About
Belvedere-Hawthorne Nursery Schools includes the Belvedere Nursery School and Hawthorne Pre-K campuses. The program uses a developmental play-based curriculum that is informed by foundational theories of early childhood education and current brain development research. Teachers guide children through play and meaningful projects within this curriculum, including hands-on experiences, structured gross motor movement curriculum, and open-ended gross motor play.
• Ages: 2–4 years old
• Schedule: By 1968, all the Pre-K children moved to the Hawthorne Campus on Rock Hill Road, giving BHNS the ability to have a full five day a week Pre-K program.
Established in 1939, Belvedere Nursery School is the oldest nursery school in Southern Marin, and in 1950 the site on Cove Road Place was purchased. In 1953, it changed from a parent co-op to a professionally staffed nursery school, and by 1968 enrollment had grown and all Pre-K children moved to the Hawthorne Campus on Rock Hill Road for a five-day-a-week Pre-K program. Belvedere-Hawthorne Nursery Schools, Inc. is a private non-profit organization owned and operated by the parents who have children attending Belvedere Nursery School and/or Hawthorne Pre-K, and it is licensed by the State of California.
The Board of Directors is responsible for policy making, and board members are elected annually by the parent body to serve volunteer terms of one to three years. The program maintains an Executive Board typically comprised of parents who have children currently enrolled at BHNS. The Board of Directors employs one Executive Director, who oversees the organization as a whole and manages enrollment, and two Program Directors, one for Belvedere Nursery School and one for Hawthorne Pre-K, and each Program Director manages daily operations, develops and maintains the research-based curriculum, and teaches in the classroom on a daily basis.
Teachers at Belvedere-Hawthorne Nursery Schools are highly qualified and trained in early childhood education, and the program maintains a child/staff ratio of six to one for all programs. The program provides hands-on experiences where children engage in problem solving and build cognitive and linguistic skills within the developmental play-based curriculum, and early childhood education foundational theory is embedded in this curriculum and substantiated by current research in brain development. Through immersion in this play-based curriculum, children strengthen emotional and executive functioning for goal-oriented collaborations, and the program includes both structured and open-ended gross motor experiences as part of cognitive and physical growth.
Belvedere-Hawthorne Nursery Schools is rooted in an active, supportive community that includes in-class parent volunteers and a strong home-school connection. The program is a non-profit corporation and is a big part of the local community and sometimes in the press. The mission of BHNS is to provide the child with a nurturing environment to instill a love of learning through its developmental play-based curriculum informed by foundational theories of early childhood education and current brain development research.
The leadership team includes Kathleen Parker, Head of School and Director of Admissions & Enrollment; Abigail Vare, Executive Director and Director of Belvedere Nursery School; and Hrund Gisladottir, Director of Hawthorne Pre-K. Additional staff leadership and teaching roles include Operations Manager Gindin Meuse; Belvedere Nursery School Lead Teacher Gretchen Alden; Hawthorne Pre-K Lead Teacher Jan Schmidt; Belvedere Nursery School Teachers Liz Berg, Maria Elena Cacciatore, Jane Grubb, Ashley Hansen, Linda Hevern, Margo Marsh, and Cayla Salvador; Hawthorne Pre-K and Belvedere Nursery School Teacher Alisha Kalra; Hawthorne Pre-K Teachers Cate Keenley, Jane Stiteler, and Gee Trono. The Executive Board includes President Rosalie Tolson, Executive VP Lina Godfrey, VP of Internal Communications Anna Beckmann, VP of Community Relations & Alumni Affairs Ariel Eck, VP of Fundraising Arvand Sabetian, Treasurer Laura Floweree-Jeske, Assistant Treasurer Caroline Handy, and Secretary Julie Schirm.
One alumna and parent, Kim Barron (maiden name Lindgren), reports that she attended BHNS in 1986 in the Time For Two's Program and that Mrs. Parker was teaching at that time. She states that BHNS provided an important community for her family when she attended and again for her own children, and she describes Mrs. Parker and the teachers as caring deeply about the children and working hard to keep them safe, have fun, and prepare them for the next step.
