Quick Comparison #
| School | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Westminster School for Young Children | Founded 1946, NAEYC accredited against the 10 Program Standards, Tennessee Department of Human Services Three-Star rating, current Tennessee licensing under TCA 71-3-501 | Play-based curriculum, play centers, journaling, creative projects, science experiments, outdoor exploration, gardening, music, dramatic play, ages one through five |
| St. George's Kindergarten | Operating since 1950, NAEYC Developmentally Appropriate Practices alignment, Tennessee DHS licensing under TCA 71-3-501, largest Episcopal-affiliated preschool in the country | Developmentally Appropriate Practices, music, Spanish, outdoor learning specialist tracks, Christian formation alongside academic preparation, ages one through five |
| First Presbyterian Church Early Preschool | NAEYC accreditation since 2014, Tennessee Department of Human Services Child Care Licensing under TCA 71-3-501, Reggio-Inspired pedagogy with Creative Curriculum framework | Reggio-Inspired projects, Creative Curriculum implementation, social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and spiritual development, ages eighteen months through five |
Selecting a preschool in Nashville for a three- to five-year-old is a different decision from choosing infant daycare or a Montessori primary program. The benchmarks that separate a serious early childhood program from a converted Mother’s Day Out are standardized: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation against the body’s 10 Program Standards, current Tennessee Department of Human Services Child Care Licensing under TCA 71-3-501, and a published curriculum approach grounded in either Reggio Emilia practice, project-based work in the Lilian Katz tradition, or play-based pedagogy aligned with NAEYC developmentally appropriate practice. Each of the three schools profiled below clears all three bars and carries a founding history measured in decades rather than years.
Davidson County tuition tiers, classroom hours, and waiting list policies vary across these programs, and Tennessee VPK Voluntary Pre-K funding applies only to a narrow subset of public partner classrooms rather than to the private faith-based preschools that dominate the West End and Belle Meade corridors. Parents weighing a fall enrollment cycle should confirm tour dates, sibling preference policies, and current tuition directly with each school. The three programs below were selected for verifiable NAEYC accreditation, named curriculum approach, and continuous operating history of fifty years or more.
1. Westminster School for Young Children #
Founded in 1946 when Wilfred Fischer opened Nashville’s first Protestant kindergarten on the grounds of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Westminster School for Young Children is the longest-running early childhood program profiled here and one of the oldest in Middle Tennessee. The school began with 45 children in a single classroom in 1947, moved into a purpose-built facility in 1998, and merged its Toddlers and Twos program with Westminster Kindergarten in September 2010 to form the current Westminster School for Young Children. Director Logan Lyman oversees a staff of more than 40 teachers and administrators serving nearly 300 children today.
NAEYC Accreditation and Three-Star State Rating #
The school carries accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children and a Three-Star rating from the Tennessee Department of Human Services, which together represent the two highest external benchmarks available to a Tennessee early childhood program. NAEYC accreditation is awarded against the body’s 10 Program Standards covering relationships, curriculum, teaching, assessment of child progress, health, teaching staff qualifications, families, community relationships, physical environment, and leadership and management. The Three-Star rating reflects continuous DHS review against staff-to-child ratios, group size, and program quality criteria above the state licensing floor.
Play-Based Curriculum and Christian Outreach Mission #
Curriculum design at the school rests on a stated belief that children learn best in an environment that promotes and values play. Classrooms operate through play centers, group and individual play activity, journaling, creative projects, science experiments, and field trips, with outdoor exploration, gardening, music, dramatic play, water tables, and reading nooks supporting social, emotional, and physical development. The program serves children from age one through age five and continues to operate as an outreach mission of Westminster Presbyterian Church. The school sits at 3900 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN 37205, and runs Monday hours of 8:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with Tuesday through Friday hours extending to 2:00 p.m. Reach the school at (615) 297-0235.
https://www.wsycnashville.org/
2. St. George’s Kindergarten #
Operating since 1950 as the largest outreach of St. George’s Episcopal Church, St. George’s Kindergarten serves children from age one through age five on the Harding Road corridor and is frequently cited as the largest Episcopal-affiliated preschool in the country. The seventy-five-plus-year operating history places the program among the oldest continuously running early childhood centers in Davidson County, with a Board of Directors structure that gives the school institutional continuity beyond the tenure of any single head. Lella Wilbanks chairs the current Board.
Developmentally Appropriate Practices Aligned to NAEYC #
Curriculum at the kindergarten is rooted in Developmentally Appropriate Practices, the NAEYC-defined framework that calibrates teaching decisions to what is known about child development, what is known about each individual child, and what is known about the social and cultural contexts in which children live. DAP alignment shapes classroom design, materials selection, teacher-child interaction, and the assessment approach the school uses to track growth across the one-to-five age range. Christian formation runs alongside academic preparation as a stated program element rather than a curriculum overlay added after the fact.
Music, Spanish, and Outdoor Learning Specialist Programs #
Beyond the homeroom classroom, the program runs specialist tracks in music, Spanish, and outdoor learning that give children consistent exposure to a second language and to nature-based instruction across the school year. The combination of a faith-based homeroom anchor with secular specialist programs is a feature parents tour for specifically, and the depth of the specialist roster reflects the size of the operation. The school sits at 4715 Harding Road, Nashville, TN 37205. Reach the program at (615) 269-9712.
