OUR APPROACH
Natural, Playful and Creative Learning
Our Philosophy
The Language Garden offers an immersive bilingual German-English speaking environment in a warm and positive home-from-home setting.
We nurture and value a child’s development through a holistic approach to learning. Young children learn naturally through play and exploration. We therefore create spaces for them to joyfully discover their world and their unique place in it. Our days follow a relaxed, but consistent rhythm, balancing child-led and teacher-led activities.
We embrace the most recent research-based knowledge in early childhood education. Our materials and methods are carefully designed to meet every child’s learning journey.
Our curriculum
Our curriculum is designed specifically for children aged 2 to 5 years old. For a few weeks at a time, we focus on a specific topic or a theme, around which we centre our structured activities. These might include storytelling, reading, singing, art projects, music and movement, nature expedition, cooking and baking, and the celebration of traditional German and international festivals, customs and culture. Our continuous provision explores all areas of learning set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.
Our Values
Underpinning all we do at the Language Garden are the three pillars of Community, Nature and Creativity.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create. “
Albert Einstein
Community
The Language Garden brings together a community of families who wish to experience bilingualism in a natural way and thrive and blossom together. It’s like having a bilingual German-English village right here in Sussex!
We have lots of fun together outside kindergarten hours too. Every term, we organise a special get-together, such as a beautiful countryside ramble and picnic in the park, visiting a local farm during their lambing season, or an enchanting night-time lantern walk. Families also often arrange playdates for children with their bilingual friends and the children and parents build valuable friendships that will last for many years to come.
Nature
Young children thrive outdoors and at the Language Garden we love to explore the natural world. A strong connection to nature helps children build confidence, independence and physical health, and of course, a love and respect for animals and our environment.
Our curriculum follows the seasons and we encourage outdoor activity in all types of weather. Our garden inspires imagination, exercise and fun. Children play in the wooden cabin, dig in the large sand pit, water the vegetable patch, examine insects, and much more. We also spend time exploring the beautiful nearby woodlands, feeding the ducklings at the pond right opposite, racing around neighbouring fields, picking blackberries and saying hello to Samson the 42 year old Shetland pony past the allotments.
Creativity
At the Language Garden, we embrace creativity in all its forms. Curiosity and imagination fuel a child’s desire to create, so we let their interests lead them to explore their own self-expression. We also set up project-based activities that spark imagination by introducing children to natural materials and a variety of media.
We do all types of creative activities, including crafts, painting, singing, percussion and physical movement. These all help children develop an appreciation for the arts, nature, music and their own bodies.
As we work together – making, building, cutting, painting – there’s a lot to talk about, giving us many opportunities to practice many skills and to speak German and English.