The German School Kindergarten & Pre-School

The Kindergarten at the German School in London is a bilingual pre-school for boys and girls aged 3-6yrs. The setting is a place where children and teachers meet and form a community, where they can play and learn collectively as a group and as individuals. Every child brings his/her own experiences, knowledge and family’s cultural background to the group. Children learn from shared experiences that no curriculum can replace.

The school’s approach is development-oriented, which takes into account that children develop at their own pace. They focus on children’s individual interests and needs as well as their abilities and strengths. The school sets clear rules and boundaries within which the children feel safe to choose activities freely and explore their interests. Shared sustained thinking creates an organic ever-changing learning environment. Adult-led and child-led activities are provided, with the emphasis on the latter to ensure all activities match the interests and needs of each child.

Free-play time, both indoors and outside, is an essential part of everyday life at the Kindergarten; their experienced team understands that this is crucial for the holistic development of children. During free-play children can learn independently, choosing the games and children they want to play with or to focus on an activity on their own. The Kindergarten celebrates and encourages children to be curious and to explore and test their abilities within a safe and secure setting.

Children at the Kindergarten come from many different cultural backgrounds, speak many different languages and live in many different types of families. Diversity is celebrated with a strong belief that everyone can learn from one another’s different cultures and experiences.

There are three factors that make the Kindergarten at the German School London unique in comparison to most other pre-schools in London.

• Firstly, it is bilingual, offering children an early advantage to their educational journey – the general benefits of learning more than one language at an early age are widely documented. At the Kindergarten, the children learn both German and English in a natural context, during free-play, in the morning circle, through finger rhymes, songs, stories and games.
• Secondly, children continue for another year in Pre-School before starting school. The advantage of this approach is it gives children more time to play, to be physically active and to be creative. All these activities give children at the Kindergarten a great start to life in terms of their health and wellbeing. When they do start school, they are more than ready.
• Thirdly, and in keeping with the school’s focus on free-play, physical and creative activities, the Kindergarten benefits from access to all the facilities offered by the German School, including a vast outdoor playground. It also has a wonderful location between the River Thames and Richmond Park giving children lots of opportunities to explore nature on their doorstep.

Children in the Kindergarten and Pre-School can continue their educational journey at the German School up to the age of 18yrs. Pupils are able to graduate with the German International Abitur (DIA) and optionally with the International Baccalaureate (IB). The DIA is an internationally-acclaimed college and university preparatory curriculum and diploma that provides an academically exceptional and culturally rich multilingual education to students of all nationalities and backgrounds, opens doors to the finest colleges and universities, and creates a world of opportunities for its graduates.

The German School can be found at Douglas House, Petersham Rd, Richmond TW10 7AH. They can be contacted by calling 020 8940 2510 or by emailing Info@dslondon.org.uk.

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