Old Firehouse School
Old Firehouse School Lafayette, 984 Moraga Road, Lafayette, CA 94549
About
Old Firehouse School offers special tutoring in academics and sports, along with activities that focus on friendship making skills. Children take part in non-competitive self expression through art, music, and drama as part of the program’s approach.
• Ages: 0–12 years old
Founded in 1996 in Lafayette by Dr. Dorothy Stewart and her husband Bob Buhl, Old Firehouse School is a group of private preschools with multiple campuses in California. The program is based on scientific theory, research, and professional practice in the field of child development, and it emphasizes Primary Caregiving, Continuity of Care, the Project Approach, and inspiration from Reggio Emilia, Italy. The directors are described as highly skilled professionals who understand child development, respect children as individuals, and focus on the whole child: heart, mind, spirit, and body. Teaching staff are professionally prepared early childhood educators who have chosen early childhood education as their long-term career, with a strong emphasis on bonds between children and teachers, teachers and parents, and among children themselves. The school-age program focuses on emotional, physical, and academic skills, and the program states that young children are not developmentally ready to handle fierce competitiveness, so it is committed to many non-competitive opportunities for self expression through art, music, and drama.
Old Firehouse School’s history includes the opening of the Mill Valley campus in 2004, the Walnut Creek campus in 2006, the San Rafael Fifth Avenue campus in 2022, and the wildlife/nature Bayview school in San Rafael in September 2024. For families at the San Rafael Fifth Avenue campus, Old Firehouse School partners with Marinlinks to offer subsidized care to low-income families, and there is a scholarship fund for families at this campus. Old Firehouse School has been selected as a Top Winner of Parents Press Reader's Choice for 2017 for Contra Costa County for Best Large Preschool, and it has been recognized by Parents’ Press as a Best of 2020 Top 10, 2021 Top 10, 2023 Top 5, and 2024 Top 10 program.
Last updated April 20, 2026.
• Ages: 0–12 years old
Founded in 1996 in Lafayette by Dr. Dorothy Stewart and her husband Bob Buhl, Old Firehouse School is a group of private preschools with multiple campuses in California. The program is based on scientific theory, research, and professional practice in the field of child development, and it emphasizes Primary Caregiving, Continuity of Care, the Project Approach, and inspiration from Reggio Emilia, Italy. The directors are described as highly skilled professionals who understand child development, respect children as individuals, and focus on the whole child: heart, mind, spirit, and body. Teaching staff are professionally prepared early childhood educators who have chosen early childhood education as their long-term career, with a strong emphasis on bonds between children and teachers, teachers and parents, and among children themselves. The school-age program focuses on emotional, physical, and academic skills, and the program states that young children are not developmentally ready to handle fierce competitiveness, so it is committed to many non-competitive opportunities for self expression through art, music, and drama.
Old Firehouse School’s history includes the opening of the Mill Valley campus in 2004, the Walnut Creek campus in 2006, the San Rafael Fifth Avenue campus in 2022, and the wildlife/nature Bayview school in San Rafael in September 2024. For families at the San Rafael Fifth Avenue campus, Old Firehouse School partners with Marinlinks to offer subsidized care to low-income families, and there is a scholarship fund for families at this campus. Old Firehouse School has been selected as a Top Winner of Parents Press Reader's Choice for 2017 for Contra Costa County for Best Large Preschool, and it has been recognized by Parents’ Press as a Best of 2020 Top 10, 2021 Top 10, 2023 Top 5, and 2024 Top 10 program.
Last updated April 20, 2026.
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