Appalling! I have never seen anything like this before. Actually, it was the very first time where I was speechless. I’m a mother of two children and my youngest daughter is two years old.
I am a nursery teacher and worked in Gloucestershire, England and we have an organization in the UK called OFSTED. It stands for: Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. They are inspecting nurseries which are providing education and suitable equipment for young learners in all age groups. Now, to the point 😊
I couldn’t find the equivalent in Germany. So, perhaps someone could help me, as I would like to report it.
I was calling up several nurseries in my area, we’ve been to a couple of settings and yesterday, we were invited to Kita Zauberschiff.
Arriving there, it felt cold, as if you’d go to a dry job interview. My daughter and I were sitting on a chair at a table and two leaders were welcoming us.
After I spoke to them for approximately five minutes, it was clear that this nursery is an anti-authoritarian nursery, which seems fine for parents who like a very open concept, regardless of that - there are sadly a few points, that question everything.
I got literally attacked in a rude way, after I have mentioned that I also do the English part for our daughter as her daddy is working from morning until noon and we want her to also speak English well enough, so she is able to have the best of both worlds.
I got told, that I’m not allowed to. My mother tongue is German and although they haven’t heard me speaking English, they assumed that I would have a heavy German accent.
I spoke to the doctor of our daughter, explaining our bilingual situation at home and they gave me their okay.
The male leader got up and showed us around, leading us to a staircase, which was separate and going up the stairs; Liv on my left hand - he mentioned that the children are mastering the staircase on their own! If they can walk or crawl, they are walking or ‘crawling’ up and down by themselves. (I’m not going to mention my thoughts on it, otherwise I’m writing forever 😂)
Coming up on the first floor - there is a so called ‘restaurant’ and ‘bistro’ 😉 ...that’s right, you can come and go as you please. Your child can also eat when it wants or the leftovers.
They don’t have to eat and they don’t get any assistance with their food. Yes, they do butter the children’s bread but that’s as far as it goes.
To sum it all up, my daughter is two and she has to come up the stairs herself, managing to take the food and the plate and eat (possibly by herself, depends on if the children have already eaten or not!) ...and she can decide when she wants to get up and leave. No mentioning about washing hands, brushing teeth as the children DECIDE for themselves if they want to.
Next up, the terrace on the first floor. The children can go out and in as they please. Even if they would like to stay outside for the whole day, even if it is raining or cold. They also don’t have to wear jackets if they don’t want to. Yesterday, I have witnessed how the children were running continuously in and out the terrace, no supervisions. The children are on the first floor and yes, if they are leaning over - they are able to fall down. A female staff member approached the terrace, only to ask if Max wouldn’t need a jacket and Max was possibly only three years old and he didn’t want to wear a jacket, so she walked off and carried on with her business.
Next, we walked up to the second floor. Bare in mind, the nursery is dark, unfriendly, not child appropriate and not colourful.
Lots of rooms which were closed and then we were led to an ‘indoor playground room’ where the children could climb up the walls and play on monkey bars. The male leader openly said, that the staff are leaving the room, leaving the children unattended and only check once in a while. Now, it can happen that your child could get injured and hurt, he continued 😳 ...but that’s normal and healthy.
So, I guess if I don’t find Liv in the nursery - either she got lost, she got hurt (possibly an older child jumped on her back or she fell down and broke her neck....) I mean there are endless possibilities.
The children were running wild, no child was drawing, doing jigsaw puzzles, haven’t been offered anything. No books, no toys were seen. He mentioned that she children decide on a daily basis what they want to play. They will be given the freedom of what they want to do.
Now, I’m not mocking anything and yes, I did give the children in my setting in England enough opportunities and freedom to decide what they would like to do but we did have structure and routine and made sure, we would write down a daily journal about their day.
What did they play with? Who did they play with and what and how much have they eaten on a daily basis. For some parents, it may be a bit much but we had the the child’s best interest at heart, cradled the baby and child when it was uncomfortable or sad and I couldn’t see any of it in Kita Zauberschiff. I couldn’t see that any of them care or play with the children which is very sad.
As I was leaving with Liv, a little boy stood by the fence. He looked sad and he looked how I felt inside.
Overall, please don’t send your child there. Your child won’t learn anything apart from learning how to be wild, to hurt and how not to sit down at dinner table. It won’t learn to discover their own strengths or what they like to do unless they get offered a variety of things. They need to see in order to decide what they likes and dislikes are and for me, personally the nursery failed to do that.
They charge a fee of 53 € each month.
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