Graduation Day at Nomura Preschool is traditionally an opportunity for our oldest students to showcase the skills they’ve developed over years of learning together. It’s also the time for Nomura teachers and staff to celebrate the students with a processional walk with their parents and family members in attendance. It’s a time for the entire Nomura Preschool community to offer their support and blessings to the young students, who find themselves ready and excited for their next steps into elementary school.
This year was no exception. The performance began with a dramatic play in Japanese, a language which is taught to the students on a weekly basis. Several students recited poems learned in their language skills classes. After this recitation, students in extracurricular classes went on stage to perform violin solos and group songs, ballet routines, and karate moves.
The event ended with the ceremonial procession to the recognized song, Pomp and Circumstance. It is a happily teary moment for family members and teachers alike to recognize the tremendous growth a young child undergoes in the years between age 2 and age 5.
Nomura Preschool students go on to excel at their elementary schools. Nomura Preschool graduates do well at public schools such as the West Contra Costa (El Cerrito) and Albany Unified school district, parochial schools such as St. John the Baptist and St. Jerome Catholic School in El Cerrito, School of the Madeline in Berkeley and St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Oakland, and private schools such as Prospect Sierra and Black Pine Circle in Berkeley, Bentley and Head Royce in Oakland, and Hamlin Girls School in San Francisco.These schools recognize Nomura Preschool students for their readiness and enthusiasm for all types of academic programs.