Westlake’s Play And Learn Nursery School Celebrates 51st Anniversary

The same year Walt Disney World welcomed its first visitors, Play and Learn Nursery School welcomed its first class of 17 students on February 1, 1971. Originally located in the Westlake Christian Church, we quickly outgrew this space and moved into the Dover Congregational Church in September 1973. The church’s spacious facilities and safe outdoor area has accommodated our program for the past 48 years. We occupy five classrooms, two child-size bathrooms and a large room where the children ride bikes and enjoy the climbing equipment and other large muscle activities.

Like Walt Disney, Play and Learn believes the greatest natural resource is the minds of our children and we believe in the immeasurable possibilities of every student. In the past 20 years, we have taught many children whose parents attended Play and Learn, and we strive to continue the 51-year legacy with a traditional program which provides our students with a strong foundation for their future schooling. Play and Learn comes highly recommended by local kindergarten teachers, pediatricians, and school administrators who know the quality of our staff and program and see how our graduates are well prepared to accept the challenges of kindergarten.

Play and Learn is a state-licensed school, and our facility and staff are up to date with all state mandated requirements including first aid and CPR. Our excellent staff is dedicated to the safety, happiness, and betterment of children. They are devoted to preparing our preschoolers to meet the challenges of kindergarten, which begins in our youngest class at age three. Each class level has developed a curriculum that makes learning fun and rewarding. We love hearing from our parents that other schools may try to copy our program, but they can’t duplicate our staff. Parents whose older children attended Play and Learn appreciate seeing familiar staff faces when they enroll their younger children. We firmly believe a school is only as good as its staff and we consider our teachers, one of whom is a former student, to be the very best.

We are proud of our graduates and love when their families share news of their achievements from high school, college, and adulthood. Two of our alumni have achieved national and international recognition and have made Play and Learn and their Cleveland hometown very proud. We were excited to cheer for graduate Katie Nageotte as she won a gold medal in pole vault at the Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympics and we have enjoyed watching celebrated chef Michael Symon become one of Cleveland’s most well-known faces, proving you never know where you will find a Play and Learn graduate next!

Play and Learn is honored and grateful for the thousands of parents who have entrusted their precious children to our care during the past 51 years. We do not take this responsibility lightly and appreciate the confidence our parents have had in us for half a century.

We diligently work to maintain the high quality of care and education that will ease their transition into kindergarten and the big world that awaits them.

You can contact Play and Learn at 440-835-2913