Description and Stations

The nearby B8 provides good local connections to Uckerath and Hennef, which can be easily reached by car and public transport. The stop 'Adscheider Weg' is just a few meters away from the facility. The large adjacent parking lot next to the building allows for simplified drop-off and pick-up options.

Introduction/specifics

Our house is a two-story former school building that has been remodeled and renovated several times over the decades. With its loving design, it radiates an absolute feel-good atmosphere. Our family center is located in a quiet area at the entrance of Lichtenberg.

In our facility, 75 children, aged from 4 months to the start of school, can be lovingly cared for and individually supported. Our youngest children primarily spend their time in the rooms of the 'Stupsnäschen.' The older children play, learn, work, and bring the 'open education house' to life with its various functional areas.

Rooms

Our rooms are situation-oriented and designed according to the needs of the children, while always considering the guidelines and suggestions of the 10 educational areas of North Rhine-Westphalia. The facilities of our daycare center are based on an open concept, allowing us to offer the children prepared educational spaces with specific focuses for the development and growth of their personality and skills. The rooms and materials are continually aligned with the themes and needs of the children, which also means that the spaces can be used flexibly and can change over time. The Waldwichtel Family Center occupies an old school that has been remodeled and optimized multiple times. Our furnishings are a mix of old and new, handmade and purchased, and radiate a cheerful and friendly atmosphere through their attention to detail.

Our facility is well laid out over two floors and includes:

• U3 area with adjacent washing and changing room, side room, sleeping room, and direct access to the outdoor area
• Ü3 area with 3 washrooms (one of which has a changing room), construction room, children's library, studio with storage room, theater, and relaxation room
• Cloud 7 for in-house support • Children's bistro
• Large movement room
• 2 hallway areas with shoe sluice, information boards, and cloakrooms
• 2 office and staff rooms
• 2 adult restrooms
• Game storage room
• Kitchen
• Cleaning and storage room

Outdoor Facilities

The expansive outdoor area with old trees offers children plenty of space and opportunities for movement:

• a large climbing frame with a slide, a mud table, a sand lift, a suspension bridge, a chalkboard, and various climbing options, all surrounded by a huge bark mulch box with a separate sandbox.
• a climbing frame for children under 3,
• a pole house with a sandbox underneath,
• a bird's nest swing,
• two spring animals,
• a mud area with a water connection,
• a log balance course,
• a large yard with seating arrangements,
• 'natural' seating and play opportunities,
• a wooden house where our sand toys, vehicles, etc. are 'parked',
• a ground trampoline.

Daily Schedule

The opening hours of our daycare center are from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. No day is the same! The children have many ideas, and flexible arrangements and spontaneity make everyday life colorful. However, a basic structure is important, as a structured daily routine provides the children with security and orientation in their daily lives.

7:00 AM - 9:00 AM - Drop-off time

8:00 AM - 10:00 AM - Free playtime, time to explore the functional areas and have breakfast in the bistro

10:00 AM - 10:30 AM - Thematic circles

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM - Free playtime in the outdoor area or in the open house

12:00 PM - 12:30 PM - First pick-up time / 11:30 AM all children under 3 years have lunch

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM - Free playtime and lunch in the bistro / 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Quiet time with activities

12:00 PM - 2:00 PM - Nap time for all children under 3

2:00 PM - 2:30 PM - Second pick-up time

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM - Free playtime in the outdoor area or in the open house

3:00 PM - Afternoon snack, followed by the third flexible pick-up time

5:00 PM - Our family center closes its doors

A fixed part of the week is the open forest activity on Mondays. Then, all children who want to meet in the parking lot and decide, after the ritual of the forest song, in which forest they will play, explore, observe, work, and "forest bathe

Food

A healthy and balanced diet is important to us! The guidelines of the German Society for Nutrition serve as our foundation and are followed by the caterer who supplies us. Meal planning is done together with the children, so they can learn about the importance and components of a balanced diet. Fruits and vegetables are also provided as snacks. Unsweetened beverages are available at all times.

Basics

We see the child as an independent personality with all the abilities and skills necessary for self-education. We create a space where the child has opportunities for individual development. With joy, curiosity, and a spirit of exploration, the child can pursue its interests and inclinations. The foundation for this is a secure and trusting relationship with the child. This provides the framework in which your child feels comfortable and can fully develop its joy of learning. Every child, regardless of their situation and developmental stage, is welcome and is seen and recognized in their uniqueness. DISCOVERING AND STRENGTHENING THE SPECIAL is our guiding principle.

Therefore, participation and inclusion are fundamental concepts in all areas of our work. This means that children are actively involved in all decisions that affect them. They are consulted, and their opinions are important and guiding for us. Following a situation-oriented approach, we connect with the children's topics in everyday life and provide impulses for new learning steps.

Employee

Our team consists of 21 employees:

• 6 full-time educational professionals and 8 part-time,
• 1 part-time support staff,
• 1 part-time substitute,
• 1 full-time social worker,
• 1 management position, and 1 full-time deputy, 
• 2 daily helpers.

It is important to us to work in an interdisciplinary team where each employee can contribute their professional and personal resources and strengths.

Additional Offerings

As a family center, we regularly offer supplementary activities for everyone.

