About
Hearts Leap Schools are a project of the International Child Resource Institute (ICRI), a non-profit organization. The program uses a child-centered, emergent curriculum in which experiences and activities come from children’s exploring, problem solving, and imaginative play. Teachers provide information, props, and opportunities that respond to moments when children are actively asking questions and exploring issues.
• Ages: 0–5 years old
• Price: application fee of $50
Hearts Leap Schools were founded in 1990 as a warm, secure, nurturing, and stimulating preschool for local children and their families. Hearts Leap North opened in 2008, Hearts Leap Lakeview opened in 2015, and Hearts Leap Beginnings opened in 2018. The schools state that each child is an individual with unique cognitive, social, emotional, and physical strengths, and that these strengths are supported through experiences of success, problem solving, conflict resolution, and learning limits in a caring and stimulating environment. The program describes its approach as relationship-based and committed to building strong connections between children, families, and the extended community, and it incorporates anti-bias education goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The curriculum is described as child-centered and emergent, recognizing that learning comes from the play, imagination, and interests of the children, in inviting and engaging environments where children can explore new materials with all their senses and engage in imaginative play.
Hearts Leap Schools describe “The Heart Lens” as an intention that every interaction comes from the heart, with a desire to truly connect with individuals and support a positive sense of self. The schools state that they recognize their sites sit on the territory of xučyun (Huichin), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone, the successors of the sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County, and they offer respect to Ohlone Elders and all Ohlone of the past and present. An online application is available for all Hearts Leap programs, and submitting an application reserves a child’s space on the waiting list for future openings. The schools are currently accepting resumes from prospective Hearts Leap teachers.
Last updated February 18, 2026.
• Ages: 0–5 years old
• Price: application fee of $50
Hearts Leap Schools were founded in 1990 as a warm, secure, nurturing, and stimulating preschool for local children and their families. Hearts Leap North opened in 2008, Hearts Leap Lakeview opened in 2015, and Hearts Leap Beginnings opened in 2018. The schools state that each child is an individual with unique cognitive, social, emotional, and physical strengths, and that these strengths are supported through experiences of success, problem solving, conflict resolution, and learning limits in a caring and stimulating environment. The program describes its approach as relationship-based and committed to building strong connections between children, families, and the extended community, and it incorporates anti-bias education goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The curriculum is described as child-centered and emergent, recognizing that learning comes from the play, imagination, and interests of the children, in inviting and engaging environments where children can explore new materials with all their senses and engage in imaginative play.
Hearts Leap Schools describe “The Heart Lens” as an intention that every interaction comes from the heart, with a desire to truly connect with individuals and support a positive sense of self. The schools state that they recognize their sites sit on the territory of xučyun (Huichin), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone, the successors of the sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County, and they offer respect to Ohlone Elders and all Ohlone of the past and present. An online application is available for all Hearts Leap programs, and submitting an application reserves a child’s space on the waiting list for future openings. The schools are currently accepting resumes from prospective Hearts Leap teachers.
Last updated February 18, 2026.
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