Places for children 2 The European Central Bank belongs to the growing circle of businesses and institutions that promote the work-life- balance of their employees and thus invest in our society’s future. In August 2000, the service provider BVZ gGmbH, opened the first daycare facility for 36 children in cooperation with the ECB. Due to quickly rising demand, a second facility was added just one year later. Today there are four childcare facilites for over 400 children located in central Frankfurt-Westend and Eastend: Places for children from all over the world to live and learn in. This overall educational concept was up for the two childcare facilities at Dantestraße and the one in in which children from three months up to a maximum of six years are minded, as well as for the childcare facility at Schubertstraße with its groups of toddlers from three months to four years.
Our educational principles 3 Pedagogical concepts are based on the work of Montessori, Emmi Pikler, Gerd Schäfer or Reggio. We have developed their ideas into pedagogical principles of our own for educating and looking after the children en- trusted to us. In principle we see children as inde- pendent and self-determined personal- whom we accompany and support in their development. We believe that children learn of their own volition and relate to their surroundings according to stage of development. In deve- loping, children are influenced by their sex, the colour of their skin, their phys- ical build, the culture in which they grow up, the economical situation they are born into. Children need the com- pany of other children and of adults to be able to find their own place. Although it is necessary to offer chil- dren the right kind of knowledge at the right time, they only absorb what immediately helps them. They can accept as well as reject offers. Our accompanying them pedagogically will only be useful if we respect the view of the children. in the children’s abilities therefore is the main require- ment of our work. Our childcare-facilities children the safety and emotional security that enable them to explore their growing world. We challenge children by entrust- ing them with subjects of their own and those of others, and we support them in all necessary areas of know- ledge and competence. We help them to experience their limits in a reliable surroundings and to overcome them, to bear out conflicts and to solve them constructively. This only works with stable relationships that are marked by trust, respect and acceptance. Our aim is to help children become self-confi- dent, responsible, courageous and tolerant individuals who think and act as democrats.
Learning by playing 4 Children learn about the world by playing. In play, new orders appear, contradictions and oppositions exist side by side, wishes and everyday realities are brought to balance. Proven patterns of action are varied, new ones tried out. Questions are found, problems are solved. The organisers of the are the children themselves. We, as educators, are hosts to the children’s games. We prepare the playrooms, we accompany the children through their learning processes, we anticipate their next steps and meet them with new impulses.
Cooperating with parents 8 The family is the childrens’ primary with the childcare facility as an additional field of experiences. Close and trusting relationships be- tween pedagogical staff and the parents therefore are as important for fostering and developing each child as they are for the development of the childs’ group. Parents interested in placing their child with us have the opportunity to visit and to get to know us, whether with or without the child in question. ■ As a matter of course, parents planning on enrolling their child are welcome to visit the childcare facility and to inspect its set-up. ■ A detailed conversation about the child takes place at enrolment. ■ In short chats with the parents we keep them briefed in-between about everyday events. ■ Parent-child-afternoons are held several times in the course of the year, in which parents get acquainted with each other. ■ The child’s development is discussed with the parents on a regular basis. ■ Subjects relating to the group are discussed at the regular parents’ evenings. ■ We have a parents’ council, for which we hold elections once a year. ■ We respect the customs of the various cultures. ■ After prior arrangements with pedagogical staff, parents are welcome to participate in their child’s group life.