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 where learning comes from the play, imagination, and interests of the children, and experiences and activities emerge from children’s exploring, problem solving, and imaginative play. Teachers provide information, props, and opportunities that match moments when children are actively asking questions and exploring issues.
• Ages: 0–5 years old
• Price: Application fee of $50 to reserve a child's space on the Waiting List for future openings
Hearts Leap Schools were founded in 1990. Hearts Leap North opened in 2008, Hearts Leap Lakeview opened in 2015, and Hearts Leap Beginnings opened in 2018. The schools are dedicated to creating and nurturing a child-centered environment of support, success, and safety for each child and family in their community of lifelong learners. The program recognizes each child as an individual with unique cognitive, social, emotional, and physical strengths, and focuses on helping children experience success, solve problems, resolve conflicts, and learn limits in a caring and stimulating environment. The Heart Lens is an intention that every interaction comes from the heart with a desire to truly connect with individuals and help them develop a positive sense of self. Hearts Leap Schools describe themselves as a relationship-based program with strong connections between children, families, and the extended community, and they incorporate anti-bias education goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The program offers inviting and engaging environments with safe spaces for children to take risks, explore new materials with all their senses, and engage in imaginative play. An online application is available for all Hearts Leap programs, and they are currently accepting resumes from prospective Hearts Leap teachers. Hearts Leap Schools recognize that their schools 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 that this land has been loved and tended to by the Ohlone for over 10,000 years, and they offer respect to the Elders and to all Ohlone of the past and present.
Last updated May 20, 2026.
• Ages: 0–5 years old
• Price: Application fee of $50 to reserve a child's space on the Waiting List for future openings
Hearts Leap Schools were founded in 1990. Hearts Leap North opened in 2008, Hearts Leap Lakeview opened in 2015, and Hearts Leap Beginnings opened in 2018. The schools are dedicated to creating and nurturing a child-centered environment of support, success, and safety for each child and family in their community of lifelong learners. The program recognizes each child as an individual with unique cognitive, social, emotional, and physical strengths, and focuses on helping children experience success, solve problems, resolve conflicts, and learn limits in a caring and stimulating environment. The Heart Lens is an intention that every interaction comes from the heart with a desire to truly connect with individuals and help them develop a positive sense of self. Hearts Leap Schools describe themselves as a relationship-based program with strong connections between children, families, and the extended community, and they incorporate anti-bias education goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The program offers inviting and engaging environments with safe spaces for children to take risks, explore new materials with all their senses, and engage in imaginative play. An online application is available for all Hearts Leap programs, and they are currently accepting resumes from prospective Hearts Leap teachers. Hearts Leap Schools recognize that their schools 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 that this land has been loved and tended to by the Ohlone for over 10,000 years, and they offer respect to the Elders and to all Ohlone of the past and present.
Last updated May 20, 2026.
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