Introduction/specifics

Family center
Four-group daycare center for children aged 1-6.

Rooms

Each group has a group room, two adjoining rooms, and a washroom.

Outdoor Facilities

Spacious outdoor area with play equipment for children under and over three years of age, as well as a mud pit.

Daily Schedule

• Drop-off time: 7:30–9:00 a.m. (early group 7:30–8:30 a.m., from 8:30 a.m. the children go to their regular groups)

• Open breakfast 7:30–10:00 a.m.

• Free play / partial opening / cross-group activities 9:00–11:45 a.m. and 1:00–3:00 p.m.

• Lunch at 12:00 p.m.

• The children in the Nest group eat between 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.

• Sleep/quiet time at the daycare center After eating, the children who want to can go to the bedroom with a staff member to sleep or rest.The other children have the opportunity to look at picture books, listen to an audio play, or practice yoga so that they can also enjoy a relaxing little break from the daycare day.

• Pick-up time 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Food

The children bring breakfast from home, and drinks are provided by the daycare center.
Lunch is delivered hot by Schlemmerservice, a catering service.
Afternoon snack: fruit/raw vegetables.

Description and Stations

Bus line 126, Chorbuchstraße stop

Bus line 125, Chrobuschstraße stop

Basics

Partially open concept

At our facility, the educational focus areas specified by KiBiZ are offered by specialists across all groups, with individual specialists specializing in a specific educational focus area through continuing education and training, but also through personal interests. As a result, educational activities focusing on individual areas are offered across groups, organized by age, in functional and/or group rooms, so that small learning groups come together.

The situational approach

The aim of the situational approach is for all children—regardless of their social and cultural backgrounds or developmental prerequisites—to acquire experiences and skills that enable them to act autonomously, cooperatively, and competently in a constantly changing, internationalized world. The aim is to understand children with their individual developmental needs in their social life situations and to promote their aspirations and abilities to get along well with themselves, with others, and with a cause. By recognizing different life experiences and modes of expression, professionals encourage each child to actively participate in the life of the community. The content and reference point of education is life itself, with all its complexity and richness. From the diversity of possible life situations, the professional selects those that subjectively affect the children and are important for their growth in society beyond the moment. These so-called “key situations” form the basis or occasion for supporting and purposefully encouraging children to acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for their development—in other words, the world—through diverse relationships and activities.

Employee

The children entrusted to our care are looked after by our specialist staff, support staff, everyday helpers, and trainees. In addition, we work with staffing agencies when staff shortages arise. The current staffing levels at our facility comply with legal requirements. The individual team members are introduced on our website.

The team members participate in annual training and continuing education courses to further their qualifications and bring new ideas to their work.

Qualification

KiBiz § 11 Further training and evaluation
The implementation of the educational, childcare, and supervision mandate requires ongoing further training for the persons entrusted with this mandate.
Continuous evaluation is necessary to ensure and further develop the educational work in childcare facilities. To this end, the providers should develop quality criteria that contain statements about the occupancy, promotion, and challenges of early childhood education processes. Quality development measures are carried out by the providers of childcare facilities on their own responsibility. The basis for evaluation includes, in particular:
1. A written concept for the work of the childcare facility, in which guidelines for the work and a separate profile are formulated.
2. A provider- or facility-specific concept, and
3. A description of how the quality development process is implemented in the childcare facility.

Additional Offerings

• Fairy tales (twice a month)
• Toy day (last Thursday of the month)
• Experiments (once a month)
• Bible study (twice a month)
• Learning workshop (weekly), Maxis
• Breakfast together (once a month)
• Gymnastics (weekly)
• Jesus time (1-2 times a month)
• Drumming (weekly)
• Yoga (weekly)
• Picture book cinema (weekly)

Quality Assurance

At our facility, the quality of our work is reviewed by our specialists, the team, and management in consultation with parents, the operator, and, where possible and appropriate, with the children. (Internal or self-evaluation)

The development and educational documentation for each child takes the form of a portfolio. The content and format of the portfolio are reviewed and revised annually at the end of the kindergarten year.

Characteristics of self-evaluation

• It concerns one's own professional actions and their consequences.
• One's own actions are evaluated. Solutions are sought. Changes are made.
• The evaluation activity can be integrated into normal everyday life.
• Control over the evaluation process lies with the specialists themselves and is usually voluntary.
• Information is systematically collected and evaluated.
• Conditions, processes, and results are recorded in writing.
• Results are compared with objectives. This serves as a basis for decision-making.
• SE is designed in such a way that reports are created that are accessible to relevant others.

-To date, quality has been reviewed in individual areas.
-Regular reflection in small teams, large teams, and morning flash meetings.
-On the learning processes of the group, on the educational goals and educational suggestions in the large team and small team using questionnaires
-Collegial consultation
-Annual parent questionnaire and evaluation meeting with the parents' council
-Reflection in the area of language education
-Annual review of the area of observation and documentation at the end of the kindergarten year, based on annual staff appraisals.

