
As of Monday, October 24, the Cortes Playschool will be open four days a week.
“We’ll be open Monday to Thursday, 9 AM to 4 PM. This expansion is largely parent driven, especially by parents that have to work and being open for four days gives people an opportunity to actually make a living and have access to affordable childcare,” explained Hannah Schwartzentruber, Playschool Facilitator at Mansons Hall.
“Since we decided to open up more days, I’ve been very touched by the feedback that I’ve had. This is making a huge difference for families on the island. They’ve been telling me that. They’ve been responding and it’s really exciting to be meeting community need.”
Schwartzentruber said parents sometimes respond to her emails with a simple ‘Thank you so much.’ Others drop in to Mansons Hall after hours to let her know exactly what they are looking for and how they feel the Playschool may be an option.
“From my perspective, a large part of what group childcare is about is responsive care and peer to peer interaction. It’s a lot about social development. Kids being comfortable with expressing themselves, advocating for their needs, navigating their environment, and their interactions with each other,” she said.
“In terms of your standard learning domains, we spend a lot of time singing and storytelling and just communicating with each other and that builds language. We talk about numbers a lot. The kids are learning to count, but it’s so much about those social interactions. I think that’s really the benefit, because once kids become comfortable in a learning environment like this, it awakens that innate love of learning and it supports them as they continue to grow and learn about the world around them, whatever that looks like.”

Schwartzentruber doesn’t know when the Playschool was founded, but its license was issued in 1991.
“It’s definitely multi-generational. We’ve got several kids whose parents attended this play school.”
All photos courtesy Hannah Schwartzentruber
Sign-up for Cortes Currents email-out:
To receive an emailed catalogue of articles on Cortes Currents, send a (blank) email to subscribe to your desired frequency:
- Daily, (articles posted during the last 24 hours) – cortescurrents-daily+subscribe@cortes.groups.io
- Weekly Digest cortescurrents – cortescurrents-weekly+subscribe@cortes.groups.io