With its new preschool, Sacred Heart Academy rises to meet early childhood education demands
Little Lions will support academic, social, emotional, and creative development through hands-on activities and free play.
To meet a growing need for early childhood education, Bryn Mawr’s Sacred Heart Academy is preparing to open its Little Lions program, which will serve two dozen preschool-age children on the Main Line starting this fall.
Kim Trinacria, Sacred Heart Academy’s interim associate head of school, said an alumni event sparked the idea to bring back Sacred Heart’s preschool, which last operated in 2016. When alumni brought their kids to “Tiny Hearts Toddler Time,” a monthly playtime event, many expressed a desire for high-quality preschool options in the area.
“We just saw the growing need,” Trinacria said.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that high-quality preschool prepares children for elementary school — and adult life — options remain few and far between for many Philly-area parents. Childcare and preschool options are expensive, and low wages for childcare workers have hurt recruitment and retention in the industry.
Sacred Heart’s preschool program will be grounded in the school’s Catholic foundations and will center collaboration, cooperation, kindness, and play, which preschool director Pat Norton describes as the building blocks of a successful early childhood education.
In the Philadelphia area, sending two children to daycare costs more, on average, than renting a home. The average monthly cost of childcare for one child in the Philadelphia region was $961 as of March. Median monthly rent in the area was $1,885.
The average salary for prekindergarten teachers in Pennsylvania was $34,430 in 2024, compared with $68,250 for kindergarten teachers, according to a report from Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, a Harrisburg-based child advocacy organization.
The lack of adequate childcare options cost the Pennsylvania economy over $6.65 billion annually as of last year, according to the Council for a Strong America and the Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission. When working parents lack daycare and preschool options, they often miss days of work, or have to give up their careers entirely.
Though Sacred Heart Academy is an all-girls school, its preschool will serve boys and girls ages 3 and 4. Parents can opt for three- or five-day schedules during the academic year, with morning and afternoon extended-day options. Tuition is $5,000 per year for the three-day week and $10,000 per year for the five-day week.
Little Lions classes will be capped at 12 students, allowing teachers to give each child “our undivided attention,” said Norton, who has been an early childhood educator for 33 years.
“We’re play-based, and we’re thematic, and we absolutely believe in the whole child,” Norton said.
Bryn Mawr’s Sacred Heart Academy was founded in 1865. The all-girls school is part of the International Sacred Heart Schools, a consortium of more than 150 Catholic schools around the world.
Little Lions’ curriculum will support academic, social, emotional, and creative development through hands-on activities and plenty of free play, according to the school.
Free play sits at the core of Norton’s educational philosophy. Playtime has been shown to support healthy brain activity and help children build stable relationships and reach developmental milestones.
“It is so important to children,” Norton said. “It’s how they learn.”
While Sacred Heart’s Little Lions are too young for a formal religious education, Norton and Trinacria said, the core values of kindness, love, and sharing can be embedded into the curriculum from a young age.
Norton calls it “a religion unto itself.”
Tours of the preschool began in late June, and Sacred Heart will be hosting open house events throughout the fall and winter.
“It’s a magical place. It’s a magical age,” Norton said.