Nursery Cycle

Ethos & objectives

We like to think of ourselves as a friendly and happy nursery where our children and parents are made to feel welcome and relaxed. 

The purpose of the Nursery is to provide pre-school education prior to the children’s entry into the Primary section of the school. The nursery curriculum is play-based and the aim is to prepare the children for the formal curriculum that they will follow in the Primary cycle.

The Nursery cycle of the European Schooling Helsinki usually begins in the autumn of the year when the child turns four years of age. From the Nursery there is an automatic transfer to the Primary if the requirements for this transition are met.

Curriculum

Early Education is a fundamental part of life-long learning and its central role is to support children’s growth into ethical and responsible members of society. Teaching and learning in the early years supports and monitors children’s physical, psychological, social, cognitive and emotional development by providing the best possible opportunities, experiences and learning environment.

Teaching and learning in the early years is holistic and different areas of development are not separated. Its core emphasis is very much upon learning through play and upon encouraging exploration and experimentation – in other words, a focus on the practical and “hands-on“ active learning that is so appropriate and meaningful to young children.

Our three parallel classes in the Nursery (English, French and Finnish speaking) follow the Early Education Curriculum used in all the European Schools. It consists of four main areas, Me and my body, Me as a person, Me and the others and Me and the world. The Curriculum recognises that each child will develop at his/her own pace and thus we treat all our nursery children as individuals.

Because of our school's location in the heart of Helsinki, we are able to visit many places throughout the year. We often visit the nearby parks, library, museums and theatres and try to take advantage of the wide range of opportunities that Helsinki has to offer. The teachers organise events that connect the lives of the children to events in society, in the past we have participated in Week Against Hunger, Green Flag activities and Santa Lucia Day etc.

Nursery hours

Nursery hours are from 08.15 – 14.30 hours. If parents so wish, children can be left at the nursery unit from 08.00 onwards, where supervision by a member of staff will be available until classes begin at 08.15.

It is important that children arrive promptly to begin the day with their teacher. All children are supposed to start with full-time hours at nursery. If this seems to be too much, the child can have one ‘day-off’ a week which preferably should be Monday, Wednesday or Friday. It is also possible that during the settling-in time (from August to October holiday), there can be a few days a week with mornings-only. For these absences we cannot grant any reduction of the school fees. If you think that adjusting to a full-day of nursery would be too demanding for your child we would suggest that you consider postponing his/her enrolment into our school for one year.

The school provides an after-care facility which the nursery children can participate in. It includes a range of activities and operates until 5.30pm, Monday- Friday. These activities are subject to an additional fee.

Nursery has the same holidays as the rest of the school. These are as follows: one week for autumn mid-term, two to three weeks for Christmas, one week in February, one week for Easter and the summer holidays from the beginning of June to the middle of August.