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The Kindergarten.
Contemporary life puts children under pressure to grow up quickly.Despite current research that shows that children introduced into early learning tend to suffer from anxiety, a trend towards stimulating young children into awareness is gaining ground under U.K.Government guidelines. This may be seen in the current 'Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage' for 3 and 4 year-olds.
Steiner Waldorf kindergartens take an unhurried approach to early education, essentially with plenty of opportunity for imaginative play in a warm and secure environment. In this home-like protection zone, children are also given the opportunity to exercise their innate capacity for imitation of a loving adult, and of domestic activities such as baking, cooking, cleaning and sewing. The emphasis in the kindergarten is that of a small community, helping to develop social skills and giving every child a sense of belonging.
A well-developed imagination is an indispensable companion to the mature intellect and it is here, in early childhood, that it makes its first lively appearance. All healthy children love to play, and self-initiated play is a natural teacher. Through play, children develop interactive skills such as cooperation, empathy and the ability to see things from the perspective of the other.
A story is told every day in the kindergarten and often repeated for several days, so that the children can live their way into it and enact it, the dramatic element in children's stories appealing to them, whilst an inner picture-forming process in the mind is exercised - a very different process to outer stimuli. Fairy stories in particular have an inner wisdom that tell of the joys and sufferings of human life. These give to children an inner reference point and the assurance of identification with the good.
Nursery rhymes, ring games and finger games - all feature strongly in the kindergarten. Each child moves on into school with a wealth of songs, stories and poems learnt by heart. Older children invariably look back on their time in the kindergarten with affection. Children stay on until after the age of six and in some cases until they are nearly seven years of age. The current kindergarten teacher is Tracey Jones. There is a separate parent and toddler group in Norwich.
Our kindergarten is not a local authority-funded provider of Early Years education, though it works to the guidelines of the Steiner Waldorf Early Years Group of Great Britain. It is currently awaiting a visit from an advisor from their central regional area.