By Anna Skinner

After basing its preschool out of a church in McCordsville, Geist Orchard Cooperative Preschool has relocated to Fishers in order to grow its school.

“We are trying to grow the school. We really want to grow so we began looking around at other locations and a few of the parents are coming out of Fishers,” Board President Stacy Taylor said. “St. George Orthodox Church had a different building behind the church, so we signed a lease to have our school on the grounds. We really want to tap into Fishers’ resources. It’s such a family community, and we really wanted to tap into that and try and grow with Fishers. We really want to be part of a community that values family and friendship, and we want to grow with that kind of community.”

The school held an open house Sept. 6, and it accepts children 2 to 5 years old. There are three age groups, Seedlings, Sprouts and Twigs.

“We are a cooperative preschool, so it’s extremely family involved,” said Taylor, who is the mother to a Twigs  Pre-K student.  “The families are the ones who run the school, essentially. The families volunteer their time to help teachers work with the students. There are one or two parents on site everyday helping teachers with class. The parents are the ones who run fundraising to raise money for the school. The executive board is all run by the parents. We are the ones that essentially run the school. We are extremely play-based, and we are not the type of school that sits down and gets the child to work on worksheets. Everything learned is throughout play. Our curriculum is structured through play.”

Each age group meets at various times during the week. For more, visit geistorchardcoop.com.