About ES Culham Nursery School

In European Schools the nursery section, which accepts children from the age of four (calendar year), aims to ensure that all children are given the opportunity to develop their potential. 

At Culham, because a decision has been made to phase out the school by 2017, the last year for entry for 4 year olds was September 2009. In September 2010, only children born in 2005 will be admitted to what in effect will be the second year of nursery.

The nursery language section classes available are:

• English speaking
• French speaking
• German speaking

Children are allocated classes and language section according to their mother tongue or dominant language.

Nursery school forms an integral part of the European Schools education system. It has several objectives:

• To provide four-year-olds with an opportunity to socialise for the first time with children of the same mother tongue, preferably in a group comprising children of a slightly different age (aged four and five).
• To teach children how to behave in a classroom group: listening, asking permission to speak, waiting one’s turn, sharing toys with others, concentrating for some time, etc.
• To introduce four- and five-year-olds to play-based learning, without formal systematic teaching and learning: basic mathematical language, quantification, sequencing, classification, etc.
• To teach children how to handle coloured pencils and drawing implements, to use construction cubes, to participate in team games.
• To teach children to obey the rules of communal life, to eat their snacks tidily, not to push, to respect other people’s property.
• To prepare pupils for entry into their first year of compulsory education, namely primary year 1, by ensuring that they acquire the basic competences.
• To diagnose possible learning difficulties in pupils and help them to overcome them through early (preventive) intervention.