To learn and reflects the multitude of different classes on offer, all included in the curriculum
Transitioning to a big school is a crucial time in any child’s life. This transition should be as smooth as possible and shall provide the child with skills, which can help them to enter school with confidence. At this early age, a child is busy exploring new friendship, learning to make decisions, and most importantly, coming up with his/her unique talents and abilities. To sum up, the nursery-preschools experience lay an important foundation for their future. However, all the modern changes around us have somehow complicated our world. There are many questions lingering such as “With the opening of many more nurseries and educational establishments to cater to the demand in pre-school education what makes a nursery stand out in this local community? What are people really looking for in terms of education and childcare for children under five years old?” Apparently, Lynn Farrell, Knowledge and Human Development Authority Appointed (KHDA) Principal of Kids Kare Nursery-Preschool believes that she and her staff team have all the answers related to student pre-nursery education.
The school is situated in a well-established and vibrant Jumeirah Lake Towers in Dubai. It has been successfully running in the heart of JLT for over five years and is well set up within the local community. The school is a British Curriculum, Early Years Foundation Stage nursery. Ms Lynn and her staff team have developed a strong curriculum based on the Early Years Statutory Framework. This focuses on seven key areas of a child’s development. Its holistic approach to learning, treating each child as unique and supporting play-based learning, with classes are based on UK ratios and standards. Forming a strong partnership with parents and caregivers is apparent for the school and is reflected in its weekly newsletters, regular parents’ meetings, a state-of-the-art application, scheduled events, and outings with families. The nursery is also open all year round and only closed on local public holidays to support JLT’s local working community.
The Right Place for Development
As aforementioned, KK Nursery-Preschool lies in the heart of JLT towers. It is a very spacious facility and occupies the full of the lower level of Cluster E with views of the beautiful lakes. With lots of natural light and a feeling of open space, there are eight, modern and stimulating large classrooms, split into activity zones, equipped with sustainable wooden furniture and rubber toys. Further, there are also five main purpose-built areas.
The staff team does not believe in confining children to classrooms. Hence, there is a multi-gym, music and movement room, a science and languages room, activity, and messy playroom as well as two designated large sleeping areas within the nursery. All rooms are bright, spacious, and offers a lot of room to explore and play. The infrastructure supports the school’s nurseries vision and children can enjoy music and movement classes, gym and physical education classes, Arabic and French classes, a little science weekly program, and healthy living lesson. Additionally, there are daily arts and crafts lessons, or messy play activities.
Further, access to covered underground parking at pick up and drop off time help parents with the convenience of attending the nursery as well as the convenient location of being located directly opposite JLT’s busiest metro station. They have unrestricted access and flexible pick up times along with CCTV cameras in all areas given additional reassurance and peace of mind on top off this facility. Consequently, when parents visit, there are a lot of happy children alongside motivated, friendly, and compassionate staff.
Qualified Educators
Ms Lynn and her team believe in the continuous professional development of the students. Therefore, the preschool has Early Years qualified educators or certified teachers. They are also certified with added training from teaching English as a second language to pediatric first aid training. All teaching assistants also take part in regular monthly certified training in all areas of Early Years provision to enhance the quality of care provided by Ms Lynn as well as qualified specialist outsourced providers. Added to this, the nursery supports student placements for those seeking Early Years qualifications in conjunction with training providers.
Regarding the significance of adequate educators, Ms Lynn states “This is a community-based nursery; we work with parents as well as children. We are extremely passionate about supporting the full family in their child’s learning and development.” We don’t run camps. We run an all-year-round curriculum staffed by qualified teachers”. She is confident in her staff team as both practitioners and educators and role models in the field of Early Years provision.
The Complete Development
Other than infrastructure and qualified educators, there are many areas where the school shines as an excellent preschool. KK nursery-preschool is a proud first school being selected in Dubai to work alongside Dubai Health Authority in rolling out a healthy eating curriculum to combat unhealthy eating and lifestyle from an early age. This is an interactive program working with both children and parents to educate in a fun and inclusive way. A 22-week healthy eating curriculum for all children attending the nursery is now in place with educational materials and child-friendly healthy eating games so that toddlers can learn about healthy eating in a fun and interactive manner.
Children of KK take part in daily music and movement classes linked to the Early Years topics that they are studying to promote their creative learning and development. The nursery also incorporates a mindfulness program linked to relaxation and stretching in between classes. The philosophy of the staff is centered around the belief that happy minds and bodies create healthy happy children.
Further, the school has rolled out a little scientist program as part of curriculum learning since September 2016. This supports children’s creative learning and problem-solving skills by learning about the world around them in a fun way. Children enjoy experiments centered around messy play and learning exciting new skills.
Kids Kare has also been running their little language program successfully for over two years. It consists of weekly multilingual language lessons. All programs are included free of charge in the curriculum to enhance multilingual learning through phonetic learning. This program is delivered through target language immersion games, teacher-child interaction, visual aids, songs, games, and storytime. This builds on more than language skills. As children handle toys and visual aids, they develop motor skills and coordination. As they participate and interact, they sing & dance, perform acts and at the same time build their social skills.
Future Lookout
While talking about the future plans of KK nursery-preschool, Ms Lynn concluded with saying, “The nursery has proved so successful that we are in the process of discussing franchise opportunities with a partner company and opening up a second facility. These projects are expected to roll out over the coming year”.
