About UPC Children's Center
School Hours: M-F 7:30am-5:30pm
Phone#: 210-734-3035
Email: childrenscenter@upcsa.org
UPCC offers a safe, nurturing, and enriching environment where young children grow through curiosity, connection, and play. Our nature-inspired approach encourages children to explore, imagine, and discover at their own pace while developing essential social, emotional, physical, and cognitive skills. Every classroom is intentionally designed with low teacher -child ratios and small group sizes to ensure each child receives meaningful attention and individualized support. Children spend a minimum of one hour outdoors each morning – plus additional time in the afternoon – engaging with our uniquely designed infant/toddler and preschool outdoor learning spaces. These natural environments invite hands-on exploration, foster independence, and help children build a lifelong relationship with the natural world. Children also experience music, motor skills, Spanish and spiritual enrichment activities, and the Center often hosts special community visitors and events throughout the year.
UPC’s Children’s Center is open all year, and children stay together as a class for the entire school year (August through May.) The qualified, nurturing and experienced staff have a long average tenure of more than 10 years and provides a developmentally appropriate curriculum.
UPCC has been accredited continually since 1987 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
In 2024, UPCC was recognized as a Four-Star Texas Rising Star Center by the Texas Workforce Commission.
The infant/toddler and preschool outdoor spaces have received recognition as Nature Explore Certified Outdoor Classrooms since 2016. UPCC serves infants, toddlers and preschoolers (from 2 ½ months, at the start of the school year in August through age 5), Monday – Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with part-time and full-time care options. In the summer, there is an additional option on-site for SOIL: school-age outdoor investigational learning for children 5 – 8 years of age.
UPCC is a primary outreach of University Presbyterian Church (www.upcsa.org) to provide a quality early childhood program for children and families in the community. Spiritual growth is enhanced through: themes emphasizing caring for the natural world and acceptance for others, by prayers at mealtimes, the observation of some of the faith traditions reflected by the families of the classroom, and bi-monthly Spiritual Enrichment with the UPC Pastor or UPC Director of Children’s Spirituality.