Introduction/specifics

Welcome to our registration portal

The children who attend our kindergarten live in the municipality of Neulußheim in the Rhine-Neckar district of Baden-Württemberg. This allows families to maintain close contact with each other outside of kindergarten. The municipality has a rather village-like character. Small apartment buildings and single-family homes characterize the community. Neulußheim is well connected to the surrounding towns and municipalities by public transportation.

Our kindergarten is located close to the train station on the outskirts of Neulußheim. In the immediate vicinity are a residential area, shopping facilities, and public playgrounds. The town center with the church and town hall is a 10-15 minute walk away. The proximity to fields and forests complements the quiet and rural location, which we use as regular destinations for excursions.

"Children should play more than many children do nowadays. Because if you play enough while you are little, you carry treasures with you that you can draw on throughout your entire life. Then you know what it means to have a warm, secret world within yourself that gives you strength when life gets hard. No matter what happens, no matter what you experience, you have this world inside you to hold on to." (Astrid Lindgren)

This central statement by Astrid Lindgren about what children need puts play at the center of a child's experience. We also place great importance on ensuring that children have plenty of time to play and explore.

It is particularly important to us to support families and their children and to give them the opportunity to enjoy a carefree childhood. They should feel comfortable in kindergarten, enjoy going there, and be able to play, laugh, and learn with others. The children are allowed to explore their world with all their senses. We see each child as an active personality with special needs, abilities, strengths, and life circumstances. 

Rooms

On our homepage (www.kiganlh.de), we cordially invite you to take a virtual tour of our facility.

Outdoor Facilities

On our homepage (www.kiganlh.de), we cordially invite you to take a virtual tour of our facility.

Daily Schedule

The daily routine is determined in part by the needs and interests of the children.

The daily routine varies depending on the group, the times booked, and the age of the children. We will be happy to discuss this with you during the registration interview and the settling-in period.

Food

The children bring their own healthy packed lunches with them for breakfast. Water and tea are available to the children throughout the day.

A hot lunch must be booked for all full-day children (GT) from kindergarten and nursery, as well as for nursery children until 2 p.m. The Baden-Württemberg State Health Office considers the provision of a hot meal for children under the age of three and GT children aged 3 and above who are in childcare for more than five hours a day to be necessary for health reasons, as a hot meal is particularly important in terms of nutrient supply.

This meal is freshly cooked every day by our domestic staff. Our kitchen team ensures a balanced diet in accordance with DGE recommendations. Our weekly schedule is displayed in the kindergarten and can be viewed on our website. It is also available to all parents in the StayApp.

We have been awarded the BEKI certificate – a seal of approval for nutrition-conscious daycare centers.

With the BEKI certificate, daycare centers demonstrate that they promote everyday nutrition education and healthy eating habits for children.

State initiative (BW) BEKI – Conscious Child Nutrition

Basics

Our mission statement

Every person is born as a unique individual, loved, wanted, and accepted by God. That is why every person deserves appreciation, attention, and respect. Education and upbringing in our kindergarten aims to support and accompany children's self-education potential from the very beginning. We want to get to know the children as curious, honest, eager to learn, sociable, vulnerable, constantly developing, adventurous, imaginative, open, and spontaneous adventurers. We look at their abilities and interests and give them appropriate encouragement and support. Every child has the right to their own path of development and their own pace of development in order to discover the world. Children are the actors of their own development.

The goal of our work is to be as close as possible to the needs of the children. They are given the opportunity to develop their own interests and pursue them.

• We respect and value the individuality of each child and accompany them in the development of their resources and abilities.
• We support children's ability to refine their self-awareness and express their own thoughts in a variety of ways.
• Children should be able to recognize and develop their talents and abilities and use them as strengths. In addition, we teach them knowledge and skills for the further development of their perception
• We encourage children to gain independent experience on their journey, thereby strengthening their growing understanding of their environment in the long term.
• We strive to involve children in the organization of everyday life and enable them to have a say, share responsibility, and participate in decisions that affect our “small community” of the daycare center.
• Respect and appreciation = At our daycare center, children learn that they have rights, are valuable, are independent and self-effective, are allowed to have their own opinions, and are taken seriously.

Different cultures and religions come together in our kindergarten—a wonderful opportunity for children to learn about diverse religious and ideological beliefs, traditions, family languages, and cultural values. The resulting multilingualism and cultural diversity are valued and embraced.

Employee

Working at our company:

• Kindergarten management and permanent deputy
• 20 educational staff with varying numbers of hours, resulting in varying group staffing levels, which we always try to keep as balanced as possible
• 2 domestic staff in the kitchen
• 2 cleaning staff
• 1 caretaker

We also have substitute staff who can fill in on an hourly basis for a few days a year.

We are also supported in our daily work by interns/trainees from every year of training.

Qualification

Regular training and continuing education ensure and expand our professional expertise.

