Description and Stations

The municipal daycare center is located in the Essen-Schonnebeck district.

Three bus lines stop in the immediate vicinity:
Bus stop Portendieckstr.
Line 154, Line 155, Line 170

Introduction/specifics

Our facility offers 97 places divided into four groups in the main building and one group in the pavilion. We care for 16 children under 3 years old and 81 children over 3 years old.
Our daycare center is part of the Schonnebeck district and at the same time a reflection of this neighborhood with all its diversity. We foster a positive and life-affirming coexistence of cultures, religions, and nationalities, based on respect and tolerance.
We see ourselves as professional guides for the children, working in educational partnership with the parents.
We view the children as active agents of their own development and support them in all their developmental potentials.

Movement, language, and the introduction to healthy nutrition and lifestyle naturally belong to everyday life, as do musical activities. The children have access to a wide variety of musical instruments to explore and try out.

Rooms

On the ground floor of our building, there are two groups that also care for children under three years old. Two groups for children aged three and above are located on the first floor.
Each of the four groups has its own adjoining room and a washroom. Additionally, there is a sleeping room and a diaper-changing room for our youngest children.
The entire ground floor is level and therefore wheelchair accessible. The outdoor area is also accessible at ground level from the groups on the ground floor.
A spacious multipurpose room—our gymnasium—equipped with a climbing wall and many materials that encourage movement, is available to all children, as is a workshop and experiment room.
Our staff room, which also provides space for parent meetings, is located on the ground floor along with the office and kitchen.
The large hallway area on the ground floor is also used as a play area. Here, the wooden horses and the tent are especially inviting for play.
Our fifth group is located in a container on the outdoor grounds.
The "Bat Group" currently accommodates 22 children between the ages of 3 and 6.
With us, there is room both for active play as well as for rest and relaxation.

Outdoor Facilities

Our daycare has a very spacious outdoor area.

There are swings, a climbing castle, a rope course, and a climbing wall, as well as a sandbox and a water play corner. The large grassy areas invite summer sing-alongs on picnic blankets, and the paved area allows for the use of child-friendly vehicles, which we provide in a well-equipped "fleet."
In two raised garden beds, the children can gain their first experiences with growing their own “food.”
In the bee area and on the barefoot path, our children can further develop their sensory and environmental awareness.

Additionally, we often take advantage of the nearby surroundings:
a small forest, a sports field, and a well-equipped playground in “our neighborhood” expand the opportunities for experiences with nature, the environment, and physical activity.

Daily Schedule

• Welcoming the children, brief conversations for exchanging information with the parents

• Breakfast buffet until about 10:00 AM

• Free play with encouragement and support / project work

• Circle time with play and singing activities, as well as discussion rounds where the children can give feedback and make suggestions

• Outdoor play / excursions in the nearby surroundings

• Lunch

• Relaxation activities / nap time for the younger children

• Pick-up for children in the 35-hour care program

• Free play with encouragement and support / project work — weather permitting, indoors or outdoors

• Pick-up time

Food

An important part of our educational work is the children eating together. For us, this means more than just satisfying hunger. The children sit together at a nicely set table, enjoy their food, engage in table conversations, and share with one another. Eating appeals to both the body and the senses equally. The topic of nutrition offers an excellent opportunity in our daily work with children to connect health and education. Therefore, we generally wish for all children to participate in a shared lunch. However, depending on your preference, we also offer care places with 35 hours per week without lunch. It goes without saying that your child can have drinks at any time.
Our cook prepares the meals mostly fresh and takes into account eating habits and special requirements.

Breakfast: Each group offers the children a breakfast buffet. Shopping and preparation are part of the children’s activities, as well as the cozy rounds at the breakfast table afterward.
On special occasions, the children have breakfast together.

Afternoon snack: fruit, raw vegetables, crispbread, and similar items.

