German Kindergarten Bermondsey

Prospectus

About our Kindergarten

The German Kindergarten Bermondsey is a bilingual (German/English) setting in Bermondsey, south London, with lovely new premises and a focus on outdoor learning. We offer our children an environment with lots of in-and outdoor activities, created to support them in their personal growth and help them to develop into confident and responsible personalities. Learning through play, while being immersed in German language and culture, is conveyed as a natural part of life. We welcome children from all backgrounds and offer songs, stories, books, games and nursery rhymes in both languages. Therefore children do not need to know any German but hopefully will enjoy the opportunity to learn about another language and culture. We are working according the national Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS) and closely monitor our educational and bilingual approach to meet the diverse needs of our children and foster their language skills.

Our Aim

The Kindergarten offers children the opportunity to:

  • Learn through play in a safe and stimulating environment

  • Start learning another language at an age when learning languages is easiest and most effective

  • Enjoy the company of other children

  • Be part of a group which values everyone, whatever their cultural background, race or special needs might be

  • Gain knowledge about different cultures

  • Develop at their own pace, with lots of warm and encouraging support

  • Grow in confidence by learning to choose from a wide range of activities

  • Gain independence by managing to be apart from parents/carers.

Opening hours

Mondays—Fridays 8am—6pm for 50 weeks a year.

Application form and fees

We charge a £40.00 application handling fee for a space on the waiting list. Once we can offer you a place, we will ask you to pay a one-off registration fee of £150 if you choose to accept the place. After receipt of the registration fee, you will be provided with a parents’ starter pack with all necessary information. We would like to arrange a home visit before your child starts in our Kindergarten. Here we can meet your child in a familiar environment and complete the Entry Profile. Please see the current fee table for the regular monthly fees.

Settling in

While some children are confident on arrival at the Kindergarten, the majority will need a certain period to adjust to the new environment. A key person is there for your child and takes special responsibility for the child and their parent/carer. Parents/ carers should stay at the setting or nearby, until the child is happy and confident. For more information about the settling-in phase, please refer to our Settling-in leaflet.

Education Programme

Our curriculum is linked to the seven areas of learning and development in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (EYFS):

Prime areas

  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development

  • Communication and Language

  • Physical Development

Specific areas

  • Literacy

  • Mathematics

  • Understanding the World

  • Expressive arts and design.

Our Kindergarten activities follow the four seasons of the year: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

Every season offers lots of possibilities to create exciting activities derived from nature so we can match our activities outside and indoors (arts&crafts, songs and finger games) to the season and its celebrations (Christmas, Fastnacht, Easter, Summer Party, St. Martin’s Umzug). In spring the theme is earth and growth and we are planting flowers in our flowerbed. In summer we are using water to splash around in the garden and get prepared for the holidays. In autumn we celebrate the wind with building kites and in winter we are looking into fire with its light and shadows and will craft lanterns for the St. Martin’s procession. We celebrate international holidays as well as organising some festivals in a traditional German style. So we hope that you and your children will enjoy Easter egg painting as well as a lantern walk on St. Martin’s Day and making gingerbread houses at Christmas. However the programme is flexible to respond to the children’s interests and needs. A detailed weekly review is made available to all parents via email and on our notice board. You are very welcome to let us know if there is anything your child is particularly interested in. We will try to include this into the programme.

Toys and Activities

You will regularly find the following at the Kindergarten: painting and art work, book corner, play dough, water or sand, dressing up area, puzzles, building blocks, dolls, musical instruments and many more toys and activities to choose from. We go outside every day – when the weather is bad we put on waterproofs and keep a change of clothes in the Kindergarten.

Kindergarten Lunch

The Kindergarten provides a healthy breakfast, lunch and healthy snacks. We cater for allergies an food intolerances.

Children’s Progress

We seek to work closely together with our parents for the child’s learning journey. The key person regularly observes your child. We record the children’s progress and discuss our observations with the parent/carer and share personal learning stories with the child.

Child Safeguarding

We uphold a Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy and keep our families updated on our safeguarding policy and procedures. All Kindergarten staff are DBS-checked and have a statutory responsibility to ensure that children are safe at all times, and their individual needs are being met. For more detailed information about our Safeguarding Policy, please refer to the corresponding document.

Escourt and collection of children

It is vital that we are told if someone other than the child’s usual carer is collecting your child. However, we will not allow any child to leave with a minor (i.e. anyone under 16 years old). Children should be brought and collected on time. For more information please refer to our Arrival/Departure and Late Collection Policy.

Policies

We provide all parents with the following policies: • Settling-in Process and Flyer • Safeguarding Policy and Child Protection Procedures • Arrival/Departure and Late Collection Policy • Behaviour Policy • Accident & Emergency Policy • Health and Safety Policy • Equality of Opportunity and Inclusion Policy • Lost Child Policy • Administering Medicines Policy • Complaints Policy The following further Policies are available on request: Supervision of children on outings and visits, Mobile phone, Computer and Camera use policy, Use of photographic and digital imagery and mobile phones, Information sharing policy, Intimate Care policy.

Code of conduct

All children and adults at the Kindergarten treat each other with respect and kindness. Unkind comments, insults, violent or abusive behaviour are unacceptable at all times. Since we all feel comfortable in an attractive and warm environment to play and work in, the building and the equipment must be valued and treated with respect. We tidy up together.

Complaints

If you are concerned about any aspect of the Kindergarten, please refer to the Manager.
If the matter cannot be resolved satisfactorily, you may wish to contact the Director of the Kindergarten. If you have a complaint which you feel cannot be resolved by the Kindergarten, please contact:

Pre-school Learning Alliance,
Pre school Learning Alliance National Centre,
The Fitzpatrick Building, 188 York Way, London N7 9AD
Tel: 020 7697 2595

Further complaints can be directed to:
Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted)
Royal Exchange Building,
St. Ann’s Square, Manchester M2 7LA

Admissions Policy

Priority is given to:

  • Children with special needs

  • Looked after Children

  • Children in the setting who want more sessions

  • Siblings of children in the Kindergarten.

Sickness and medication

All cases of contagious diseases in the family or any exposure to them should be reported immediately to the Kindergarten. Only medication prescribed by a doctor can be administered by staff and then only on receipt of written authorisation from the child’s parent. The Kindergarten reserves the right to refuse entry to any child the Manager considers is suffering from any contagious or infectious complaint.

Holidays, changing weekdays attended, additional sessions

All holidays taken during Kindergarten opening times should be reported to the key person or Manager in advance; fees are still payable during such holidays.

Notice periods

We require two calendar months notice if you are planning to take your child out of the nursery. For example: if you plan to leave the Kindergarten on 31st of August you need to give notice on the last calendar day in June, at the latest.

Family Events

We encourage parents to attend the regular parents’ evenings. We also invite parents to attend special events like the Easter Egg Hunt, summer party, lantern march in November and our Christmas party. We seek continuous communication and feedback from you to help us give your child the best childcare we can! Your child’s wellbeing and happiness is our priority.