For 30 years, St. Margaret's Nursery School has been nurturing young children. The nursery school is an outreach mission of St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, 150 Elm St., Emmaus.

The school is staffed by a director, teachers, assistants and volunteers.

Judy McKay was the original director of the nursery school when it opened 30 years ago. The current director is Linda Reinbold, who has been with the church for the past 24 years.

The nursery school has classes for children ages two to four who participate in a variety of different activities and learning experiences. The school has an art center and kitchen center.

St. Margaret's curriculum also emphasizes the fact that an important part of early childhood education is to remember that it is not just about teaching skills, it is making sure the children are enjoying themselves too. Having fun makes them more receptive to the process. The children are learning without even realizing it.

The school joins with parents in this vital responsibility, always stressing the act of learning as a positive, fun-filled experience. To assist with this, the school produces a monthly newsletter to update parents on children's activities, sharing their new learning skills and upcoming events.

"It's a nice blend of socialization and academics," Reinbold said.

The Mother's Morning Out program is for children age two and above. This is a child's first independent play group experience.

The three-year-old class is an introduction to basic readiness skils and helps them develop social skills and participate in group activities.

The four-year-old class prepares children for kindergarten and further develops their social skills.

The pre-kindergarten class is designed for the child who will benefit from an additional year of preschool, a child who is advanced for the four-year-old program or one who is affected by school district entrance dates. Enrichment activities such as science, literature, Spanish, sign language and phonics are also introduced.

Special activities include a lunch bunch where students stay longer for lunch and play, Halloween parade, red, white and blue parade for Presidents Day, pajama day, dinosaur day, train day and holiday parties. Visitors to the school include the Burn Prevention puppet show, the therapy dogs and firefighters.

At the beginning of each school year, a parent welcome picnic is held and at the end of the year a spring fling celebration is held.

Children do not need to be members of the Episcopal congregation in order to attend the nursery school. The school usually has over 100 children enrolled in the program.

The school is mostly advertised through word of mouth and reputation. Many parents who have put their children through the nursery school are still very involved, helping out with programs and fundraisers.

A board of directors oversees the school on a budget based upon annual tuition, fundraisers and a few donations.

St. Margaret's Nursery School has a variety of fundraisers in which they participate. They often sell gift cards and have Friendly's and Red Robin nights.

St. Margaret's current fundraiser is TerraCycling taking non-recyclable and hard to recycle types of waste and converting them into other products and materials. The school receives a profit from the waste, which gets measured by weight.

"We collect garbage like paper towel wrappers, toothbrushes, [and] toothpaste containers," Reinbold said. "It's a really good project."

There are bins at the school where anyone can drop off their hard to recycle products.

St. Margaret's is currently accepting new students for the fall school year, as there are openings in all classes.

For more information, call Linda Reinbold at 610-965-8474.