A Spanish immersion early childhood education franchise is preparing to open its first Georgia location in Atlanta’s Kirkwood neighborhood, the beginning of a planned 12-center expansion across metro Atlanta.

Tierra Encantada, which provides child care and early education from infancy through pre-K, expects to open its Kirkwood center at 1655 Memorial Drive SE this fall. The center is currently accepting enrollments and job applications. A second metro Atlanta location is planned for Smyrna next year, with franchise operator Michael Campagnolo planning 12 locations in the region over the next five years.

The company began in Minnesota and has since expanded to several states through a combination of corporate and franchise locations. Its program centers on Spanish-language immersion, play-based learning and meals prepared from scratch. 

At Tierra Encantada, Spanish is used throughout the school day rather than taught as a separate class. The company says 100 percent of instruction is conducted in Spanish. Tierra Encantada translates to “enchanted land.” 

Campagnolo, who previously worked as an educator before spending 15 years helping operate Planet Fitness locations, said Atlanta’s population growth and demand for early childhood education contributed to his decision to bring the franchise to the region.

“It’s a super similar market to Minneapolis, Minnesota actually, from a demographic standpoint, as far as school population,” Campagnolo said. “That coupled with the need for childhood education in general, in addition to that, that made for Atlanta to be a really strong market in my eyes to plant a flag and open some schools.”

Campagnolo said Kirkwood was selected in part because of the number of families moving into the neighborhood and the changes the area has experienced in recent years.

As Tierra Encantada expands, Campagnolo said the goal is to maintain consistency in curriculum and services across the franchise locations while serving families in different parts of metro Atlanta.

“You want that seamlessness of knowing I’m going to this school, and there’s going to be a certain amount of continuity from one location to the other, both with teaching and curriculum and so forth,” he said.

For children who enter the program without speaking Spanish, Campagnolo said teachers rely heavily on repetition and context throughout daily activities. Rather than separating language instruction from the rest of the curriculum, children encounter Spanish during classroom activities, meals, physical play and conversations with teachers.

“They’re learning and applying it throughout the day, during interactions with the teachers,” Campagnolo said. “It’s that day-to-day… repetition of [Spanish] in different scenarios in different formats throughout the day in various classrooms.”

Food is another component of the program. Tierra Encantada says breakfast, lunch and snacks are prepared from scratch at its centers, with a chef on staff at the Kirkwood location.

Campagnolo said the Atlanta centers will also participate in Georgia’s pre-K program and that unsubsidized tuition is intended to be at or below the pricing of major competitors.

The Kirkwood center is expected to open once the remaining permitting and licensing process is complete. Campagnolo said the company is accepting both new student enrollments and employment applications while preparations continue.

For Campagnolo, the larger test of the planned expansion will come after the centers have had time to establish themselves in their communities.

“I think that success will come with the testimonials from parents,” he said, adding that he expects the impact of the schools to become clearer over time.

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