About Us

At Prince of Peace Preschool, we believe that children learn best through play and hands-on exploration. Our indoor and outdoor classrooms provide a fun and stimulating learning environment where children can investigate and explore using their tremendous curiosity while developing kindergarten readiness skills. Our students explore our outdoor nature playground and garden year-round and on a daily basis. One of our primary goals is to develop a positive self-image in each child while practicing social, cognitive and language skills; affirming that he or she is a unique, special person. We utilize Creative Curriculum by Teaching Strategies to guide our learning with studies and activities that enable children to develop confidence, creativity, and life-long critical thinking skills. In addition, we utilize Learning Without Tears for pre-writing and incorporate a variety of music, process art, and gross/fine motor activities throughout the school day.

Learn more about our teachers here.

Preschool News

Congratulations, Graduates!

We were so proud to celebrate our Pre-K 4 graduates and students moving up to their next step in their preschool journey!  While reflecting on what I’d like our students to take with them from POPPS, I remembered a day a while ago when I had joined two classes on the playground, and some students ran over to greet me, show me some very uniquely shaped pebbles they had discovered, and share some news. Another student was working on some strong feelings. After exploring solutions with that child and offering some comfort, listening to the news of the day, investigating what was unique about the pebbles, and checking with our staff to see if anyone would like 5 minutes, my co-worker came to find me. “Ms. Welsing, that’s not why you’re here”, she teased me, knowing I had some administrative task to accomplish, but spending time with the students was preferable. I smiled and thought, “no, this is exactly why I am here; why we are all here-to listen to the news of the day and ask higher order questions, expanding vocabulary and inquiry, build relationships, help little people learn to be ok with strong feelings, advocate for themselves and build resiliency, and notice the wonderous things in God’s world”. The admin work could wait (for a little bit:) And that underlines what I hope our graduates bring with them: a love of learning, a feeling of community, resilience and the confidence to work things out and keep trying new things, and an appreciation for our wonderful natural world. Most importantly, we all hope that they learn that God loves them just the way they are and that we at POPPS do too!

Happy Summer!

Helene Welsing

Director Prince of Peace Preschool

106 Orangeburg Road Old Tappan, NJ 07675 201 965-3354

“Play is the highest form of research!” ~Albert Einstein 

POPPS PLAYMATES APPLICATION FALL 2026

Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

For more information about POPPS Preschool, please visit www.princeofpeacepreschoolnj.org,     our Facebook page at Prince of Peace Preschool | Facebook, email us at prek@princeofpeacenj.org, or call us at 201 965-3354.

Health & Safety

Prince of Peace Preschool is licensed to operate as a Childcare Center from the NJ Office of Children and Families (OFC). All regulations from the OFC and recommendations from the Board of Health will be followed and may change at any time due to community health issues and regulations and recommendations are updated.
At this time:
*Masks are optional at POPPS.
*Students will have their own bin and cubby to store their extra clothes, water bottle, and personal use materials that will be separate from other students’ belongings.
*We ask that you perform a daily health check before coming to school. More information is available in our parent handbook.
*Students wash upon entry to our program and frequently throughout the school day. We have an outdoor sink and hand sanitizer available on our playground.
*Each indoor classroom will have a room air filter with windows ajar to promote air circulation.
*As research and regulations are updated periodically, these measures may be updated as guidance from the OFC, CDC and the Bergen County Board of Health change.