About Us
Our preschool is committed to nurturing and guiding young children from 2 months to 6 years. We provide an environment that fosters trust, security and comfort. We strive to provide a balance of activities that help children to progress socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. Our preschool respects and values differences by recognizing that children are individuals and that every child is unique. We provide a safe, secure and stimulating environment for all children. We also provide time and opportunities required for children to explore and investigate their world and to communicate with other children and adults. Our environment fosters an accepting, tolerant and flexible attitude towards others and respect for the natural world.
During the formative years, children learn how to get along in a group, to problem solve their peer relationships and participating in our integrated thematic play and Montessori learning program. We believe play is a child’s work. It is their way of experimenting and naturally finding the answers to the “why?” and the “how?” questions life presents.
Our priority is to be respectful and caring, to treat child and parent as individuals, to provide a safe environment that will promote positive growth and to maintain the parent as the child’s primary caregiver. As parenting is such a difficult task, we endeavour to work with the families to support positive parenting. We value all parenting styles and will work towards meeting the needs of children and parents through realistic expectations and ongoing communication.
Our preschool provides quality care, a nurturing environment, and the support and resources to ensure flexible and family-centered programming for all to enjoy through our core values.
Core Values
Natural Spirituality
Dr. Maria Montessori saw that children held within them something wonderful, something so special that it could be the key to changing the world. She saw that they were inherently good and that, if allowed to develop freely, they felt connected to everything and were naturally caring to each other and the world around them. The more that she worked with the children, the more convinced she was that they had precise inner guides and that the work of adults was to help them to be all that they could be. She felt that it was the spiritual nature of children that had been forgotten and denied and that children could therefore show adults the way to return to a more meaningful, holistic way of living.
Children absorb their culture
Dr. Maria Montessori’s emphasis on children being allowed the freedom to work alone and to develop concentration did not mean that she underestimated the importance of social development. Instead what she saw was that it was precisely because the children were allowed to work in such freedom that they could display such love and care towards others. She saw that children literally absorbed the world around them and that true discipline and harmony was something that came from within and was not something that could be enforced.
Children are natural learners
Dr. Maria Montessori saw that children underwent extraordinary transformations in overall happiness, self-confidence and self-discipline when they were allowed to follow their innate needs. She saw that the work of a child, therefore, was fundamentally different to that of the adult: that the child worked for the joy of the process rather than for the end result, that the child had a need to repeat activities over and over until an inner need was fulfilled, and that the child was excited and energized through work, rather than burdened and fatigued by it. She felt that children only stopped loving learning when they were forced to go against their natural impulses.
We believe that each child is a unique individual who has the potential to be the best that he
or she can be. Our purpose is to provide scaffolds that will help each individual attain that proficiency through our comprehensive childcare assemblage such as:
Place
♦ A conducive, loving, stimulating and safe learning environment
Staff
♦ Warm, caring and qualified teachers with positive attitudes of trust, respect and acceptance of the children.
♦ Support staff who will look after other aspect of the centre.
Programmes
♦ Developmentally appropriate pre-school programmes catering to individual needs and the children as a whole.
♦ Quality enrichment programmes that will foster their creativity & sense of discovery.
Parental involvement
♦ It is essential that we form a three-way partnership of home, school and child.
♦ Parental involvement programmes that will allow parents and the community to be partners in the children’s learning.
♦ Our door is always open for parents to visit our preschool. Your interest will be appreciated by your child and the staff. Should any problems or concerns arise, you are welcome to discuss them as soon as possible. We will do our best to solve them with you.
Guidance Policy
♦ “Care & Respect” describes guidance at our preschool. We are always available when needed by the children. We listen and hear what the children are saying. When we look at a child, we see a unique individual. When we communicate with a child, we express that we care by smiling, talking, hugging, setting limits, allowing frustration, allowing exploration and giving choices. We give the children clear messages of how we feel and what we expect from them, which fosters their senses of independence. Children need to know where they stand in all kinds of life situations and loving guidance is an integral part of the child’s sense of security. Setting limits is an important part of the guiding and caring process. The most effective way to teach a child limits is to have a consistent and non-threatening approach. To this end, the educators set reasonable limits and support each child’s growth toward self-control and social awareness.
Examples of Guidance:
- Child’s level
- Make eye contact
- Calm, firm voice – positive statement
- Have child repeat instructions
- State expectations, clear and specifics limits
- Consistent, follow through
- Reinforce appropriate behavior
- Encourage children to use teacher as a resource, model problem solving
- Anticipate – be observant, be aware of difficult situations, this allows the opportunity to anticipate potential difficulties and plan effective strategies
- Intervention when necessary with redirection
Examples of techniques and strategies used:
- Withholding attention or ignoring: used only in response to behaviours that are “attention seeking”
- Redirect (to appropriate activity): change circumstances or environment which causes unwanted behavior choices. Adult does not intervene. SAFETY always taken into account.
- Logical consequences are related or are somehow fitting for the particular behavior.
- Logical consequences are imposed by the adult i.e. a child who is pushing other children off a climbing toy is not allowed to play on it for 3 minutes. Once the child has experienced the consequence, do not lecture or sympathize.
Guidance describes the teaching process used by educators by which children develop socially and mature at our preschool. We assist children in developing self-control, self-confidence, and ultimately self-discipline and sensitivity to their interactions with others. Underlying our approach is the recognition that each child is a unique individual ant that the child’s experiences, environment, developmental level and culture influences his/her behavior.