Our History

 

Valley Day School was founded in 1958 as a PA Private Academic School dedicated to providing viable quality educational day-programming placement options designed to serve students (5-13 years of age) with special learning and/or adjustment needs.   

Prior to PARC or IDEA or the subsequent enactment of early intervention legislation, Valley Day School’s three visionary founders (a local Educator, a local Social Worker, and a local Therapist) opened Valley Day School to “stop special needs children and their families from falling through the cracks.”

Valley Day School was initially located in Yardley, PA.  Over the next 26 years, the school’s location changed repeatedly in order to support growth in programming, related services, and student enrollment.  Valley Day School is a non-profit organization. It provides educational and clinical supports for students within a therapeutic milieu.   

Through the years, Valley Day School’s location has remained rooted in lower Bucks County.  In the early 1980s, Valley Day School became an Approved Private School. At that time, the school’s licensing was expanded to allow Valley Day School to serve children and youth (5-21 years of age) classified as Emotionally Disturbed and/or Autism.   

Since 1984, the Valley Day School organization has been based on its current 10.4-acre suburban campus in Morrisville, PA.  This location allows Valley Day School to provide day programming and related services for students referred by Local Education Agencies located in Southeastern Pennsylvania as well as in neighboring New Jersey.   

When PA education laws changed to recognize Autistic Spectrum Disorder and Pervasive Developmental Disorder as educational classifications, our licensure was again expanded to allow the school to receive such referrals and to serve students with such classifications. Valley Day School was a founding member of the PA Alliance of Approved Private Schools.