Neighborhood-Kids All Local. All for Kids. All the Time.

First Annual Festival of Schools

by Neighborhood-Kids.com3/31/2008 8:31:35 AM

A great selection of resources for parents attended the 2008 Festival of Schools.

On Sunday, March 30, 2008, a variety of local organizations, including Neighborhood-Kids.com, turned out at the Depot Market to take part in the first ever Festival of Schools. The event was organized by the heads of the Fairhaven Girls’ School as a time to gather private schools, preschools, camps and other resources for parents in one place.

About one hundred people came through to the festival, where they could enjoy coffee, juice and cookies as they made their way around the tables, learning about all the great resources for their kids in Bellingham and Whatcom County. Door prizes donated by local businesses were also given out to fair visitors and participants throughout the afternoon.

Susan Donnelly describes the opportunities at her school.

“It was a great first year,” Amanda Werchan of the Fairhaven Girls’ School said. “We’ve had a good response. And one of the things we discovered is that there is a desire to network between the heads of all these schools.”

Susan Donnelly, head of the Whatcom Day Academy, agreed. “This was a great opportunity to share our school with interested families, and also to see what other schools are doing.” Whatcom Day Academy offers a preschool to middle school program that encourages kids to learn through their natural wonder and curiosity about the world, integrating skills in math, science, language, and the arts to help develop their interests.

There was something for everyone at the Festival of Schools, from children’s art programs to Montessori schools to tutoring programs to day camps. Once again, it was great to be reminded of all the great opportunities for learning available for kids in Whatcom County.

The Neighborhood-Kids.com team got some great feedback from parents in our community.

Neighborhood-Kids.com was also excited to have the opportunity to spread the word about this site and some of our new features, like our brand new Neighborhood-Kids.com Forum and our Art in You section, where you can submit digital reproductions of your child’s artwork for display on our homepage.

It was also a treat to get some feedback from parents in person about what they think of this site and its features. But if you weren’t able to stop by the festival, tell us what you think by posting in the forum. You can also visit Contact Us or send an email to info@neighborhood-kids.com.

Hope to see you at the Festival of Schools next year!