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Kindergarten

7. What happens in a kindergarten?

Care for children from 3 years

A kindergarten place is offered to all children whose parents wish them to attend a kindergarten (see Question 4). According to § 1 (3) of the Saxon Law on Day Care and Promotion Facilities for Children (SächsKitaG), kindergartens are facilities providing care for children from three years up to school age.

Younger children - from 34 months - may also be accepted. Irrespective of this provision, the amended wording of § 12 (2) SächsKitaG stipulates that the minimum staffing requirement generally applicable for nurseries applies for all children in nursery groups up to their third birthday. The increased staff requirements are also reflected in the higher parent contributions which are to be paid for nursery children (see Question 14).

Statutory entitlement to a kindergarten place

Parent contributions

Integrated objectives

A kindergarten pursues integrated education, development and care objectives. The children develop intellectual and physical abilities, build up knowledge and skills, and become increasingly independent. By growing up in a group, they learn also social competencies, for example responsibility, cooperation, tolerance and acceptance.

The kindergartens in Saxony are intended to offer all children avenues for social development and support - irrespective of gender, social, religious or cultural background, physical or mental ability, socialisation or biography. It is furthermore their task, in partnership with parents and local schools, to prepare for the transition to primary school, and thus to provide every child with appropriate opportunities to approach this new development stage at his or her optimum pace.

Self-initiative and independent activity

A kindergarten group generally comprises around 18 children. The work of the kindergarten teachers is geared to the needs of their children, promoting creative skills and taking into account individual inclinations and talents. The joy of learning, maximum self-initiative and independence are promoted above all through activities which stimulate all the children's senses (e.g. children's literature, music, rhythmic movement).

Play

The Saxon Education Plan (see Question 3) provides teaching staff with valuable guidelines for their work. The combination of play and learning, a child's natural means to experience its environment, are recognised as the central processes by which teaching is to be guided.

Free and guided play enable children to depict and encounter their environment in a manner appropriate to their age. The children process their experiences with other persons and objects, realise embodiments of their imagination and in this way develop social and intellectual skills. The teachers influence the direction of this play as necessary, for example with materials and unfinished objects for creative activity. The children are encouraged to use their imagination and to implement their own ideas.

Saxon Education Plan

Assessments for kindergarten children

In 2003, Saxony introduced a new assessment scheme for kindergarten children at the age of four years. The purpose is to reveal possible development deficiencies as early as possible and to enable these to be compensated up to the time of the pre-school assessment during the last year before a child moves on to primary school. This assessment does not replace the regular check-ups performed by a practising paediatrician, but is instead to be seen as an additional offer.

The assessments are performed by the Child and Youth Welfare Service of the Public Health Office, but only with the express consent of the parents, who then also receive a written report on the findings. The assessors visit the kindergarten to be able to study the development of the children through playful tasks in their familiar surroundings. The assessment includes eye and hearing tests, an evaluation of motor and language abilities, and recommendations regarding inoculations, but does not include any further physical examination. Parents whose children do not attend a day care centre can bring their children directly to one of the advice centres of the Child and Youth Welfare Service.