Introduction/specifics

Our kindergarten is a 5-group facility for children aged 1-6 years. It comprises a nursery group, two kindergarten groups, and two mixed-age groups. A dedicated team of 19 educational staff and an additional language support teacher lovingly accompany the children through their everyday lives.
Particularly noteworthy are our flexible childcare options, which can be individually tailored to the needs of families. The children receive a balanced lunch and benefit from a varied daily routine with a wide range of educational activities, projects, and special offers.

Our kindergarten is a place where children can feel comfortable, learn, and grow.

Basics

Mission statement of our kindergartens

‘On the way to growing up, the children in our facilities should feel supported and we give them enough fresh wind to move forward on the eventful journey.’

Our goals:

• Promoting language skills, expanding vocabulary and the ability to express oneself
• Promote social skills, learn to live together, resolve conflicts, learn rules
• To promote integration within the group
• Promoting the individual ability of each child and valuing the child's personality
• Promoting independence, granting freedom, encouraging children to try new things
• Promoting play, creating framework conditions, providing stimulating materials, learning through play, processing experiences
• Shaping the transition to school, leading up to school readiness
• Co-operation with the primary school and other institutions
• Further development of educational work, teamwork, further training, public relations work
• Cooperation with parents, the parents' council, family involvement

Employee

Our team consists of specialised educational staff and interns who rotate from time to time. We train trainees from all apprenticeship years.

We also offer work experience placements for pupils from secondary schools, community schools and other schools.
 

Additional Offerings

Language support  

In the kindergartens of the municipality of Frickenhausen, additional language support for children with increased support needs takes place regularly, several days a week.   

The aim of language support is to help children acquire and develop their language skills so that they can communicate, express themselves, understand each other and thus participate in the community and educational programmes.  

Both children with a migration background and German children can take part in the language support programme.  

 Which children should take part in the language support programme is determined by the specialists in consultation with the parents. The results of the school examination can also be a reason for participation in the language support programme.   

Language support can only be provided with the consent of the parents. However, if the need for language support has been identified during the school examination, participation in language support in the last year of kindergarten is compulsory.  

In our kindergartens, language support is provided by qualified language support staff according to the concept of the ‘Denkendorfer Modell’.  

 The basic principles of pre-school language support according to the Denkendorf model are  

1.  Language support is provided holistically in age-appropriate play and learning situations.  
2. The support takes place in small groups.  
3. The support is provided in close cooperation with the paedagogical specialists.  
4. Language support according to the Denkendorf model is interculturally orientated. 

Inclusion 

There is a colourful diversity of families, languages, origins and individuals in the kindergartens of the municipality of Frickenhausen. 
It is important for us to take each individual child seriously and to recognise their own life situation, their own prerequisites and their individual abilities. The children should be supported and encouraged in a shared day at the crèche and kindergarten so that they can learn from and with each other.  

In the case of children with special needs, we work together with parents and supporting institutions such as the Early Intervention Association to see how inclusion can succeed in the centre so that children with (potential) disabilities can also experience successful participation in group activities.  

In these cases, integration staff are deployed in our centres to accompany the children on an hourly basis during their day at kindergarten. 

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance  

 A quality manual, a concept for the protection against violence and the concept are used to define standards that apply to all centres and provide binding instructions and insights for teachers, the provider and parents with regard to structural and pedagogical activities. 
They are constantly being developed and adapted to new requirements in order to maintain reliable conditions and meet new demands. At the same time, each centre retains its own profile.  

It is important to us to present the work in the centres in a transparent and reliable manner. 

Teamwork with parents

Parenting and educational partnership   

Parents and educational professionals try to harmonise their parenting styles and to jointly shape, complement and support the educational process.  

This is achieved through  

• Admission interviews: The familiarisation of the children takes place according to the ‘Berlin Model’. During the familiarisation period, a close relationship and a great deal of consultation between the child, parent and teacher is necessary to ensure that the familiarisation is successful.  

• Parent and development meetings with fixed dates  

• Brief door-to-door discussions at drop-off and pick-up times  

• Joint preparation and organisation of parties and special events  

• Parents‘ evenings that not only provide information about kindergarten work or the kindergarten, but also themed parents’ evenings with invited speakers  

• Consultation and cooperation with the parents' councils  

• Informational talks, e.g. about co-operation between the kindergarten and primary school  

  It is important to give parents an insight into kindergarten work - informative offers include  

• Keeping portfolios  

• Presentations about projects, activities, excursions, etc. on the documentation walls  

• Letters to parents  

• Weekly or monthly calendars with appointments   

Projects

Fire safety education  

Once a year, fire safety education is organised for pre-school children in cooperation with the Frickenhausen volunteer fire brigade.  

The preschoolers visit the local fire stations and learn about the following key topics:  

• Dangers of fire: heat, smoke, fire gases and destruction  

• Correct handling of ignition agents, necessary safety measures  

• Escape routes and behaviour in the event of fire  

• Equipment of a firefighter  

• Tour of the fire engine  

On a second date, there is a practice alarm in the kindergarten in which all the children of the kindergarten are involved.  

A practice smoke alarm is triggered, the management makes an emergency call and the children gather at the assembly point. And the fire brigade arrives with sirens and flashing blue lights.  

At the end, the pre-school children receive a certificate that reads:  

 ‘I know, I don't play with fire!’  

Dental prophylaxis  

The introduction to dental prophylaxis ‘Healthy teeth - but how?’ takes place regularly for all children. 

An employee from the Esslingen Health Department introduces the children to the topic of oral hygiene in a playful way. We talk about milk teeth and permanent teeth and what is good or bad for the teeth.  

Using an oversized set of teeth and an oversized toothbrush, she shows the children how to brush their teeth properly.  

Using the ‘chewing surfaces - outer surfaces - inner surfaces’ tooth brushing technique, the children practised vigorously. Each child is given their own toothbrush and brushes their teeth together. 

Dentist

Dr Seeger´s dental practice from Frickenhausen visits us once a year. She is responsible for us and carries out the dental check-ups.

This means that the children are allowed to show Dr Seegertheir teeth and he takes a quick look to see how everything looks. The parents are informed in advance by letter and give their consent with a signature that this may be carried out on their child. It is important to note that if a child does not want to, they do not have to.

Afterwards, each child is given a toothbrush cup and a toothbrush to take home.