Sanyoo Bharadwaj
Director, 2- & 4-Day Teacher
Sanyoo brought us unique vision and experience when she began teaching at APPS in 2004. She became Assistant Director in 2006 and then Director in 2009. Sanyoo Bharadwaj has a BA from India and has done her Early Childhood Education Certificate through UC Santa Cruz. .She was a parent participant and board member at Eastside Parent Participating Nursery School for three years. Her years at EPPNS gave her an enduring passion for nurturing the growth and development of young children.
After her daughter’s graduation from EPPNS, she stayed on as a teacher. Sanyoo has taught as a substitute teacher at Mulberry School in their elementary and pre-school program, while her daughter was enrolled there. She also was an active parent participant in her daughter’s middle school program at Discovery Charter School.
During the pursuit of her vocation as an early childhood educator, Sanyoo has consistently worked in helping these programs advocate the creation of a community to support the “whole child”. ‘A child’s work is play’, is her mantra. She lives in San Jose with her husband and is the proud mother of her daughter, a UC Santa Cruz graduate with a passion for singing Operatic arias and show tunes.
Ellen Williams
Co-Director / Early Explorers & 3-Day Teacher
Ellen was born and raised in the Silicon Valley. She has been an Early Childhood Educator for over 30 years, working with infants through eight year olds in a variety of roles including Infant Educarer, Early Childhood Educator, Elementary Educator, Learning Designer, Parent Educator and Director. She earned her Associate of Arts degree in Child Development from DeAnza College and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Child and Adolescent Development from San Jose State University. Ellen’s passion is in collaborating with others to create rich, intentional, early childhood environments where children thrive socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively through hands-on, play-based, multi-sensory activities. She sees her role as one of a facilitator or resource for children, staff, and families.
Ellen is an advocate for children, as well as for emergent, play-based education. She works to support parents in trusting that PLAY is the way that children learn best by making learning through play visible and in developing positive and respectful relationships using Positive Discipline. Her favorite activities with young children are literacy activities, woodworking, gardening, design thinking, cooking, and supporting children in creating what they envision through a variety of art media.
Ellen lives in San Jose with her two children and their dog. She enjoys reading research-based journals, attending conferences and participating and leading workshops to stay current in the field. In her spare time, Ellen loves to spend time with her family, chosen and natural, exploring the great outdoors, gardening, creating, and playing games.
Cathy Kawakami
Positive Discipline Coach and Parent Education
Cathy brings with her the family history and connection that epitomizes APPS. She is a former APPS student who attended with her mother in the early days of school. Her mother Betsy went on to become an APPS teacher and director for 29 years before retiring in 2004.
Cathy has also been a participating parent, board member and former President during the years that her two daughters attended the school. She continued to participate in the classroom during her daughters elementary and middle school years at the Indigo Program, a parent participation school in San Jose.
Now that her daughters are in high school, she travels around the world as a Positive Discipline Lead Trainer working with schools that want to incorporate Positive Discipline into their programs. Her parent education business — Middle Ground Parenting — is designed to further adoption of the positive discipline strategy.