Program Details

Our Philosophical Approach

A Bit About us…

We Are Play-Based
At West End Village School, we believe that play is the work of childhood. It is when children are deeply engaged in curiosity-driven and self-directed play, both independently and with their peers, that they are positioned to do their best learning.

We Are Child-Centered
We believe that each child comes to us with a unique set of strengths, challenges, interests and skills, and that it is our job as teachers to support all children on their own educational journey, and social & emotional development.

We Are Reggio-Inspired
We believe that children are naturally curious, capable, and driven to learn. It is our work as teachers to collaboratively construct knowledge, to observe and document, and to reflect the children’s learning process. We believe that the classroom itself is a primary teacher, and so we select each material, and design each element of our environment to appropriately and continually challenge and engage our students as they pursue their emerging curiosities and develop their favorite skills and play style. Learn more about the Reggio Emilia Approach here...

We Are Community-Focused
We believe that respect and appreciation for cultural diversity and the natural world are learned values, and so we work daily to model kindness, patience, understanding, open-mindedness, positive communication and problem-solving. Our classroom serves as one of our young students’ first opportunities to practice regularly being in community with others and so we approach this work with care, intention, and compassion. We believe that Black Lives Matter, and we teach anti-racism and social justice actively, in a developmentally appropriate way. We expect that families who enroll in our program support and continue this important work at home as well.

We Are Research-Based

We care deeply about providing children with the highest quality care and education, and so our teachers are committed to keeping up with the latest research on child development, and teaching and learning. We engage in regular professional development to stay up-to-date and evolve our practice as educators based on our ever-growing knowledge, and what we experience daily in the classroom.

We Are State Licensed

As required by law in the State of Maine, West End Village School is licensed through Maine’s Division of Health & Human Services’ Office of Child & Family Services: Children’s Licensing & Investigation Services. We are classified as a Small Childcare Facility, and our licensing rules and regulations can be found at Maine.gov HERE in PDF form, and is translated into many of the languages commonly spoken in Maine, including Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and more.

Our Teaching Team

Josephine Roberts
Founder, Director & Co-Teacher

Josephine is a veteran early childhood educator, a teacher & parent educator, and an artist, designer and toy-maker. With a background in play-based, Reggio-Inspired teaching and program development, Josephine brings an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the arts & sciences through hands on learning experiences that are driven by the children’s emerging curiosities and evolving skills. Josephine holds a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Psychology, and an Interdisciplinary Master of Education degree with a concentration in Personality & Learning Style, both from the University of Vermont.

"After nearly twenty years of teaching and learning in a diversity of high-quality early education programs, it brings me great joy to put the knowledge and experience I have gained into action in my own program every single day. I consciously designed West End Village School to reflect the teaching practices and theories I have found most effective in creating nurturing, engaging and playful learning environments for young children to thrive and grow into the most authentic versions of themselves."

Dylan Roberts
School Chef, Facilities Manager
& Part Time Co-TEACHER

Dylan has been part of the WEVS team since day one, shaping our food program through his creative and nutritious school meals, managing our tech needs and school gardens, and tending to a multitude of behind-the-scenes tasks. He is a jack-of-all trades with a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from the University of Vermont who’s passion for life-long-learning has slowly brought him from the kitchen to the classroom. As a parent of a now preschooler, Dylan is excited to step out from behind the counter and into his new role as co-teacher, helping our young students learn how to ask questions, think deeply, explore widely, build their favorite skills, and seek out their truth. Before officially joining our team, Dylan spent many years crafting menus and cooking for the infants-preschoolers at Youth & Family Outreach.

Sarah Bickard
Full Time Co-TEACHER

Sarah comes to the West End Village School with more than 15 years' experience in early childhood care, most recently at a small local preschool. A native of Falmouth, Sarah attended college at Mount Holyoke, where she majored in English and Latin with a minor in Early Childhood Education. Sarah believes in the power of play-based, experiential learning, and enjoys fostering hands-on experiences with children through activities such as gardening, cooking, yoga (Sarah is a certified instructor), and dance. She also loves reading time and telling stories and inherited a knowledge and love of birds, books, gardening and sustainability from her parents. As a teacher, she believes her role is to observe and ask questions and she works hard to really get to know each of her students. She considers it such a gift to be able to watch each child learn how to be a little person. Sarah recognizes the value of a robust early childhood education program, and participates in early childhood continuing education programs each semester. She also participates in regular trainings in mindfulness practice and is eager to share what she learns with her students to help with social-emotional development and resiliency.

Tabitha Gould
Part Time Co-Teacher
& waiting list manager

Tabitha received an Associates in Early Childhood Education from Greenfield Community College while working as an Ed Tech in a local public elementary school. She fell in love with early childhood education. Tabitha brings a wealth of experience, having had the opportunity to work in a Waldorf school as well as three Reggio Emilia inspired schools both in Maine and Massachusetts over the past 16 years. Tabitha relishes her role as researcher and learner right alongside the children. She especially enjoys the links between literature and art, and enjoys sharing that love in the classroom, as well as in The Studio where she leads our monthly Community Story Hour program.

Hope Kelley
Full Time Co-Teacher

Hope joined the WEVS team at the beginning of the 2023 school year after moving to Portland from Boston in early summer. She has her degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Massachusetts Boston, and taught in centers in and around Boston for over 5 years. She has been babysitting for as long as she can remember, and knew from a very young age that working with children was her passion! Hope loves sharing stories and art projects with our kiddos in the classroom, in our afterschool playgroup, which she co-teaches with Josephine & Dylan, and in our Parent’s Night Out and Maker Morning Weekend Workshops.

Kathy Carr
Part time co-teacher

(photo coming soon)
Kathy joined the WEVS team in September 2024, and comes to us with a wealth of teaching experience with young children, in Reggio-Inspired programs and more across the country and even abroad! We are thrilled to have her on our team this year, and look forward to sharing more about Kathy soon!