Last updated May 17, 2026.
• Ages: 2–4 years old
• Schedule: By 1968, all the Pre-K children moved to the Hawthorne Campus on Rock Hill Road, giving BHNS the ability to have a full five day a week Pre-K program.
Established in 1939, Belvedere Nursery School is the oldest nursery school in Southern Marin, and in 1950 the site on Cove Road Place was purchased. In 1953, it changed from a parent co-op to a professionally staffed nursery school, and by 1968 enrollment had grown and all Pre-K children moved to the Hawthorne Campus on Rock Hill Road for a five-day-a-week Pre-K program. Belvedere-Hawthorne Nursery Schools, Inc. is a private non-profit organization owned and operated by the parents who have children attending Belvedere Nursery School and/or Hawthorne Pre-K, and it is licensed by the State of California.
The Board of Directors is responsible for policy making, and board members are elected annually by the parent body to serve volunteer terms of one to three years. The program maintains an Executive Board typically comprised of parents who have children currently enrolled at BHNS. The Board of Directors employs one Executive Director, who oversees the organization as a whole and manages enrollment, and two Program Directors, one for Belvedere Nursery School and one for Hawthorne Pre-K, and each Program Director manages daily operations, develops and maintains the research-based curriculum, and teaches in the classroom on a daily basis.
Teachers at Belvedere-Hawthorne Nursery Schools are highly qualified and trained in early childhood education, and the program maintains a child/staff ratio of six to one for all programs. The program provides hands-on experiences where children engage in problem solving and build cognitive and linguistic skills within the developmental play-based curriculum, and early childhood education foundational theory is embedded in this curriculum and substantiated by current research in brain development. Through immersion in this play-based curriculum, children strengthen emotional and executive functioning for goal-oriented collaborations, and the program includes both structured and open-ended gross motor experiences as part of cognitive and physical growth.
Belvedere-Hawthorne Nursery Schools is rooted in an active, supportive community that includes in-class parent volunteers and a strong home-school connection. The program is a non-profit corporation and is a big part of the local community and sometimes in the press. The mission of BHNS is to provide the child with a nurturing environment to instill a love of learning through its developmental play-based curriculum informed by foundational theories of early childhood education and current brain development research.
The leadership team includes Kathleen Parker, Head of School and Director of Admissions & Enrollment; Abigail Vare, Executive Director and Director of Belvedere Nursery School; and Hrund Gisladottir, Director of Hawthorne Pre-K. Additional staff leadership and teaching roles include Operations Manager Gindin Meuse; Belvedere Nursery School Lead Teacher Gretchen Alden; Hawthorne Pre-K Lead Teacher Jan Schmidt; Belvedere Nursery School Teachers Liz Berg, Maria Elena Cacciatore, Jane Grubb, Ashley Hansen, Linda Hevern, Margo Marsh, and Cayla Salvador; Hawthorne Pre-K and Belvedere Nursery School Teacher Alisha Kalra; Hawthorne Pre-K Teachers Cate Keenley, Jane Stiteler, and Gee Trono. The Executive Board includes President Rosalie Tolson, Executive VP Lina Godfrey, VP of Internal Communications Anna Beckmann, VP of Community Relations & Alumni Affairs Ariel Eck, VP of Fundraising Arvand Sabetian, Treasurer Laura Floweree-Jeske, Assistant Treasurer Caroline Handy, and Secretary Julie Schirm.
One alumna and parent, Kim Barron (maiden name Lindgren), reports that she attended BHNS in 1986 in the Time For Two's Program and that Mrs. Parker was teaching at that time. She states that BHNS provided an important community for her family when she attended and again for her own children, and she describes Mrs. Parker and the teachers as caring deeply about the children and working hard to keep them safe, have fun, and prepare them for the next step.
Last updated May 17, 2026.
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