We have developed fixed guidelines for the children’s nutrition together with a nutritionist and a pediatrician.
We want to offer balanced and varied meals, but there can certainly be pizza, pasta, and the like from time to time.
Of course, allergies and food intolerances of the children are taken into account in the meal plan.

Basics

• Individual support for the children

• Ensuring children’s rights

• Inclusive work

• Participation of children / independence and personal responsibility → Children’s parliament

• Child-friendly room design

• Intercultural work

• Ensuring equal opportunities (education)

• Practical education for everyday life (neighborhood, environment, traffic)

• Experiences in nature

• Positively shaping the transition from daycare to school

• Cross-group and project-oriented working methods

• Dialogical work with parents

• Project work in the neighborhood (joint festivals)

• Networking

Employee

In our facility, only qualified professionals work in accordance with the legal requirements of the Child Education Act (KiBiz):

• Educators

• Assistant staff

• Trainee practitioners

• As well as PIA E and PIA K (practice-integrated training for educators and child caregivers)

Additional Offerings

In cooperation with five other daycare centers in the district, a quarterly program for parents takes place at one of our facilities. These offerings are based on the wishes of the parents.

Additionally, we participate in the planning, organization, and implementation of joint events in the district, such as the reading festival, market festival (colorful summer magic), Halloween, and playground festival.

As part of a project, we have begun this year to intensify the topics of energy and environment.
We also take part in the Kids go MINT model (Mathematics, Computer Science, Natural Sciences, and Technology) and have already incorporated related activities into everyday life.

Our support association provides additional offers, which you can join free of charge.
Committed members of our support association make events like the children’s flea market, spring festival, and others possible.

Quality Assurance

Addressing the quality of educational work is the responsibility of the provider/the daycare center. To ensure quality, binding standards have been developed.
This includes, among other things, that every daycare creates and regularly updates an educational concept. Suggestions and feedback from parents are welcome.
Your child’s development is regularly documented until the transition to school (documentation sheets), including the child’s language development.
Parent-teacher meetings take place annually to discuss the individual developmental progress of the child and to jointly support the child’s educational path.
To meet the demands and tasks of daily work, the staff regularly participate in further training.

Cooperations

Networking is very important to us; we cooperate with various institutions:

• Two primary schools: Schillerschule and Johann-Michael-Sailer Schule

• Five daycare centers in the district

• Reading alliance

• Parenting counseling center

• Social services

• Public health department

• Police

• Fire department

• Neighborhood association

• Diakonie (social welfare organization)

• Child protection association

• Senior citizens’ home

Teamwork with parents

A trusting collaboration and regular exchange of information and experiences with parents are fundamental parts of our educational work. It is important to us to keep parents regularly informed about our work through:

• Personal conversations

• Parent afternoons / parent evenings

• Notices and newsletters

• Parent-child activities

News

In general, all dates and announcements for festivals and events are posted in the daycare in a timely manner.

On January 7th and January 8th, 2026, an "Open House" will take place at 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM.
If you are interested, please register briefly by phone at the daycare so we can plan accordingly.
We look forward to meeting you.

Projects

Projects that arise from the interests of the children and the observations of the professionals are an integral part of our educational work.
In our projects, children and adults engage intensively and purposefully over an extended period in a variety of activities centered around a topic from the children’s everyday lives:

• KidsgoMint

• KlimaKita.NRW

• "Strong Even Without Muscles"

• Trixi in the Land of Feelings

Holiday Care

The daycare’s closing days are coordinated with the parents’ council at the beginning of the daycare year. If holiday care is absolutely necessary in individual cases, please contact the daycare management. Emergency care is offered in close coordination with other daycare centers in the district.

Parental Interviews

Your opinion is very important to us. To receive feedback from you, our facility offers various ways to share your views in addition to personal conversations with the group staff:

• Parent surveys, available both as forms to fill out and as sign-up sheets posted in the groups

• Feedback through the parent representatives of the groups

• Personal conversations