Our School
Our Mission
The Mission of KLA Schools is to provide a safe, innovative environment and high quality education for the students of our communities inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach to education.
Vision & Values
Individuality
All children are honored as individuals who are intrinsically motivated and are active participants in their learning.
Collaboration
Families, educators and children are partners in learning and research.
Intentionality
Environments are safe, nurturing, and designed to promote experiences that invite children and adults to enter into meaningful dialogues that foster children’s innate curiosity, creativity, and thinking.
Relationships
Relationships are at the core of our educational approach and are built with our surroundings: people, materials, and environments.
Process
Through documentation, the learning process of teachers and children is made visible for furthering understanding, expanding on concepts, and celebrating ideas.
Our Leadership Team
Pilar Tefel
Director
MARINA LAVAGETTO
Pedagogical Coordinator
VALERIE ROMERO
Assistant Director
A Letter from the Director
Greetings…
It is with great honor and delight that I welcome you to KLA Doral’s website. You will be able to have a small insight into a significant approach of learning lived by the KLA Doral family consisting of the children, families and educators.
We believe that education and early childhood development is an adventurous journey full of discovery, research, bliss, friendships, collaboration, exploration, and empathy. It is evident that children begin their life-long journey as researchers and learners during the early years of their life. Our school celebrates and values the individuality of each child. We welcome and respect diversity as well as encourage multicultural exchanges.
We believe that each child is born with an immense untapped creative potential waiting to emerge through valuable and memorable experiences; they are capable, confident, proficient citizens of society. At KLA Doral we are committed to constructing such experiences; our educators are devoted to provoke, encourage, observe, interpret and make the children’s processes and ideas visible. We are witnesses and collaborators to the children’s growth, as they build academic and social skills, strengthen their individual identities, gain confidence to transfer, share and integrate their ideas and what they have learned to other experiences, peers and surroundings.
It is with pleasure that I invite you to navigate through our website, where you will get a glimpse into the life of our school and our philosophical approach to learning. I look forward to meeting you in person when you visit our campus!
Pilar Tefel
Director
KLA Schools of Doral
Parents as Our Partners
Parents are a crucial factor in our program. In fact, parents are our partners. Our teachers understand and respect that parents are their children’s first teacher. Their involvement in the school gives their children a sense of security and is deeply appreciated. We recognize that stable, quality relationships during the early years are fundamental for later developmental outcomes. Collaboration between teachers, parents and the children is an integral part of the educational experience at KLA Schools. Our goal is not simply to build a strong, warm and nurturing connection with each child, but to extend that connection to our community of parents. By working in a collaborative group setting, children learn critical life skills such as compromise, reasoning, respect for others’ opinions and enhancement of their sense of community. Through these partnerships, children benefit from experiencing many of the same principles at home that they do in school and thrive with this consistency. Teachers also offer frequent support our families and our communities through transparency and by being a source of information about educating a whole child and the various aspects of development.
Photo Tour
We would like to welcome you to your digital tour of KLA Schools. From the moment you walk into any of our locations, you will know that you are in a KLA School. Each one of our schools has a modern feel and design unlike any other. Features such as wood floors and furniture, large picture windows for all classrooms and offices, large corridors and classroom sizes, soft tone colors, and play soft furniture brought in from Italy are some of the visual components that makes KLA stand out from all the rest.
Click the photo to launch the tour.
Community Service
As part of our philosophy and educational approach, we believe it is essential to make visible the fact that each child knows and understands that we are all different and can co-exist peacefully. We have different ways of thinking, a fact we embrace. In fulfilling this vision, KLA Schools has formed relationships with charitable organizations within each of the communities it exists. Read more about our involvement with the following foundations:
Marianitas Sisters
An international organization focused on supporting children in need, KLA Schools of Doral collects donations to provide much needed resources to this cause every year.
Week of the Young Child
We proudly participate in this annual celebration, to raise public attention on the importance of early childhood programs and services initiated by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). During the Week of the Young Child™ experts in the fields of childhood development, early education, parenting, and educational psychology will provide a variety of free workshops and webinars in English and Spanish to the residents of the City of Doral.
Doral Early Childhood Initiative
We collaborate annually with this local initiative, whose mission is "Making a difference in the lives of Children and Families in Doral", dedicated to the vision of having a positive impact in Early Childhood Education. This organization provides advocacy and community partnerships for children and families to promote high quality early childhood experiences. Part of our collaboration includes our participation in the annual art exhibit in Doral's City Hall.
New Life Family Center
The New Life Family Center is an emergency shelter serving homeless families in Miami-Dade County. The families are provided the services they need to move into permanent independent living and self-sufficiency. The dedicated staff provides the families with information and referrals, housing case management, access to community resources, access to life skills training, continued education, and services for their children.