long sense of curiosity, wonderment, and joy in children.
Angela has
taught in several pre-schools both academic/learning based and developmental/play
based. She has taught at Dixon Daycare and preschool, the JCC, Early
Start and has most recently served as a mentoring teacher at the World
of Discovery, a pre-school lab for Saratoga High School students interested
in child development. These experiences have shaped her philosophy
in teaching the "whole child" and the co-op as the ultimate place for
families to learn and grow together. During breaks from teaching, Angela
has been a nanny for three different families and has been involved in
many community organizations such as Las Madres, YMCA and Music Together.
Angela
is married to Chris, her husband of fifteen years, and has two daughters,
Terra, age 13 and Lia, age 8.
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