The Peter Pan Cooperative Nursery School is a play-based parent cooperative located in Oakland, California. 

Since 1947, we have been providing a community, a neighborhood, and an extended family in which parents and children can grow and learn together in a diverse, nurturing, and flexible environment.

We are licensed for children from two to six years of age and have a ratio of four children to each adult. Our students do not have to be toilet trained.
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We follow the OUSD school calendar and holidays, with a school day that begins at 9 am and ends at 12 noon. An optional PM Program is available from 12 noon to 2:45pm.

Peter Pan is a non-profit, parent-run organization affiliated with the California Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools. We welcome families of diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Latest updates from the community

Prospective Family Play Date: March 9, 2024 — 10:00am-12:00pm

Enrolling for Fall 2024: Contact Membership Coordinator at [email protected]

Philosophy.

Children in a cooperative model experience a deep interconnectedness of family, education, and community. 

At Peter Pan we focus on individual growth and social development and use our experiences to learn from one another and our environment.

The cooperative model allows parents to be actively involved in their young child’s preschool experience. Parents share responsibility for maintaining all aspects of the preschool—if you don’t do it, it doesn’t get done! Membership responsibilities include monthly meetings, weekly jobs, committee work, maintenance hours, and fundraising.

In the co-op model, a member of each family works one morning a week as a teacher along with the director and seven other parents. Through this deep involvement parents gain an understanding of child development, experience in working with children of different ages, and close relationships with their children’s peers. Parent education happens daily and at monthly meetings. We pull from Positive Discipline, Bev Bos, the works of Gessell, Ilg, and Ames, and an understanding of individual temperament to support our parenting and our school philosophy. This has helped the Peter Pan community work well with children of many temperaments and backgrounds, including children with special needs.

76

Years in the Community

700+

Panner Families

Peter Pan is a non-profit, parent-run organization affiliated with the California Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools.
​We welcome families of diverse racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Peter Pan Cooperative Nursery School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

PETER PAN LOCATION

Maxwell House

Peter Pan is located on the grounds of Maxwell Park in Oakland.
​We are just east of High Street and not far from Mills College.