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The Garden School

Congratulations to the Garden School, voted the Pacific Sun’s Best Preschool 2024!

The mission of the Garden School is to offer a high quality, nature inspired preschool program to children ages two to five years old. Children are immersed in an atmosphere that promotes social-emotional development, school readiness, independence, curiosity, a love of learning and an appreciation for our natural environment. Through the use of emergent curriculum, children become the leaders of their own learning, nurtured by caring, professional and highly qualified teachers.  

We accept children ages 2 through 5 for full- or part-time enrollment. Our full-time schedule is Monday through Friday and part time is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

Children in diapers are eligible for enrollment.

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The Garden School opens at 8:30 am and ends at 1:00 pm

We use the Ross School District calendar as a guideline for all public holidays and regular vacations. 

Children grow and learn at their own pace

Your child’s first experience of school should be positive and stimulating, a place where children develop independence, confidence, learn self control and develop positive self-esteem.

Learning as a joyful process

By giving children opportunities to make choices about their activities, teachers promote active exploration in all areas of development. Children have time to grow socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically.

More than a school, a community

As a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher, and this is a significant stage in your life as much as your child’s. We have parent education events, volunteering, and social opportunities that bring us closer.

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A place to explore & satisfy natural curiosity

The grounds of Marin Art and Garden Center offer acres of space where our students learn and play. Studies show that play in nature supports developing creativity, problem-solving abilities, and cognitive development.

Applications and Enrollment

Application forms are accepted year round and may be submitted any time after the birth of your child. Please complete the online application by clicking the link below. We look forward to hearing from you!

Fill out the application

All new applicants whose application form and fee have been received will be given consideration in filling our class.

Due to the size of the preschool, we cannot guarantee admission to any child. We maintain a wait list, and we encourage families to place their child on it as soon as possible. Preferential consideration is based on, but not limited to, the following criteria: children who are re-registering/returning; currently enrolled families enrolling a sibling; age of child; alumni families; gender balancing of classes. To maintain our program integrity, we strive to create classes that are age and gender balanced and provide your child with the most enriching experience possible.

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Website funded by a generous gift from Phoebe Cowles

IRS Guidelines for Gifts from Donor Advised Funds to Support MAGC Events

Thank you for your interest in giving to the Marin Art & Garden Center events from your Donor Advised Fund (DAF) or Family Foundation.

We sincerely appreciate your generosity and support!

To ensure your gift follows the current IRS guidelines for DAF/Family Foundation support of an event, we would like to share the below guidelines with you.

  • Raffle tickets, tickets to galas and other special events, auction items, and benefits conferred in connection with a DAF/foundation grant are not permitted.
    • IRS has specifically ruled that fair market value associated with fundraising events cannot be separated, a practice known as “bifurcation.”
      • For example, with Edible Garden, if the price of the ticket is $200 and the FMV fair market value (non-tax-deductible amount) is designated to be $50, the donor must pay from sources other than her DAF/foundation for the full value of the ticket ($200) and not just for the non-tax-deductible amount ($50).
    • We recommend you confer with your financial advisor to confirm if any of these examples of how donors may still use their DAF to support an event would work for you:
      • A donor could sponsor the event, and not attend, and pay fully out of the DAF/foundation.
      • A donor could sponsor the event using DAF/foundation funds and attend by purchasing an individual ticket through non-DAF/foundation funds.
      • A donor could sponsor the event, join the event as a guest of another donor/table guest, and pay fully out of the DAF/foundation.
      • A donor could sponsor the event and host the afforded number of people at their chosen level as long as they pay for the seats at the lowest ticket price ($200 for Edible Garden) outside of their DAF.
        • As an example, a $1,500 sponsor that covers 2 guests, could pay for their sponsorship with $400 from a different source of funds, and then give an additional gift of $1,100 out of their DAF.

 

Please email Tod Thorpe, Director of Development at tod.thorpe@maringarden.org to discuss your gift to Marin Art and Garden Center