Cooperations

Public relations and networking between our daycare center and many other institutions create a meeting place and thus form an important part of the community. This networking not only gives sponsors and parents insight into our educational work, but also makes us transparent to the general public.

Religious education is an important educational focus at our daycare center. This includes worship services, family center activities on our premises, specialist speakers, and much more. Our facility cooperates and networks with various support systems.

Teamwork with school

We work together with the GGS Martinusstraße elementary school. Once a year, a parents' evening with the daycare center managers is held at the elementary school. In addition, there is regular communication with the elementary school's social worker about the needs of the new schoolchildren.

Teamwork with parents

We use various communication channels to communicate with parents and guardians:

• an email distribution list managed by the facility management,
• the KiTa-Plus parent app, and
• notices posted in the groups.

To ensure smooth communication between our facility and parents and guardians, we ask for the current contact details of both parents or guardians.

The parents' council sees itself as a link between parents, employees, and the institution's operator. It represents the interests of parents vis-à-vis the operator and the facility management, serves as a point of contact, and at the same time has the right to be informed in good time about important decisions and changes and to be consulted before decisions are made (e.g., regarding concept, staffing, equipment, admission criteria). Cooperation characterized by openness, tolerance, trust, and appreciation is very important to us. We also want to work as transparently as possible and involve and inform parents in the best possible way. The same applies to good cooperation with the support association.

Specifics

Religious education at our facility is the foundation of our daily interactions.
Our religious education work does not only take place when faith is explicitly discussed. It is evident in our daily interactions through helpfulness, compassion, and empathy.
Every child is welcome to be part of the community at our daycare center, regardless of their religious or cultural background.

Projects

Alle Mitarbeiter der Kindertagesstätte haben besondere „Steckenpferde“ .

Folgende Projekte bieten wir an:

Sprachförderung, Waldpädagogik, Selbstbehauptungskurs, Trommelkurs, Zahlenschule, Religiöse Erziehung, Märchenstunde, Frühkindliches Musizieren,... wöchentlich turnen alle Kinder.

Feste und Feiern

Wir sind ein Kindergarten, der gerne Feste feiert, und dazu gibt es im Jahr viele Gelegenheiten.

Nicht nur die großen religiösen Feste wie Ostern, Weihnachten, St. Martin, Erntedank und Nikolaus, sondern auch Karneval, Kirmes und unser „Kürbisfest/Sommerfest“ werden gemeinsam mit den Kindern auf kindergerechte Weise geplant und vorbereitet.

Wir wecken die Vorfreude auf das kommende Fest, in dem wir mit den Kindern den Raum dekorieren  oder zum Beispiel die Fenster bemalen, Tischdekorationen basteln, Lieder und Tänze einüben, Geschichten hören, Bilderbücher zum Thema anschauen, oder Essen für die Feier vorbereiten.

Wir freuen uns, wenn sich viele aus der Gemeinde und dem Ortsteil zu unseren Festen eingeladen fühlen.

Ganz besonders freuen wir uns, dass alle unsere Projekte und Aktionen im ganzen Ort mitgetragen werden.

Ein weiterer wichtiger Festtag, der zwar weniger Vorbereitung erfordert, aber eben so viel Beachtung findet, ist der Geburtstag jedes Kindes und jeder Mitarbeiterin. Dieser Tag soll ein besonderer Tag für das Geburtstagskind sein und wird möglichst individuell gestaltet.

Overview

Admission criteria for the St. Martinus daycare center

Religion:
If both legal guardians have left the church—Catholic or Protestant—the child cannot be admitted.

Both parents are members of a church (Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish)—4 points per legal guardian 8 points Child is baptized 8 points Child of a non-Christian religion 5 points

Regional criterion:

Belongs to the Kreuz-Köln-Nord pastoral care area 8 points

Siblings already attending the facility:

A sibling already attends the facility or has attended the facility 5 points


Social hardship:

Up to 20 points can be awarded for this. The number of points is decided by the senior pastor and/or the admissions committee. 20 points


Volunteer work by parents:

Up to 10 points can be awarded for this. The number of points is decided by the senior pastor and/or the admissions committee. 10 points

The points are added up.

The fundamental freedom to make decisions lies with the sponsor. As of October 2023.

We hold individual registration meetings with interested families, during which we present our facility. Registration is done using our facility's registration form and also via the City of Cologne's Little Bird tool. Only if both documents are complete by September 15 can a registration for the following kindergarten year be considered.

Families who are offered a place will receive the childcare contract, this concept, and the brochure “Für Ihr Kind die katholische Tageseinrichtung” (Catholic Day Care for Your Child) mentioned in section 1.2 from the facility management. Once the childcare contract has been returned, it will be countersigned by the provider, making the child's admission effective.