Nora Richards is the owner and director of The Sandpiper Nursery School. Nora has been in the field for 33 years, having graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education in 1976, and a Master’s Degree in Child Development and Curriculum in 1991 from Wheelock College in Boston Massachusetts. She taught in two day care centers in Boston, and at a nursery school in Falmouth before opening The Sandpiper Nursery School in June of 1991. She is the chairperson of Young Children First!, the state funded Falmouth Community Partnership of early childhood professionals, sits on the advisory board and is an adjunct professor in the Early Education Department at Cape Cod Community College, sits on the Kindergarten Readiness Committee for the Falmouth Public Schools, and has received a Pilot Program Grant for the Universal Preschool initiative in Massachusetts twice.

The Sandpiper Nursery School has received national accreditation three times. Nora has been very interested in the educational philosophy of the preprimary schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy. She has taken several classes, attended three national conferences, and has gone to Reggio Emilia itself to learn more about this educational philosophy. Reggio inspiration has lead to deeper relationships with teachers, children, and their families at The Sandpiper. Our attempt to make young children visible to the adult community has lead us to document our work with children more fully, to learn to allow the children to initiate their own activities, and to collaborate with each other to understand and further both the children’s learning and our own.

Nora, Joe, and their son Jonathan live in Falmouth. Outside of school Nora is an avid reader, a hopeful gardener, and a lover of the outdoors, most especially the beach!