This is the class for the youngest children (0 to 3 years old, approximately), where we accept a maximum of 8 pupils, cared for by one educator. Where there are more pupils in this class there will always be a supporting/another teacher.

The name Teddy Room refers to toy teddy bears. In this class, we concentrate on a period of adequate adaptation to the school where the educators gradually take over the responsibility of the parents.  The name refers to the need to receive the youngest children with love and friendliness, looking after their well-being and answering to their special needs. If the children feel safe and loved they will be readier to explore and release their natural curiosity.

Natural materials are used in order to let the children explore their environment through their five senses by using their hands to discover and transmit knowledge.

Each pupil will dictate his/her own learning speed and when the child has fulfilled its potential in this group and requires more complex learning goals, it will move up to the next group.

This is the class for the older children, from 3 to 6 years, where we accept a maximum of 12 children per educator. If there were more children in this class, there would always be a support teacher.

The name of hobby horse refers to the toy horses made with a stick, on which the little ones ride and gallop. The name of the classroom reflects the speed with which they advance in this stage and the ease with which they will reach new goals. The last one of these will be the leap to Primary School, after having acquired the necessary, fundamental knowledge. Most of these children will have been encouraged to show curiosity for writing and reading both Spanish and English phonetically to make the task easier; they will have practiced using the mathematical language and tools for calculating, measuring and reasoning. They will have considerable general knowledge and will have taken part, personally, in many activities in order to acquire cultural awareness and sensibility to moral codes.

All this while using English as the language of communication.

About half the space is set aside to the garden and green areas with a play and adventure area and a vegetable and flower garden. There is also a hard surface for riding bicycles and tricycles and an area for fantasy below low branches with hanging leaves from our trees.

There is a hen run too, with our own hens, where the pupils contribute to looking after their food and care and in the meantime learn about animal life. As you can imagine, children love these hideaways.

Here the children learn how to behave at table in our culture, the manual abilities that are required and also how to eat a balanced diet.

Here too, it is very important for the children to be autonomous and independent in this learning space. Therefore, we encourage the children to lay the table, serve the food and clean the area when everyone has finished.

To be autonomous in this particular space always depends on the age of the child and its stage of development. For this reason, it is the eldest children who are in charge not only of these jobs but also of transmitting their knowledge to the younger ones, who will take over when they feel prepared.

What’s more, the school’s vegetable garden offers the opportunity of cultivating vegetables, seeing them grow and finally using them in the preparation our food: A process known as “from seed to table”. We find this very satisfying and encouraging, connecting us with nature and offering numerous learning experiences.

At lunch time, the children benefit from the traditional Mediterranean diet, made by the catering company ‘Mamicocina’ which offers the possibility of adapted menus to the special needs of the children.

During the day, we interrupt our activities to have a small snack with orange juice that the children squeeze themselves.

The centre has three bathrooms, one to be used when we are in the patio, another one to be used for the ones on the ground floor and the last one on the floor above.

All of them with toilets and hand basins adapted to their size to enable them to be autonomous, since they are encouraged to use the toilets themselves. At first they have a helper and little by little they gain confidence in their own abilities reducing the need of help.

The children have free access to the bathrooms and wash themselves regularly, after being outside, before going into the dining room and every time they need the toilet or believe they do. They also clean their teeth after lunch.