Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Hilton.
Victoria, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am originally from England where I trained as a primary school teacher, specializing in Early Childhood Education (ECE). Even as a child, I was a natural teacher and would often find myself with a gang of friends, helping them with homework and revision advice. I was a keen academic and didn’t like to see others struggling. It’s my instinct to help whenever I can. I graduated with a Bachelors in Psychology and knew that teaching would be my next step.
After 6 years teaching in inner city public schools, I was recruited by British Schools of America and moved to Chicago in 2006. I taught at the British School of Chicago for 5 years leaving shortly before the birth of my first child.
Itching to get back to teaching, I started the (often difficult) search for child care. I was met with long wait lists, expensive tuition, and daycares that didn’t quite fulfil what I was looking for. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of wonderful care facilities in Chicago, but when you have an extensive background in child development, it can be hard to find the right one. I’m also hyper aware of the child’s environment and how this affects their development. No one wants to spend 10 hours a day indoors, but for very young children this can be harmful. I find the hard tiles, glaring lights and primary colors often found in daycare classrooms to be too taxing on a young child’s visual processing system, mood, and overall wellbeing.
Frustrated by this search, I put my toddler down for the night, and set about writing a description of my perfect daycare. One that allows children to have ample time outdoors, that has beautiful, calm, inviting interiors, serves healthy organic meals, and that has happy, dedicated staff who feel valued and enjoy coming to work each day! It was my two days before my birthday in August 2012. I opened my laptop, googled how to incorporate a business in Illinois, and Stepping Stones Nursery School was born!
Has it been a smooth road?
For the most part, this has been a wonderful experience. Stepping Stones is incredibly lucky to have found families and staff that truly understand and appreciate our philosophy. I love coming to work each day and miss the Stepping Stones’ team over the weekend! However, each industry has its unique struggles; for childcare, it’s often the licensing process. Finding a suitable location that will pass city and state licensing can be expensive and time consuming. Opening our first commercial space took a lot longer than expected but I’ve learnt a lot of valuable lessons along the way. Each challenge is an opportunity to learn how to do it better next time. This is also a relationship led business. Stepping Stones’ children and their families build deep and meaningful relationships with staff. We are very selective about the teachers we hire and this can be a challenge but it’s one worth accepting.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Stepping Stones Nursery School story. Tell us more about the business.
Stepping Stones is a play based nursery & preschool in Logan Square. We are dedicated to ensuring young children receive a developmentally appropriate early education. This means lots of time to play, sing, read, experiment, explore, make friends, create, and imagine. We are committed to the philosophy of outdoor play every day and our children spend time outdoors snow, rain or shine. In 2015, we were awarded ‘Most Innovative Entrepreneur’ Award from the WBDC. As a team, we were all incredibly proud to have our program recognized for its innovation and creativity. We are known for our Nature Explore Certified outdoor classroom. Ours is no ordinary playground! It’s filled with natural materials, loose parts and open-ended activities that encourage children’s natural curiosity. Young children are intrinsically motivated to experiment, explore and take risks as they learn and grow. Our job as educators is to provide the right environment for optimal learning, set our expectations, and give children the room to grow in their own way and at their own pace. It’s a truly special place for our children, their families, and our staff.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
There has been a worrying trend in recent years towards more academically focused preschools. Focusing on academics too young is developmentally inappropriate and can be harmful to young children’s future learning potential. I like to see Stepping Stones as a big umbrella guarding over our children to stop this top-down pressure from affecting them. Thankfully, there has also been a recent trend towards nature based and forest preschools. Parents are recognizing that time outside in nature is essential to their child’s well-being and they are searching out this kind of care for their children. Stepping Stones is in a very unique position to be able to offer families the full day care they need to go out to work, while also providing a play based preschool with daily outside time in all weather!
Pricing:
- Full time care is $1750 a month for under 3’s and $1550 for over 3’s.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3535 & 3612 W. Wrightwood Ave.,
Chicago, IL 60647 - Website: www.steppingstonesnurseryschool.net
- Phone: 872 333 6749
- Email: victoria@steppingstonesnurseryschool.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/steppingstonesschool/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SteppingStonesNurserySchool/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stepping-stones-nursery-school-chicago?osq=daycare
- Other: https://certified.natureexplore.org/stepping-stones-nursery-school/
Image Credit:
Tone Stockenstrom Photography
Headshot by TK Photography
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
