A Safe, Nurturing Environment for our Youngest Learners
Your child’s earliest months shape everything that follows, and at The Hillsboro School, you don’t have to navigate them alone. Partnering with families is more than a philosophy in our infant program — it is the heart of it. We are committed to supporting you with expertise, clarity, and care from the very beginning.
OUR NIDO CLASS
The Hillsboro School’s Nido — Italian for “nest” — reflects the safe, nurturing environment we provide for our youngest learners, from infancy through the time they begin walking independently. Infants are never restricted to swings, bouncers, or high chairs. Instead, they move freely and safely among furniture sized for their bodies, in activities set up to help them discover spatial concepts, learn language, solve simple problems, develop muscle control, and build self-care skills. Because infants move through tremendous developmental growth in a short time, materials are matched to exactly where each child is — shifting, for example, from easy raking grasp toward a developing pincer grip — and rotated regularly so no shelf ever feels crowded with too many choices at once.
Teachers sing and sign to the children throughout the day. Singing supports language development and builds connection as a community, while signing gives infants a way to express their needs before words arrive, easing frustration and deepening trust. We observe and honor each infant’s own sleeping and eating patterns rather than a fixed schedule, following the natural rhythm of their day. Each day, we follow the child. Our guides also partner closely with families to bring this Montessori-inspired approach home, offering practical guidance so the same calm, nurturing foundation infants experience at school continues in their daily life. This collaboration allows each child’s growth to be supported everywhere they are — not just within our walls. We recognize an infant’s ability to communicate their needs, their freedom to move their body, and their unique role in our community.
Our Nido program serves students as early as 6 weeks old and has an Infant to Guide ratio of 3:1.
“The greatness of human life begins at the hour of birth.” — Maria Montessori