ABOUT US
Owner/Director
MAYSA FINI
Hello, my name is Maysa Fini.
I am the owner and the director of A Step Ahead preschool in Ahwatukee. I am a mother of two girls, 15 and 21 years old. I have been married for over 27 years and live in Arizona for past 15 years. My bachelor degree is in business management from Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada and my master degree is in education with concentration in curriculum design and implement. I taught elementary and middle school for a year until I gave birth to my little girl.
I took over A Step Ahead in to 2009 with a new vision to turn this preschool to a home when my baby was an infant. A Step Ahead soon turned into my families second home as well as all other parent’s second home. We build our foundation on what is available at home, such as love, safety and then, education. All of our teachers are certified early childhood education and most have their own children here too. I travel with my family frequently to learn about other countries, new culture and method of education. Every trip, I bring new ideas, new activities, and a little twist in our mission.
PHILOSOPHY
At A Step Ahead, we strongly believe in the positive effect an early childhood education has on the blossoming lives of our children. To meet our commitment to quality education, we have built a caring and knowledgeable team consisting of certified and experienced teachers and teacher aides. Equally important for our children is to spend their precious days in the classrooms, where they are loved and received more of the “one-on-one” attention by the virtue of smaller ratio in our classrooms.
A Step Ahead’s interactive curriculum not only educates our children with their fundamental elements of learning, such as reading and math, it also helps them with their social skills development and their ability to work independently. We have also adopted an inclusive approach to teaching our young children. Based on the fact that “one shoe size does not fit everyone”, it is essential to individualize our lesson plans, and be able to work with all children of different levels and interests. Our students are assessed in the classroom often, and our parents are provided with their progress reports regularly.
We are devoted to having an active communication with our parents and keep them informed on a regular basis. We recognize that some parents need to select a childcare or preschool for the first time. Such a task can be worrisome and challenging at the time, in particular when the most precious gifts of our lives are involved. Therefore, we would like you to consider “A Step Ahead”, as your children’s second home, to receive the same level of trust and care they enjoy at home.
MISSION STATEMENT
To provide our children with a safe, loving and educational environment like their second home, where their individuality is nourished, and development of their positive attitude and self-esteem are inspired.
VISION STATEMENT
For A Step Ahead to be a safe, caring, fun-learning school for our students, as they begin their journey in the baby room, and all-the-way to our pre-kindergarten class. To have the most passionate and knowledgeable teachers and teacher aides to care for and guide our students. In regards to our students:
Give them the opportunity to explore their curiosity, as they work with the Montessori tools.
To develop their social skills, and interact with their friends through a set of positive reinforcements, and making good choices.
To become enthusiastic about learning in general. It is critical to develop a sense of self-discipline and autonomy during the early childhood stage.
We have developed our early childhood education programs with a combination of Montessori and Traditional styles of teaching. We have called it: the Montessori philosophy with a twist. Our focus is to develop our children’s self-confidence, as they are getting ready to face their post-preschool challenges.