Chronquiry: What is the school behind 300 Swift?

Where do Duke’s faculty, staff and graduate students drop off their young children when they are working?

Some send their children to The Little School at Duke, which is located on Hull Avenue behind Swift Apartments. The school acts as a full-day preschool and child development center for children of Duke faculty, staff, graduate students and anyone determined to be a Duke benefit eligible member by the University, according to its website.

The school serves around 175 children ages 12 weeks to six years old. It is an independent company but contracted to serve Duke families, according to Heather Rose, director of The Little School.

“[The children] spend most of their days here, not at home, and so immediately our world is Duke,” Rose said.

They frequent many on-campus locations, from the Nasher Museum of Art, the Rubenstein Center for the Arts and Duke Gardens. Laura Haslam, assistant director of The Little School, said that staff want children to be able to “ask questions and meet lots of different kinds of people.”

“We all get out in the community, our babies go in wagons, and they go to East Campus … they meet and interact with students,” Rose said.

This Durham location is The Little School’s second campus, according to the website. The first school began in Hillsborough, N.C. in 2005. The former Duke School for Children was renovated to open The Little School at Duke in 2012. 

The school is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to education. Rose says the approach, which is one of their Five Big Ideas, involves “showing children that they are capable and competent, can make their own decisions on their own opinions, can take care of others and that they can express their ideas in as many ways as possible.” The other ideas are conscious discipline, portfolios and observations, natural play and nourishment.