Platanus Kindergarten
Kindergartens play an important role in our society. They act as a bridge between the different areas and stages of children’s lives, as well as educating and caring for our young children.
At Platanus Kindergarten, we believe it is our pedagogical responsibility to help children develop their self-esteem and grow into lovely people with confidence and trust in their relationships with others. We also help them to develop the ability to appreciate their immediate, personal environment, as well as their place in the wider community.
We believe that children discover who they are as they grow; they are constantly learning and often imitate what they see adults and older children doing. Children are full of energy and want to be loved and accepted, as well as taken seriously.
Small children are often unable to reflect upon and express or explain their needs verbally, and are not always taken seriously. Naturally, they are still quite dependent on the adults in their lives. These young children are not yet capable of taking full responsibility for themselves or others.
On the one hand, children need lots of warmth and security, on the other hand they need freedom in order to develop, become independent, to try out new things and to learn. They need encouragement to actively engage and get involved in the world around them and for this they need guidance and authentic role models.
Our work follows Berlin’s educational curriculum. The children spend the majority of their days with children of the same age. During the early mornings sessions and late afternoon hours, as well as on special days, the children come together to take part in specific activities.
Our pedagogical goal is to enable the children to have a nurturing, age-orientated environment, where their individual interests, skills and talents are taken into account. A child’s day in our Kindergarten has two focal points; one of which is the early, playful, exposure to German and English on an equally valued level and the other is the playful sensitisation to mathematical, scientific and environmental phenomena.
Through the assimilation of our Platanus kindergartens and the primary and secondary school in a common educational institution, we have been able to set up good connections between the pre-school curriculum and the nurturing and raising of the children in our kindergartens. Children can start with us from a younger age, not just one year before they are of school age. In our kindergartens, the children are supported in progressing in all areas from day one. We work on developing their strengths and interests, in order to help them continue to develop educationally.