These may include:

• parent-child activities,
• open consultation hours with the family counseling center,
• playgroups,
• information events for adults,
• yoga
• midwifery courses

Quality Assurance

Every child has the right to support in their development and to education that fosters an independent and community-oriented personality. This mandate serves as a guiding principle and is ensured through regular review and updating of the educational concept. In all our childcare facilities, we work participatively and continuously on our quality management process. This allows us to fulfill the legal mandate for quality assurance and to guarantee high-quality work, which is also regularly evaluated and adjusted as needed.

Each child is regarded in their individuality. Through intensive observation, we assess how they can be supported and promoted in their development. In the various educational areas, we provide children with the opportunity to engage with new topics and tasks according to their interests, thereby expanding their competencies. Regular documentation of education and development also offers you, as parents, insight into your child's learning progress.

The design of transitions is important; it begins with a good settling-in phase and ends with a successful transition to primary school.

Cooperations

Our facility is increasingly supported as a family center by various local cooperation partners. The goal of this collaboration is to establish a stronger networking within the social space, in the sense of a community of responsibility.

Our cooperation partners include:

• General Social Service (ASD) of the city of Hennef,
• Child Protection Association Hennef e.V.,
• Early Intervention Center Hennef,
• Childcare Facility of the city of Hennef,
• Family Counseling Center of the city of Hennef,
• Municipal Children and Youth Center (KiJuH) Hennef,
• Family Midwife of the city of Hennef Kathrin Schulz,
• Community Primary School "Am Steimel" Uckerath,
• Citizens' Association Lichtenberg e.V.,
• Hennef Gymnastics Club (HTV) 1895 e.V.,
• Family Education Center FABI Rhein-Sieg,
• DRK Family Education Center Rhein-Sieg,
• Community Association Uckerath e.V.,
• City Library Hennef,
• "Yoga is Good" with Jutta Löning-Wennemer,
• Midwife Judith Drewes-Oppenländer, and Sabine Fußhöller
• Aktiv Entspannt - Center for Sound and Relaxation Sylvia Ellingen.

Teamwork with school

This important transition for your child should be well prepared and designed collaboratively with all parties involved. In Hennef, a binding educational/cooperation agreement regulates the transition from kindergarten to school. How this can be helpful for children and parents has been developed and documented in collaboration with teachers from the school and professionals from the daycare centers. Important components include that children can get to know their future school in advance and establish initial contacts. For you as parents, informational events will take place. Joint training sessions for teachers and educational professionals from the daycare centers contribute to ensuring that the educational processes that have begun can be continued as seamlessly as possible.

Teamwork with parents

As parents, you are the experts for your child! Therefore, a trusting collaboration with you is particularly important to us. Even during the settling-in phase, you will work closely with the educational professionals. The intensive and regular exchange on an equal footing will then continue in ongoing conversations during drop-off and pick-up times, as well as in scheduled parent meetings. The documentation of your child's development and education serves as the basis for the regularly held development discussions. An open-door policy and insight into the educational work ensure that a partnership-based exchange can succeed.

News

In the daycare, we inform you about current matters related to our work, information from the provider, and offerings from the respective social environment. For this purpose, information boards and options are available in the entrance area.

Additionally, our facility uses the Stay Informed app as the preferred communication tool for organizational matters:

• You will receive important information and dates from the daycare directly on your smartphone.
• You can register both custodial parents or other family members as app users and receive all information equally and quickly on your smartphone.
• You will keep track of all information from the daycare, as it is organized within the app. There is no risk of losing or accidentally deleting it.
• You can easily transfer appointments we send you to your personal smartphone calendar.
• You can fill out digital feedback forms directly on your smartphone and send them back to us.
• You can report your child absent through the app.
• The app is GDPR-compliant, ad-free, and free for families.

Projects

Through our work based on the situational approach, our goal as educational professionals is to promote the self-, factual, and social competencies of children. In practice, this means activating and further developing the independence of children, their autonomy, and their social behavior based on value-oriented conduct, while experiencing meaningful connections.

On this basis, the team at the daycare center reflects together and develops projects and initiatives based on the themes and needs of the children. Participation—meaning the co-determination and involvement of the children—is fundamentally significant and guiding for the educational professionals. The children determine and shape their daily activities, projects, and actions in the daycare, continuously bringing in new, original ideas.

Internally, there are weekly and monthly recurring offerings. Some arise situationally, while others are firmly part of the annual cycle. On Mondays, children have the opportunity to go into the forest and explore the nature and surroundings of the family center, as nature is the best playground! Throughout the year, there is always something happening in our house.

As a family center, we offer a "special variety of programs" and open our doors to all families in the city of Hennef. You can find our offerings in the display case in front of the facility, or the online "Family Guide" of the city of Hennef informs you about our current public offerings. Additionally, there is the new app "Family Compass," where you can also find all the offerings from our facility and many others in Hennef.

Here are a few examples: forest days and weeks, yoga, wrestling and roughhousing, psychomotor units, birthday parties, reading mentor day, Advent season, St. Martin's parade, carnival party, father-child day, mother-child day, grandparent day, theater performance in the house, excursion week, overnight stay for school children, village activities, welcome festival, and much more.

Parental Interviews

Your opinion as parents is important to us, which is why we annually assess your satisfaction through a standardized procedure. Additionally, we take the opportunity to conduct parent surveys on selected topics such as care needs and opening hours, quality standards for lunch, or offerings at the family center. 

We value your ideas, wishes, and comments at any time!