Concept of the Hornmühlenweg daycare centre

"The child's play is the bridge to realisation" (Bruno Bettelheim)

Play is a child's most natural form of expression and at the same time the most elementary stage of learning. During play, children engage in various activities through which they interact with objects and people in their environment. Actions experienced through play have a corresponding effect on children's individual personality development.

The educational work of our centre is closely linked to the Saxon education plan for day-care centres. The Saxon education plan states: "The child in the "here and now" with its current needs and developmental requirements is of particular interest". The child makes their own decisions about what they want to do and is accompanied by an educational professional in a needs-orientated manner. They are seen as "actors in their own right" and organise various actions and activities of their own accord. For the educational professional, this means observing the child's individual development and offering specific support services that increase their independence.

In line with our mission statement "Creating knowledge through play" we do not see education as the passing on of knowledge, but rather as an active process that can only come from the child (self-education processes). We provide the necessary framework for this. Our educational work complements the child's upbringing at home. Through a wide range of activities, which are preferably play-based, we holistically address the abilities and skills on a mental and physical level and offer the child the necessary space to develop these. Constant dialogue with the parents enables us to respond specifically to the individual needs of the children and to design the educational work as a transparent process.

The concept of the Hornmühlenweg daycare centre contains individual concepts, including associated appendices, which reflect and regulate all important matters of the daycare centre.

The overall concept can be viewed at the daycare centre. Extracts from the concept are available here.

Part 1 Structural framework conditions

Part 2 Pedagogical concept (incl. nutrition, familiarisation, participation)

Part 3 Child protection concept

Part 4 Complaints concept

• Suggestions and complaints form

Part 5 Hygiene concept

Part 6 Familiarisation concept

Play takes centre stage at our facility. The spacious, freely accessible rooms offer the children countless opportunities to gain a variety of experiences and integrate these creatively into their play.

Among other things, the following are available:

• Reading and creative rooms
• Platforms and inclined planes
• Construction areas with different materials
• Doll corners and dressing-up boxes
• Swings and resting islands for relaxation

In the multi-purpose room, the children can create their own movement construction sites and test their motor skills.

The children are deliberately given plenty of time for individual play. Our educational staff support the children by picking up on learning topics from the games, deepening them and providing targeted stimuli. The focus is on allowing the children to engage with their environment at their own pace and thus acquire knowledge.

Group play is just as important as individual play. This promotes social skills such as cooperation and communication.

The children's interests are at the centre of our educational work. During free play, the specialised staff observe the topics that are of particular interest to the children. These observations form the basis for targeted programmes that are individually tailored to the needs and interests of the children.

Once a week, the children can take part in an English programme - free of charge and on a voluntary basis.

Healthy eating is an important part of holistic health promotion. The healthier children grow up, the higher their quality of life and performance. Eating healthily is a learning process for which parents and childcare centres are jointly responsible.

For this reason, we offer the children a high-quality, Fit Kid-certified lunch. This involved scrutinising not only the lunch, which is prepared strictly separately from the student meals in the Freiberg canteen, but also the design of the meals and the implementation of a child-friendly menu.