A Parish Preschool on Wass Street in Tustin
St. Paul's Episcopal Church sits on Wass Street in Tustin, a quiet residential street tucked into north Orange County, and the parish is best known across the region for the preschool that has called its campus home for more than fifty years. Founded in 1971 as a community outreach of the church, St. Paul's Preschool serves children ages two through five in a wooded, garden-rich setting that has become a working model for outdoor learning in Southern California.
While the preschool is the parish's most visible ministry to young families, the church's connection to its students runs deeper than classroom hours. Each week, children walk across the parish grounds into the sanctuary for a chapel time led by the Preschool Director and Pastor Norma Guerra of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. M/W/F and 5-Day Transitional Kindergarten morning students attend on Mondays; Tuesday/Thursday students attend on Tuesdays. The chapel includes a song, an age-appropriate Bible story, a prayer, and birthday celebrations. Parents are welcome to attend, and families who prefer not to participate can simply arrive at 9:30 a.m., once chapel has concluded.
Beyond that weekly gathering, the preschool weaves a faith-based philosophy into the larger rhythm of play and inquiry. The school's mission statement describes St. Paul's as a faith-based community that sees children as curious, capable, and creative individuals, deserving a rich environment that nurtures lifelong learning through playful discovery.
Half a Century on the Parish Campus
The preschool was established in 1971 when the parish decided that a high-quality early-childhood program was the most direct way to serve the families moving into Tustin. Its founding director was Ida Middleworth, and within a few years the school became one of the first preschools in Orange County to be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (N.A.E.Y.C.).
In 1996 the Children's Garden was added to the grounds, and the school soon became a Demonstration Site for the Outdoor Classroom Project, a regional network of nature-based schools that has used St. Paul's as a working model ever since. The preschool is licensed by the State of California's Community Care Licensing Department and the local fire department, and the program maintains accreditation through NAEYC, the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS), and the National Association of Episcopal Schools.
A Reggio Emilia Approach at Work
St. Paul's describes itself as a play-based and nature-based preschool rooted in the Reggio Emilia approach that originated in northern Italy. Teachers draw on social-constructivist theorists such as Piaget, Vygotsky, Malaguzzi, Erikson, Dewey, and Gardner, treating the classroom environment itself as a third teacher, with natural light, open-ended materials, and displays of children's work shaping the day's possible explorations.
Curriculum is emergent rather than scripted. Topics for study emerge from children's own questions, conversations, and observations. Teachers document work through notes, photographs, and video, then use that documentation to plan future projects that can last a week or a month. Small-group work and collaboration are central to every classroom, with the teacher acting as a partner and provocateur rather than a director.
The approach emphasizes what the school calls the Hundred Languages of children - the many ways kids express themselves beyond spoken language, including sculpture, paint, clay, wire work, music, dance, drama, puppetry, building, and storytelling. St. Paul's writes that the larger the variety of ways children express themselves, the deeper their understanding grows.
Programs for Every Age from Two to Five
Classes run from late August through the end of May, with summer-camp sessions offered during select weeks of the summer. The office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays, and core preschool classes meet for two-and-a-half-hour blocks.
Parent & Me is a once-a-week class for children who are two years old by December 31 of the school year. It meets on Tuesdays or Thursdays in 90-minute sessions, with morning slots at 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. and a second round from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A parent or adult guardian attends with the child, rotating through playground time, circle time, toilet-time practice, snack, and open art and free-flow exploration. The class is tuitioned at $1,500 for the year ($150 monthly).
Tues/Thurs 3-Year-Old Class gathers three-year-olds (by December 31 of the school year) two mornings or two afternoons a week. Morning sessions run 9:00 to 11:30 a.m.; afternoon sessions run 12:15 to 2:45 p.m. Classrooms cap at 20 children. Annual tuition is $3,300 ($330 monthly). Children need to be potty trained by the September they begin.
Mon/Wed/Fri 4-Year-Old Class gathers four-year-olds (by December 31 of the school year) three days a week, with the same morning and afternoon blocks. Children begin phonics work using the kinesthetic "Alpha-Friends" program used by surrounding school districts, alongside the same interest centers and emergent projects as the younger class. Annual tuition is $4,850 ($485 monthly).
5-Day Transitional Kindergarten runs each weekday morning from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. for children who are five by December 31 of the school year. The TK program adds daily contact talks, emergent writing and dictation, public speaking, journaling, daily singing of "God Bless America," number-sense work, weekly chapel, and intentional spiritual development through daily prayers. Annual tuition is $6,700 ($670 monthly).
Nature Class is held entirely outdoors in all weather, primarily in the Pavilion and Children's Garden, for children who are four or five by December 31 of the school year. It meets two, three, or five afternoons a week from 12:15 to 2:45 p.m., making it a natural pairing for a child already enrolled in a morning class. Annual tuition is $6,900 ($690 monthly).
