Outdoor Facilities

Our educational goal is to provide children with opportunities in our nature-oriented outdoor area to sharpen their senses, satisfy their need for movement, and experience nature throughout all seasons, whether in sunshine, wind, or rain.

To support this, our facility offers various play areas and play niches, a hut for retreat and role play, as well as opportunities to explore the habitats of plants and small living creatures.

Through interaction with natural elements such as soil, stones, and water, children are encouraged to discover and explore their environment.

Rooms

Our facility offers the following spaces and facilities:

On both the ground floor and the upper floor, there are group rooms with adjoining activity rooms, sleeping rooms with children's beds and other sleeping facilities, as well as cloakroom areas. Washrooms, changing facilities, and administrative offices are also located on both floors of the building.

A large multi-purpose room on the lower ground floor is used by all groups for physical activities and movement programs. Our “Children’s Café” and the production kitchen are also located on the lower ground floor of the facility.

Daily Schedule

The daily routine at our facility includes a morning circle every day, which marks the end of the children's arrival and breakfast period.

Following the morning circle, the learning and educational phase begins. During this time, educational activities and projects are offered by the pedagogical staff, taking into account the children's interests, wishes, and needs. This phase continues until lunchtime, which is served in the children's respective groups.

After lunch, the children take part in a rest and sleep period. This is followed by a healthy afternoon snack. The day concludes with a further learning and educational phase in the afternoon.

Food

A healthy and balanced diet is a fundamental prerequisite for a child’s optimal development. For this reason, our meal offerings are based on current nutritional science and dietary recommendations.

A housekeeping staff member prepares fresh meals for the children every day. We take food intolerances and allergies, as well as religious dietary requirements, into account when planning our menus.

Basics

The foundation of our educational work is the situational approach, which places children and their immediate experiences, learning opportunities, and living environments at the center of the educational process. The needs and developmental potential of each individual child are our primary focus.

Key areas of educational practice at the “Elbeallee” Day Care Center include group-based open learning, the provision of healthy and balanced nutrition for children, and the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child within our educational work.

The child, their needs, and their individual life situation are at the heart of our pedagogical approach. Children are actively involved in and encouraged to participate in many decision-making processes within the facility. On this basis, they are able to further develop their diverse abilities and experience themselves as valued partners in a manner appropriate to their age and stage of development.

Employee

The staff of the facility consists of a center director with a qualification in social management, a deputy director, and educational professionals holding the qualification of state-certified educators.

In addition, the staff includes trainees, interns, and housekeeping employees.

Quality Assurance

As the first childcare provider in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), AWO Ostwestfalen-Lippe e.V. achieved external certification for all of its daycare centers according to the DIN EN ISO standard in 2002.

Since then, within a dynamic quality assurance process, we have continuously developed and implemented educational and organizational strategies at a high professional level, ensuring that they are both centrally coordinated and promptly put into practice.

Cooperations

We strive to maintain close cooperation with various institutions within the local community, such as early intervention centers, educational and family counseling services, schools, and other municipal agencies.

In addition, our facility actively participates in local working groups and is involved in community-oriented activities and events, such as neighborhood celebrations, projects, and other initiatives.

Teamwork with school

Good cooperation with the neighboring primary schools within our catchment area aims to ensure that preschool and school learning are built upon one another and developed in a coordinated way.

Our facility and the primary schools offer joint projects, reciprocal visits, and parent information evenings. The school preparation group in our facility focuses on supporting children during the transition from daycare to primary school in their final year before starting school.

Teamwork with parents

Cooperation with parents is an important part of our work at the facility. We foster a partnership-based relationship characterized by mutual respect and acceptance. Regular communication forms the foundation of effective collaboration.

Daily handover discussions, parent consultations, and parent-child events take place at our facility. As educational professionals, we provide guidance and support to parents in matters relating to child development and parenting, and we assist them in establishing contact with other institutions and support services when needed.

Parental Interviews

To ensure the continuous improvement of our work and the services offered to children and parents, regular parent surveys are conducted in our facility.

Overview

Children can be admitted to the “Elbeallee” Day Care Center at any time during the year, provided that a place is available.

Places are allocated according to transparent criteria. These are based on legal requirements, agreed childcare funding regulations, the facility’s operating license, and social criteria established in consultation with the parent council.

The admission of children with physical, intellectual, or emotional disabilities is generally welcomed.

Admission criteria for the facility include the allocation of places according to the agreed facility structure, the catchment area, the employment status of parents/legal guardians, single-parent status, the age of the child, siblings already attending the facility, and referrals made by the Youth Welfare Office.

Description and Stations

Our facility is conveniently located in the district of Sennestadt on Elbeallee and is easily accessible both on foot and by car.

Our facility can also be reached by public transport via various bus lines, getting off at the Ehrenbergplatz stop.