Juniper & Rowan Kindergartens

Ages: three and a half to six or seven.

Times: Monday to Friday 09:30 - 13:00

The Kindergartens provide a warm, homely atmosphere for pre-school children between the ages of three and a half to six or seven years. The Kindergartens function as mixed age groups, however, occasionally there is an exceptionally large intake of three year olds. Under these circumstances a Nursery group may be formed to enable these very young children to receive the more concentrated attention they need.

One of the main tasks of the Kindergarten teacher is to foster play. In play a child can find its relationship to the world in an artistic and creative way. Simple toys crafted from natural materials (sea shells, fir cones and many other natural materials) are used to allow the child's imagination to develop fully.

The children participate in a wide range of activities such as painting, baking, gardening, dressing up, listening to stories, singing, as well as practising Eurythmy (the art of movement) and learning simple songs and rhymes, sometimes in foreign languages. Kindergarten life follows natural rhythms; those of the day and the week, and the rich pattern of the changing seasons celebrated throughout the year at the Festivals.