Local pre-school gives parents a break

The afternoon classes run every Wednesday afternoon in Dolní Měcholupy. The classes will focus on one theme each week such as craft, singing and dancing, sport or drama.

“If parents need to go to work, to the shops or even for a bit of pampering, they can drop their kids off to school with the confidence that they are in safe hands”, she said.

“Purple Turtle is a fun place for kids to be, but it´s not just a kids club. There is a strong educational focus and children are exposed to all areas of learning and development”, she said.

The school curriculum is based on the Early Years Foundation Stages (EYFS), a set of themes and principles developed and implemented by the last UK government for children in the 18 months to 5 years age group.

“It´s designed to ensure childcare providers implement programmes focused on each child´s education, welfare and development individually, with a view to getting all children up to a certain level of literacy and numeracy by the time they enter mainstream education.”

Ms Schoultz added “It´s holisitic and goal-orientated and seeks to achieve something more than just playing with toys.”

The schools have fully qualified and experienced teachers and teach in both Czech and English languages.

One of the teachers, Kathryn Hume-Čvančarová is a native English speaker from Australia.

“The children at our schools are the perfect age to start learning a second language, because they are taking in everything around them”, Ms Hume-Čvančarová said.

“It is important for them to be culturally aware, and while they are developing or improving their ability to speak Czech, they effortlessly develop their English as well. It´s much easier for children to learn a new language than it is for adults”, she said.