Two Children, Two Different Needs, One School That Works for Both

Every family comes to Ivybrook Academy with a different story. For the Porter family, the question wasn’t just whether a preschool could work for one of their children — it was whether one school could genuinely serve two children with very different needs. In this video, they share what that experience has looked like and why Ivybrook’s individualized approach made the difference.

The Porters enrolled two children at Ivybrook Academy — and from the start, they noticed that each child was seen as an individual, not managed as part of a group. One child had different strengths, one had different needs, and rather than asking either child to adapt to a fixed program, Ivybrook educators adapted to them.

Their experience reflects one of the core commitments of the Ivybrook approach: that children are individuals whose unique gifts and challenges deserve equal attention and care. Through careful observation and an emergent curriculum that responds to each child’s development, Ivybrook creates a learning environment where different kinds of learners don’t just survive — they thrive.

The Porter family’s story is one of many across the Ivybrook network, where families consistently find that a half-day model built on Reggio Emilia and Montessori principles delivers something most preschools can’t: a genuinely personalized experience for every child who walks through the door.