West Stafford School

Stafford Childhood Collaborative

Sandy Fowler           Early Start CT Liaison
Laura Lybarger         Co-Chair
Amanda Mayer         Co-Chair

 

Contact Stafford Childhood Collaborative: staffordchildhoodcollaborative@gmail.com 

 Website: Stafford Childhood Collaborative Website


Stafford Childhood Collaborative was established in 1998, first as the local School Readiness Council, when Stafford first received School Readiness funding.  Early Start CT is the new state-funded early care and education program that launched July 1, 2025. It combines 3 existing programs — Child Day Care Contracts, School Readiness Grants, and State Head Start Supplement Grants — into 1 new program.

ESCT provides affordable, quality Early Childhood experiences for children living in Stafford. West Stafford School is funded to provide children with an experience that can assure they will enter kindergarten ready to learn. Learn more about the initiative by clicking here.

Pre-Kindergarten tuition Fees are based on a sliding scale. The family fee is based on gross annual income and family size and paid directly to Stafford Public Schools. School day and part day programs are available.

History

The School Readiness Council received funds in 2010 from the Graustein Memorial Funds and State partners to create the Stafford Community Plan.  The intent of this plan was to identify the needs in the community with the purpose to improve the delivery of services to all children, regardless of economics, race or social standing in order to improve the outcomes for education, health and development.  The actionable items in this plan continues to inform the work of this Council, now the Stafford Childhood Collaborative, which continues to serve as the local Council ensuring the quality components of the Early Start CT legislation are met. This cross-sector group of educators, childcare providers, parents, businesses, town service representatives, and health providers meet bi-monthly to ensure the appropriate monitoring of all programs receiving State funds, to serve as an advisory group, and to identify actions to address goals identified in the community plan.