The Experiential School: Ages 3-5

Welcome to The Experiential School of Tampa Bay, where each child’s interests and ideas are valued. In our child-centered learning community, students act and interact as individual and collaborative thinkers, doers, and problem solvers, and teachers provide experiences to engage and stretch them.

Our private school teachers are specialists in Early Childhood Education and are familiar with the latest research on how children develop and learn. They recognize that each child is unique, and purposefully differentiate activities according to the needs of each child. Through a balance of guided discovery and play, the teachers support our students to ensure that they develop the interpersonal and cognitive skills and conceptual understandings that will help position them as the leading students and citizens of the future.

The Experiential School of Tampa Bay engages its students in curriculum that cultivates children's natural creativity and curiosity to promote growth through play, inquiry, exploration, observation and project-based learning.

Inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, we believe that children are active protagonists in their learning. The curriculum fosters development of the whole child and supports students’ relationship building, expression, and meaning making - understanding that the world around them has meaning and finding their sense of self within their environments. 

Involving children in experiences that relate to their lives makes learning meaningful and fun. Come and see!

Students debut costumes for families and older students as they parade through the 28-acre campus. The parade is typically followed by an outdoor festival with games, rides, treats and surprises.

Chargers Pep Rally
A few days before the all-school Homecoming pep rally, our youngest Chargers enjoy a smaller pep rally to prepare them for the upcoming fanfare. They talk to high school athletes, meet Sparky - our mascot, and cheerleaders lead them through their first cheer.

A weeklong teach-in featuring local artists, a gallery walk highlighting student artwork, class performances and more. The final feature of the week is a Shorecrest Upper School Performing Arts musical production.

Families and friends enjoy watching as each class recites a poem at the annual, al fresco celebration of poetry.  

As a culminating activity for Alpha's investigation of transportation and as an end of the year celebration, our youngest Chargers show off their skills on wheels. Students bring tricycles, bicycles, balance bikes, scooters and Hot Wheels to demonstrate their independence while bonding with the school community.

Teachers digitally document and archive students’ work and projects into an e-portfolio. The portfolio follows the student through the course of Lower School and serves as a tool to draw connections and illustrate student progress through fourth grade.

In March 2019, Shorecrest's Experiential School students settled into their brand new Mike Murphy Experiential School building. When designing new Experiential School indoor and outdoor spaces, every decision made had student learning and growth at its core. The building houses classrooms, a teaching kitchen, a library and media center, dining rooms, and much more!