3. First Presbyterian Church Early Preschool #
Located on the grounds of First Presbyterian Church Nashville, First Presbyterian Church Early Preschool operates as an outreach of the church’s Children and Families Ministry and serves children eighteen months through five years. Director Brenda Lutz, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Elementary Education from the State University of New York at Potsdam, leads the program with Assistant Director Mary Carter. The program has held National Association for the Education of Young Children accreditation since 2014 and operates under current Tennessee Department of Human Services Child Care Licensing.
Reggio-Inspired Approach and Creative Curriculum Implementation #
Pedagogy at the program is Reggio-Inspired, drawing on the Northern Italian educator approach that treats every child as capable, competent, and rich in potential. Teachers introduce projects driven by observed child interests, allowing children to learn through art, nature, and music rather than through a fixed scope-and-sequence imposed from above. The Creative Curriculum, a research-based framework widely adopted in NAEYC-accredited classrooms across the country, runs in every Early Preschool classroom and provides the structural scaffolding that supports the Reggio-Inspired project work.
Christian Formation Across Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Domains #
The program is built to support social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and spiritual development in a Christian environment, with classroom practice woven into the broader ministry life of the church rather than running as a separate enterprise. Candyee Goode handles administrative management of the program inside the church’s staff structure. The Early Preschool sits at 4815 Franklin Pike, Nashville, TN 37220. Reach the program at (615) 298-9580.
https://fpcnashville.org/ministry/ep
How to Evaluate a Nashville Preschool Before Enrollment #
Three questions separate a credentialed early childhood program from a converted church basement, and parents touring for a fall enrollment cycle should ask each on the first visit.
Are you NAEYC accredited, and when was your last reaccreditation review? NAEYC accreditation runs on a five-year cycle and requires program-wide compliance with the body’s 10 Program Standards, on-site validator visits, and continuous self-study documentation. A program advertising NAEYC membership rather than NAEYC accreditation is using a different and lesser credential. Ask for the accreditation certificate and the expiration date.
What is your Tennessee DHS Star Rating, and what is your current licensed capacity? Tennessee operates a Three-Star Quality Rating System layered on top of base licensing under TCA 71-3-501, and a Three-Star rating represents the highest tier. Star ratings reflect staff-to-child ratios, group size, teacher education, and assessment practice beyond the licensing floor. A program operating at base licensure without a star rating is meeting minimum state requirements rather than quality benchmarks.
What curriculum framework do you use, and how do teachers document child progress? Reggio-Inspired, project-based, and play-based programs each have a defensible research base, but the answer parents should listen for is specific rather than generic. The Creative Curriculum, HighScope, and Bank Street are the three frameworks most commonly named in NAEYC-accredited Nashville classrooms, and any of the three pairs cleanly with developmentally appropriate practice. A program that cannot name a framework on the first tour is improvising.
Tennessee Voluntary Pre-K funding under the state VPK statute reaches selected public-private partner classrooms rather than the broader private preschool field, so families pricing the three programs above should expect to pay full private tuition without state subsidy. For households weighing a faith-based program against a secular Montessori or independent school option, the NAEYC accreditation status and the named curriculum approach are the two benchmarks that travel cleanly across philosophical lines and let parents compare programs on substance rather than on tour-day atmospherics.
Selection Methodology #
Preschool selection in Davidson County turns on three signals: current Tennessee DHS Child Care Licensing under TCA 71-3-501 with Star-Quality Rating visible, NAEYC National Association for the Education of Young Children accreditation against the body’s 10 Program Standards, and a named curriculum framework (Reggio Emilia practice, project-based Lilian Katz tradition, Creative Curriculum, HighScope, Bank Street, or play-based pedagogy aligned with NAEYC developmentally appropriate practice). The three schools above each carry NAEYC accreditation, hold current DHS licensing with Star-Quality Rating where claimed, document a curriculum framework by name with director-level coursework lineage, run fifty-plus years of continuous Nashville operation, publish parent-handbook detail at the policy level (drop-off routine, transition support, observation conferences), and tie the school to a verifiable Davidson or Williamson County address. Pop-up unaccredited programs without DHS licensing were excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: How was each school verified?
A: Each school was checked against NAEYC accreditation (distinct from member affiliation) on a five-year reaccreditation cycle, current Tennessee Department of Human Services Child Care Licensing under TCA 71-3-501, DHS Three-Star Quality Rating where claimed, named curriculum framework such as Reggio-Inspired, Creative Curriculum, HighScope, or Bank Street, NAEYC Developmentally Appropriate Practices alignment, verifiable Nashville street address, and a published curriculum scope on the school’s own website.
Q: What sets these three apart from the broader Nashville preschool field?
A: NAEYC accreditation (not just NAEYC membership, which is a checkbox) sits behind each program above on a five-year reaccreditation cycle, which is the most meaningful third-party quality marker in early childhood education. Past accreditation, the functional differentiators are teacher credential mix (CDA, AA in ECE, BA in ECE share across the lead-teacher roster), Tennessee DHS Three-Star Quality Rating status, and curriculum framework continuity (Reggio-Inspired, Creative Curriculum, HighScope, or Bank Street) implemented through dated lesson planning rather than as a marketing label.
Q: Are any of the three schools paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No school sponsored placement.
Q: How should I prepare for a first appointment, lesson, or booking?
A: Bring a written list of goals or scope items, any relevant prior records or experience levels, a list of dates and constraints, and questions about pricing, schedule, cancellation, and progress measurement. Request a written agreement or enrollment form before signing.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.