Our team includes employees with the following additional qualifications:

• Early childhood educator (nursery)
• Parent coach
• Language and communication specialist—e.g., for regular language assessments of all children
• Fire safety assistant
• Safety officer

Kindergarten certifications:

• Quick quality management (see Quality assurance)
• Beki – Conscious child nutrition
• Exercise pass

The topics covered in training courses conducted by the team or individual employees are varied – here are just a few examples:

Team:

• Come aboard the healthy boat (Baden-Württemberg Foundation)
• § 8a Child welfare risk
• First aid
• Respect training on dealing with boundary violations and assaults (Evangelical State Church)
• Movement is education (Children's Gymnastics Foundation)
• Workshop pedagogy
• Interior design
• Infection Protection Act §42 (1) and §43 (2), (4), and (5) IFSG
• Hygiene and disinfection in daycare centers

Individual or multiple employees:

• School readiness
• Language support integrated into everyday life
• Psychomotor skills
• Professional handling of biting behavior
• Recognizing and shaping key situations in daycare—eating, sleeping, diapering
• Science and technology in daycare and preschool
• Forest education
• Recognizing childhood stress and providing mindful support to families
• Complaint management and procedures for children and parents
• Using music and movement to promote language development
• Mentors/trainers
• Counseling – but how?
• Exploring the world with children through research

Quality Assurance

QuiK program – Quality in childcare facilities

This program was developed by the renowned research and development institute PädQUIS (Prof. Tietze et al.) as part of the BMFSFJ's National Quality Initiative. Based on the sound technical foundation of the National Criteria Catalog, it offers the possibility of systematic and process-oriented development of individual quality standards. As participants in the QuiK training courses, Ms. Bartmann (head) and Ms. Lösch (deputy head) were enabled to implement the quality management system in a future-oriented, facility-specific, and sustainable manner. This enables the facility to achieve sustainable quality assurance.

A daycare center is much more than just a place of care—it is a safe, stimulating, and high-quality educational and relational space for children and their families. The continuous development and assurance of educational quality significantly shapes children's educational and developmental opportunities. Targeted quality development creates reliable structures, promotes educational professionalism within the team, and helps to ensure that children receive the best possible support and encouragement.

Teamwork with school

All kindergartens in Neulußheim work together with their primary school partners. Under the motto “House of Small and Big Steps,” we hold a joint parents' evening in October/November for future school starters. The cooperation teacher visits the children in kindergarten several times a year, and the children visit the school. During these visits, the children are given the opportunity to try out various activities.

At Podey House, we also have an internal project for children starting school. This is based on the “House of School Readiness” concept.

https://haus-der-schulfaehigkeit.de/haus-der-schulfaehigkeit/

Teamwork with parents

No one knows a child better than their parents. That is why the family is our first point of contact when it comes to the well-being and needs of their child. In a cooperative educational partnership, we work together to support the child in their development. Mutual trust and respectful interaction are very important to us. Parents and educational professionals share responsibility for the child. Dialogue and communication form the basis of the partnership. Together, we exchange, discuss, and agree on educational ideas and goals for the benefit of the child.

The educational partnership begins with the first encounter. It is therefore very important to us that not only the child has a good settling-in period, but also the parents. The whole family should feel comfortable in the facility.

Communication with parents is very important to us. That is why we take a lot of time for it: in addition to informal conversations, we hold development meetings once a year and, if necessary, further individual meetings with parents. For us, open communication about criticism is also part of a trusting relationship. Parents are welcome to contact our staff or the facility management at any time with criticism, concerns, or requests for change. For example, during informal chats or at a personal meeting. Only when we know the concerns and wishes of the parents can we take them into account.

We would like to expressly point out that family communications are treated confidentially. All kindergarten staff are bound by confidentiality.

It is important to us that parents feel well informed at all times. That is why we are happy to provide insights into our daily routine, take photos, share content via our parent app, post information about our activities on our group notice boards, and offer each family one observation day per year.

We are delighted when fathers and mothers get actively involved in everyday life at the kindergarten. This can be in the planning and organization of celebrations or in activity days and project weeks. The involvement of parents enriches our educational work and strengthens cooperation.

News

Every 14 days, each group has a backpack day. On this day, we leave the kindergarten and explore the surrounding area. In the Ü3 area, buses and trains are also used approx. 2-4 times a year.

On this day, the children come with their backpacks packed and bring their breakfast and a bottle of drink with them on the trip.

Projects

1.A long-standing focus of our kindergarten is the topic:

Health = A basic need for children

To this end, we work with four pillars: exercise, nutrition, relaxation, and nature/the environment.

This motivates the children to lead a healthy lifestyle. They learn that being physically active also requires time for rest and relaxation. They learn to eat a balanced diet and to respect and protect their environment. This allows the children to grow up calm and relaxed, focused and concentrated, enlightened and strong in a positive and stress-free kindergarten environment.

      2.Project weeks:         

Every two months, we hold a project week at the kindergarten. Here, the children are divided into groups of the same age and assigned to a project topic. The focus is on the age group of children who will be starting school in two years.

The children in their last year of kindergarten before starting school have their own project and meet weekly for various activities and offerings. (see School Cooperation)

Overview

Children who are registered in Little Bird by their parents are reviewed and processed by the kindergarten according to priority. The kindergarten with priority 1 checks whether it has space available; if this is not the case, kindergarten priority 2 is checked, and so on.

We can send out space confirmations from 9 months before the desired admission date.

Admission is based on the children's date of birth—older children are given preference.

Children who have a sibling at the facility are also given preference.

Children from our nursery always automatically have a place in our kindergarten. The settling-in period then takes place internally – parents do not usually have to plan another vacation for this.

Even as a Protestant kindergarten, we work in an interreligious and intercultural manner. Different cultures and religions come together in our kindergarten – both on the part of the children and the staff.

Description and Stations

Evang. Kindergarten im Podey-Haus
Am Bahnhof 3
68809 Neulußheim
E-Mail: kiga.neulussheim@kbz.ekiba.de
Telefon: (06205) 2080270
Fax: (06205) 2080279

Our kindergarten is located very close to the train station, next to the Netto discount grocery store.