Good Shepherd has very specific goals for our students. We want to give them the tools for lifelong learning! Introducing them to reading, writing, math, environment, classroom skills, social skills, and much more, takes even more tools. Niki Amiss, one of our pre-K teachers who has been teaching with us for seven years, shares with us some of the tools she uses in her classroom to impart this foundation to her students.

Having been in our community for 31 years, Good Shepherd has trained thousands of students for whatever comes next in their lives - kindergarten, first grade, middle school, high school, or even college. But GSS has also been a training ground for our young employees as well. Whether they are headed to college, are in college preparing for a career, or are preparing for motherhood, GSS provides a friendly and supportive environment to learn the skills they need.

Some people are unaware that Good Shepherd is a not just a day care - we are also a private school! Good Shepherd offers a quality alternative for K-12 students that need a different approach to learning. We continue to use the A Beka curriculum in our Kindergartens, and then we use the ACE School of Tomorrow curriculum in our Learning Centers. Each Learning Center houses grades 1-12, each student in their own office, working on their own work, getting helping individually according to their own needs.

Trinity Spencer has been with Good Shepherd for the past 18 years and is reaping the benefits of this tenure in her schooling beyond Good Shepherd. She is in her Freshman year of college and has seen immediate payoff from attending Good Shepherd all those years. Having gone though our Learning Center program, Trinity gained real life skills that has helped her in her classes.

There are a few things as beautiful as the delight of a child discovering the world he/she inhabits! At Good Shepherd, our 2 year old class is called the “Discovery Class” because of how much this applies to that age group. And at GSS3, Kim Cusimano has the privilege of guiding these little ones through this process. Kim has 20 years of experience working with children, half of that with us. She has developed her own personal approach that works wonders with an age that can be a handful of times. Her calm demeanor and laid back style are a perfect fit with 2 year olds.

At Good Shepherd School and Day Care, interaction is the key to helping students feel loved, and to helping them fall in love with learning. Everything we do at GSS has these two goals in mind!

Many Good Shepherd staff members describe it as “family!” Kimberly Lopez-Burns is one of them, and she is a great example of the twofold reason why. She is the Discovery head teacher at our Neff Avenue campus, and she came to us with her three sons. She came to us and discovered that Good Shepherd is a unique place - all staff children are tuition-free when a parent works for us!

Did you know that Good Shepherd is more than just a day care? While our educational day care consists of a pre-K curriculum and approach, our love for kids and commitment to their education does not stop there. We have a K-12 program in Harrisonburg and in Waynesboro!

Crystal Brooks is a great example of our teachers in these programs. She is a veteran at our Waynesboro campus, having taught there for 11 years in the Learning Center. Our Neff Avenue and our Waynesboro campuses each have this style of classroom, where students of all ages learn to work independently under the watchful care of loving teachers like Mrs. Brooks. As the head teacher in the Learning Center, she helps her students strive for academic success. At the same time, she cherishes the opportunity her classroom presents to show the children God’s love, teach them life lessons, and instruct them how to teach others with respect.

Brooklyn Nguyen is a support teacher at Good Shepherd’s Chicago Ave. campus. She has been ministering with children there for five years. But to Brooklyn, working at Good Shepherd is more than just a job. It is an opportunity! It is an opportunity to be a teacher, to be involved in the learning process of young children, and to make an academic difference in their early lives. It is an opportunity to plant seeds, not just of learning, but of the love and joy of Christ. It is an opportunity to teach and model character, something that seems missing so often in our world today.

Good Shepherd school is blessed to have strong leadership at all three of our campuses. One of these leaders is Missy Moody. She is the Assistant Director at our Waynesboro campus. Her story is a great way to get to know GSS and our mission here.

Missy was working at Target Distribution when she applied at GSS. She was interested in the fact that one of the benefits for teachers at our school is free tuition, from nursery through 12th grade. Her son, Josh, had been struggling at public school, and it had become enough of a concern that she was looking at a career change. Her bright smile, sweet demeanor, and professional nature made her an easy hire for Joel Spencer, the Director of that campus. Josh, and her other child, Kaitlyn, became students in the learning center.