Hello, I am sending my feeling about my daughter's preschool education with you.
It's a strange feeling when you have to choose the people you entrust your little child to. I deliberately write people and not nursery or kindergarten, because even a great clean, shining bright space in the middle of the green is useless if it lacks the staff who inspire, motivate, caress, encourage, make children laugh, who make children enjoy themselves after the necessary adaptation. For me it was a great internal commitment and I spent many hours on a quite detailed analysis of the children's groups and kindergartens in Prague 6. I looked through the websites of those that interested me, I searched for posts from people whose children attend the facilities and the ones that interested me the most I personally visited and went through. I was not only interested in the facilities, hygiene, light, garden or food, but I was especially interested in the people who work with the children. I had the opportunity to see the different spaces and talk to the teachers there, to get to know the non-classical education system, but there was always an ALE at the end.
When I opened the door to Stromáček, in my head I was about to make a (decent) compromise with one of the previously visited nurseries, but in the end I decided to send my daughter here at the last minute. Impression number one - family atmosphere, small number of children, cosy and imaginatively used equipped space in a house adjacent to the gate to the most beautiful park in Prague. Impression number two - calm and smiling teachers with kind eyes.
My daughter has been attending Stromáček since September 2022 and so - with some distance - I can say that I chose well. The environment is still nice and welcoming, the understanding, patience, creativity, kindness, playfulness and willingness to work with children is reflected in the large number of activities the nursery prepares for children. The children have the opportunity to see bees and taste honey during a visit by a representative of the Czech Forests, to enjoy music therapy, theatre performances, but also to create a Christmas wreath with their parents during a workshop with the smell of cloves, or to taste the sausages roasted on the nursery terrace during the witch burning. At the end of the month, parents will receive an email with a summary of what the children have been up to. A private Instagram account is set up for parents of children in the group to enjoy photos of the children's activities. Overall, the nursery's communication with parents is flexible, and they are actively approached about mapping parental interest in the various activities it is going to offer the children, asking for comments on the running of the nursery from the parents' perspective and sending suggestions for improvement.