Extended care runs through Early Bird (drop-off at 8:30 a.m., staff escort to class at 9:00 a.m.) and Late Bird (escort at 2:45 p.m., pick-up by 3:15 p.m.). Kids Adventure Club runs from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for morning-class students, with a packed-lunch window and a S.T.E.A.M.-infused schedule capped at 20 children per day. Early Bird and Late Bird share a punch card of $50 for ten visits, while Kids Adventure Club is $25 per session starting in August.
An Outdoor Classroom That Doubles as a Demonstration Site
The school's philosophical anchor is the conviction, in St. Paul's own words, that "anything you teach indoors can be taught outdoors." The campus's outdoor classroom is one of the program's signatures and is recognized as a demonstration site by the Outdoor Classroom Project. Children spend time there daily, gardening, working and playing in the mud pit, climbing and swinging in trees, biking, and creating in the mud kitchen, with wood, trees, grass, dirt, and real gardening beds replacing plastic and metal wherever possible.
Monthly gardening lessons with farm educators teach children to taste fresh fruits and vegetables, understand pollinators and soil, and care for crops they have planted themselves. The 1996 Children's Garden, with its soil beds and quiet seating nooks, remains a centerpiece of the outdoor program. Family visitors often describe the effect of the outdoor space in similar terms: a setting that inspires creativity, encourages cooperative play, lets children take healthy risks, and turns every visit to the playground into a small lesson in patience, resilience, and stewardship of the natural world.
Enrichment Built Into Every Week
Art runs from Parent & Me through Transitional Kindergarten, with a dedicated art studio stocked with loose materials, paints, clay, wire, beadwork, sewing, and woodworking tools. Starting at four years old, children draw a pattern or blueprint before woodworking and again before sewing, then present their finished projects to classmates as a practice in public speaking.
Chapel takes place weekly in the sanctuary and is led by the Preschool Director and Pastor Norma Guerra.
Motor Lab runs one to two Fridays a month for children enrolled three or five days, working on balance, coordination, laterality, body awareness, and visual-motor control. Children wear tennis shoes on motor-lab days, and long hair is tied back; girls do not wear dresses so the equipment can be used safely.
Gardening occurs monthly, with hands-on sessions through which children learn the life cycle of plants, taste vegetables they have grown, and develop the cooperation and pride that come from working in a shared outdoor space.
A Teaching Staff With More Than 240 Years of Experience
As of 2026, eleven teachers and staff bring a combined 247 years of experience in Early Childhood Education, including 101 years specifically at St. Paul's Preschool. Every staff member holds at least 12 units in Early Childhood Education, and most hold BA and MA degrees; mentor teachers serve on the staff. All teachers and staff are CPR, First Aid, and AED trained.
The current staff includes Sonya Gallegos, Meghan Huffman, Mary-Kate Bennett, Julie Salerno, Giselle Arroyo, Pam Christenson, Joanne Bachtelle, Diana Ngo-Vuong, Ann Vitarella, Marissa Gillaspy, and Star Brimer.
Health, Safety, and Accreditation
The school is a nut-free campus, and a nutritious snack is served daily in morning, afternoon, and nature classes, with monthly menus shared with families. Children with special allergies may bring their own snack; packed lunches are appropriate for Kids Adventure Club and other extended-day programs.
California state immunization laws apply, and a child's immunization record from a pediatrician must be on file before the first week of school. Class size is capped at twenty children, with a maximum ratio of one fully qualified teacher to twelve students; most classes operate closer to 1:7 or 1:10.
A rest period is offered only for children staying more than five hours (preschool class plus extended care); half-day classes do not include nap time.
Parents as Partners
Family involvement is treated as foundational to the Reggio Emilia approach, and the school welcomes parents into campus life in many ways. Parents serve as room parents, donate snacks, set up class parties, support the annual St. Patrick's Day Bike-a-thon fundraiser, and attend school-wide events such as the Thanksgiving and Christmas Chapels, the Fall-o-ween Festival, F.U.D.G.E. Night, the Christmas Festival, the Mother's Day Tea, and the Spring Fling.
Communication with families runs through the Brightwheel app, which carries newsletters, event information, photos, messages, and incident reports from teachers and the office. Parent-teacher conferences are scheduled in November, and additional conferences can be requested at any point during the year.
Visiting the Campus
Prospective families are encouraged to schedule a group tour of the preschool before enrolling. The school office, located at 1221 Wass Street in Tustin, can be reached at 714-832-8201 or by email at preschool@stpauls.org. The Director can also be reached at Director@stpauls.org. The preschool's regular operating hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with the office opening earlier at 8:30 a.m.
Tuition and Payment
Payments can be made with no fees through Zelle. Checks should be made out to St. Paul's Preschool, and once enrolled, families can also manage payments through the Brightwheel app. Tuition received after the tenth of any month incurs a $10 late fee, and families that withdraw are asked to give the office 30 days' notice. Class space is limited each year, with priority enrollment for returning families and siblings ending in January and new-family enrollment beginning in February.