The Children's Center of the Stanford Community is a parent- and staff-run cooperative for children. At the CCSC, children are provided with a safe learning environment, where they can explore and understand themselves as members of a society outside the center. With this goal in mind, the CCSC focuses on creativity, community building, respect, growth and responsibility, while providing a safe place for the nourishment of these values among its students.
Whether an infant or a toddler, the CCSC strongly believes that play time provides the most significant learning space for children. For this reason, toddlers are given immediate attention, encouraged to develop agency in their decisions and to gain a mastery of complex social skills. Students are nonetheless allowed to develop at their own pace. Classroom activities for toddlers include cooking, science, art, dance, movement and music. Infants are allowed to grow and explore within routines of eating, sleeping, diapering and playing.
The CCSC has a staff of 40 faculty members and currently serves over 160 children. Most of the staff at the center are highly experienced individuals, almost all of whom have from between 15 and 30 years of child-care experience. The CCSC is proudly accredited by the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).