For over 17 years the Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington has supported the town’s parents, grandparents and early childhood educators. From our first large initiative - advocating for all-day kindergarten, to more recent projects, the focus is on collaborating to ensure Southington’s children are healthy and prepared to learn through advocacy, programs, resources, and support.
This 2023 Year in Review video provides the highlights of the activities we did this year.
The ECCS has been supported through generous grants from local foundations. For example, this month the ECCS received funding through the Southington Community Well-Being Grant Initiative from the Bradley Henry Barnes & Leila Upson Barnes Memorial Trust at the Main Street Community Foundation. This grant will help fund the ECCS’s health, safety, and well-being initiatives in 2024.
Receiving financial contributions from individuals like you helps fund our operations and allows us to show our larger funders that there is strong community support for this work. Please consider making a financial gift to the ECCS and help us support Southington’s youngest citizens and their caregivers. Together we are truly a Collaborative of Southington.
The time to start the search for a part-day school-year based preschool programs for children who will start in the fall of 2024 is now. Registration for new students at most programs in town opens in January.
The Southington Public School District's preschool will accept applications for community peers starting on January 2nd. Registration at the Southington Community YMCA also opens on January 2nd. Other options include Village Green Nursery School, Zion Lutheran Nursery School, St. Luke Catholic School and Bright Beginnings Child Care Center and Nursery School.
If your child is attending a full-day, year-round childcare center then they do not need to also attend a nursery school program as the centers offer a preschool curriculum.
The ECCS lists all your Preschool Options on our website.
Note that the cut-off date to start kindergarten was changed to September 1st as of fall of 2024. Nursery school programs are still allowed to follow the January 1st cut-off date, although this may vary by program. This means that children with fall birthdays who start in a PreK-3 program before they are three will not be able to move up to kindergarten after two years of preschool without an exception. Families in this situation will need to decide if they will look at the January 1st cut-off (and thus do 3 years of preK) or the September 1st cut-off (starting a year later) when making the decision to start preK for their child.
Other Programs
Southington High School Child Development Lab has started a new Winter Story Time for children 3-5 years old and their parents/guardians in January. Details about this free program and the registration link are here.
The Family Resource Center of Southington and the Southington Public Library also offer a variety of programs for children and their caregivers.
The Child and Family Development Program at UConn Health’s Southington location is offering several multi-week parenting groups for parents and guardians of children and teens. Learn more, the next sessions start on January 17th.
We hope to see you at the ECCS's Laundry and Laughs Playdate on January 4th, 10:30 am to noon at Super Suds Laundromat or at the ECCS Office Hours at Southington Public Library on January 8, 2024 from 9 to 11:30 and January 19, 2024, 9:30 am to noon.
Thanks to everyone who supported the Early Childhood Collaborative in 2023, attended one of our programs and met us at a community event.
We wish you and your family a safe and healthy 2024.
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Copyright © 2023 Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington, all rights reserved.
Our mailing address:
Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington
PO Box 210
Southington, CT 06489-0210