Concept

Guten Tag, good day, as-salamu alaykum and a warm welcome in the kindergarten section of the german international school Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi has a huge variety of different school educations. Against the background of high standards the german education system is one of the leading educations in the world. Our kindergarten program is specially tailored to the requirements for admission to a German school career.

Our goal is to build up the foundation for social and academic learning for your child’s future. We are focused to develop their individual skills and to satisfy their insatiable curiosity for new things.

The curriculum is based on „Thüringer Bildungsplan“ and combines the 7 important parts of this german education plan with the local guidelines, according to the Abu Dhabi School Authority, ADEC.

With this concept we support your child native tendency on a play based learning and provide the highest quality of kindergarten education service.

Science Technic and Math

Children will build up cognitive strength, autonomous thinking and basically mathematic understanding through educational games and experiments.

Emotional skills

To foster confidence and self-discipline we motivate them to pursue activities of their own choice. They can develop emotional understanding in our diverse and joyful classrooms, with special set role-play areas.

Physical education and wellbeing

We support them to improve their condition and physical activity skills during sports and fun games.

Creative, arts and music

To stimulate their sensory perception and awareness, we offer many different arts and craft projects according to the child own ability and interests.

We sing various songs during our daily routine and children can explore different acoustic sounds with our selected instruments.

Preschool program

All children will participate in a particular preschool program during their last kindergarten year to prepare them for a smooth school start.

Settle down concept

In close consultation with parents, we make every effort to settle children into kindergarten life gently and individually, to ensure they get off to a good start. The final length of the acclimation period depends upon how the child is getting along and is determined by the group teacher. Please find the detailed settle down concept in downloads.

Speech & Language / German as a foreign language (DaF)

Our team consists of native German speakers and will exclusively communicate in german language with the children. No prior german language skills are required, for children entering in Pre-KG Language is our most important means of communication. In order to support the children in learning the German language in the best possible way, we offer additional “German as a Foreign Language” (DaF) lessons. This is integrated into the daily group routine or takes place in separate small groups. For more information please see our download option “DAF”.

DaF lessons in the kindergarten and are taught in small groups of maximum 7 children. The teachers have developed a curriculum for each of the three kindergarten years. They work with the programs “KIKUS ” and “Deutsch für den Schulstart “.

The children receive weekly homework with bilingual vocabulary lists (English, German). Parents are encouraged to help the children with their homework. Even those who do not speak German can promote the child’s first language, which is beneficial for second language acquisition.

In addition, the “DaF Event” will take place within the first quarter. There the structure of the language courses is explained and there is also information about homework. All DaF 1/2/3 children receive the so-called “DaF Summer Holiday Booklet” at the end of the school year. In this booklet, the contents that have been learnt again are repeated and serve to consolidate them.

It also contains a “media recommendation list”, which refers to appropriate websites and apps for the age group. In addition, all teachers of the kindergarten took part in an advanced training course on “Promoting German in everyday kindergarten life” in August 2018 and have been implementing the principles ever since. The contents of this training are regularly multiplied for new teachers.

The language of communication in the kindergarten is German. The staff are kindergarten teachers with German as their first language.

Transitions and diagnostics

In order to support the students in the best possible way, it is important to carry out regular diagnostics. At the transition from the first kindergarten year to the second year and from the second kindergarten year to pre-school, the basic procedure of Diagnostik Deutsch für den Schulstart is applied in order to divide the children into groups according to their support needs and to provide them with optimal support. In addition, there are recorded handover discussions between the DaF teachers.

In the middle of the first half of the school year, all children who receive instruction in the pre-school DaF are tested for their ability to attend school in the linguistic sense using the diagnostic procedure of “Deutsch für den Schulstart” .

Afterwards, if necessary, parental discussions are held in order to optimize the promotion of the German language until school entry.

In primary school, students with increased support needs receive additional DaF instruction in small groups of up to 8 students. Consultation and exchange with the class teachers about performance and behavior is given and especially important in the first two school years. A spiral curriculum developed by the teachers is used, which builds on the curriculum of the kindergarten.

Preschool program

All children will participate in a particular preschool program during their last kindergarten year to prepare them for a smooth school start.

Settling-in Concept

In close consultation with parents, we make every effort to settle children into kindergarten life gently and individually, to ensure they get off to a good start. The final length of the acclimation period depends upon how the child is getting along and is determined by the group teacher. Please find the detailed settling in concept in downloads.

Our Groups (no pictures, just text)

In our mixed aged groups we look after children from three to six years old. We know that children in mixed age classrooms benefit a lot from each other. They will develop important life skills for their positive social, emotional and nurturing behaviors as well as educational satisfaction.

Each group has their own classroom and consists of 18 children with one teacher and one assistant teacher.

Our day

Our kindergarten is open from 7.45am till 4.20pm every Sunday to Thursday.

During the morning each child enjoys a structured classroom routine, which is provided and guided by the classroom teacher. They have a daily timetable with various activities to give children stability. Beside of these structure children enjoy plenty of time for outdoor activities or free play. We encourage kids to eat healthy and nutritious food. In the morning we enjoy a homemade breakfast in our groups every child need to bring their own breakfast. From time to time we separate kids in smaller groups for special language programs, preschool lessons or to explore special subject related themes with the teacher. After a busy morning every child will receive a warm lunch from our catering service.

In the afternoon our highlights are special task related kids universities where we offer different activities like music, science, mental wellbeing, sports and many more

For the younger ones we provide rest and sleeping time or tailored afternoon program.

All preschoolers enjoy a challenging program customized for their demands.

Admissions

Your child must be aged 3 years latest in December of the year you wish to attend. It should be reliably toilet trained (or very close to it!) by the beginning of entering the kindergarten.

We are delighted that you are considering the GISAD kindergarten for your child´s education. We understand how hard choosing a school can be and welcome every student of all abilities and background in our kindergarten but we are not able to provide a place to all applicants. Admissions to the kindergarten groups depend upon vacancies.

However, all applying families will receive an invitation for a school tour and play session where we can understand your child´s development as well as your expectations for their education.

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