Curro Chartwell Preschool | Johannesburg

Curro Chartwell is a preschool in Chartwell, Johannesburg, that provides high-quality early childhood development for children from 3 months to 5 years. Our classes are divided by age, and we carefully control the number of children per class to ensure that they are all cared for and entertained. Our preschool programme centres around the internationally-acclaimed Curiosity Approach, which allows children to discover areas that naturally interests them. We also have an early drop-off and late pickup times, we are open during school holidays, and meals and snacks are included in our school fees. Get an overview of everything we can offer you on our fact sheet. As part of the Curro school group, our children enjoy a programme that supports their physical, social, emotional and cognitive well-being. This approach to early childhood development is built around Early Learning and Development Areas (ELDAs), which focus on development areas rather than strict milestones. This means that children feel supported and encouraged instead of pressured to develop at someone else’s pace. Children spend the day playing and being creative while teachers and teacher’s assistants guide them through the activities to ensure that the ELDA areas are engaged. The learning and development areas include the following: Identity and belonging: personality, friendship, sharing Physical well-being: balance, movement, safety Communication: speech, listening, understanding Creativity: playing, drawing, painting, dancing, imagination Mathematics: shapes, size, time, counting Learning about the world: exploring and understanding the world around them Do you want to know more? Visit this page on our website to discover more about the ELDAs and how they work together to give children a high-quality preschool programme. The Curiosity Approach is a preschool programme that focuses on letting children follow their inherent interests and curiosity to develop their natural strengths. However, our teachers still guide them through other areas of development to ensure that they are exposed to all areas of development. When entering the classroom, children are drawn to different themed stations of play that our teachers design to cover a wide range of interests. Children can explore as they wish, while teachers guide them around to ensure that they still gain exposure to a multitude of skills and interests. Our teachers still monitor your child’s progress, to ensure that they get the holistic development they need to truly understand all areas learned in class. Most tables and chairs are removed from our classrooms, and are replaced with furniture made from natural materials. Even the classroom environment itself contributes to the sensory-rich atmosphere by having natural, soothing colours, rather than bright colours that often overstimulate young minds. This method involves aspects of the Regio Emilia, Montessori, and several other methods of early childhood development. Though this philosophy might seem modern and new, it actually uses age-old techniques that focus on the wonders and importance of letting young children play and just be kids. Children need lots of attention and nurturing. That is why our classes are divided by age, and we carefully control the number of children in each class. Our teachers also have one or more assistants, depending on the age group and number of children in the class. By having a limited number of children in class, our teachers can give each one the individual care and attention they need to flourish and feel loved. As part of the Curro school group, our learners enjoy preference when applying to any school in the group. Nearby schools nearby include Curro Academy Riverside, Curro Douglasdale and Meridian Cosmo City. Our children are also automatically enrolled at HeronBridge College, a nearby Curro Select school in Fourways, Johannesburg, unless you choose to move to any of our nearby schools where you will also enjoy preferential acceptance. The development of curiosity and imagination in early childhood is vitally important to the development of problem-solving skills and critical thinking later on. Therefore, as a Curro school, we encourage playing with loose-parts and multi-purpose playthings rather than single-purpose toys that don’t involve much imagination. Through loose-parts play, our children learn to use their natural curiosity to explore previously undiscovered fascinations such as stacking, rolling, sliding, fitting, colours, and more. Our daily preschool programme is packed with a variety of physical and cognitive activities where children play while they learn. The programme even includes specialised programmes as part of our school fees, such as B-Active, Baking and Making, urban farming, and more! As a preschool in Chartwell, Johannesburg, we also offer additional, optional extramural activities as additional opportunities to strengthen focused areas or hone certain skills. Our extramural activities are offered by external tutors or coaches at an additional cost and take place on the school’s premises. See which activities we offer on our fact sheet.

We accommodate working parents with a challenging commute by opening early in the morning. Children are welcomed by their teachers or teacher’s assistants and enjoy some free play before the preschool programme starts later on. As a preschool in Chartwell, Johannesburg, we understand that working parents don’t get school holidays, which might pose a challenge when children are at home. That is why our preschool remains open during school holidays at no additional cost with a full holiday-care programme at no additional cost. Early childhood development activities continue, although we may arrange some extra fun activities during this time. We are closed only for a specified period during December and January. Our school fees include breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon snack. These meals are freshly prepared in our on-site kitchen and are delivered to class in time for snack time or meal time. We also carefully accommodate allergies and other dietary requirements, although we might request a medical letter for severe dietary requirements. This is just to ensure that our kitchen staff can correctly interpret and prepare food for your child. Our classes are divided by age and teachers have one or more assistants, depending on the group and the number of children in the class. This ensures that each child gets the care and attention they need, and that they can optimally benefit from our preschool programme. There are often more assistants for the younger ones and babies, as they have needs that are unique from any other age groups. Children wholeheartedly run, play, climb, and jump, which may sometimes lead to minor bumps and bruises. This is why all our staff are trained in first aid. Please note that national regulations prohibit teachers from dispensing any medicine, even over-the-counter or herbal tonics, without a valid prescription signed by a medical doctor. Therefore, when a child needs medicine during the day, our first-aid officers or nurse dispense medicine in class only if a valid prescription is provided. Our on-site kitchen is fully equipped to prepare well-balanced, wholesome meals and snacks for children in all age groups at our preschool. All meals are prepared with fresh ingredients just before being delivered to the classrooms. These meals are also included in our affordable school fees and we carefully accommodate allergies and other dietary requirements – catering to individual needs is possible due to our small class sizes. Speak to our teachers to find out how we store and prepare breastmilk and powdered formula. As a service to you and your child, we have a multi-disciplinary therapy team on-site, which includes speech therapists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and educational psychologists. Each therapist is fully qualified, highly experienced and registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. These therapists operate in a fully equipped therapy room and children are assessed and treated at school during the morning. All therapists are available for afternoon therapy too. The team have been fully integrated into the preschool and its staff for many years and they provide continuous teacher training at regular periods throughout the year. The team meets weekly and regularly provides detailed therapy and feedback to teachers as well as parents. Children learn by interacting with the world around them. That is why our preschool classrooms themselves are considered to be inanimate teachers of sorts. They are carefully designed to offer a tranquil environment with natural elements and open play areas, that are in line with the Curiosity Approach to early childhood development. Rather than plastic tables and chairs with a restrictive or overly-planned class structure, children can move to play areas with themes to which they are natural inclined. We also have child-friendly bathrooms to make the transition from potty training to toilet training easy on your child. Our outdoor play areas include jungle gyms, playhouses, shaded areas for creative and sensory play, and more. These areas are designed to encourage physical play, and generally have synthetic grass to prevent allergic reactions. Children are taken outside to play on days with moderate weather conditions to prevent excessive cold or sunburn. Additional safety measures are taken on sunny days. Curro Chartwell is a preschool in Chartwell, Johannesburg, that provides high-quality early childhood development for children from 3 months to 5 years. Our classes are divided by age, and we carefully control the number of children per class to ensure that they are all cared for and entertained. Our preschool programme centres around the internationally-acclaimed Curiosity Approach, which allows children to discover areas that naturally interests them. Check out the video below to discover what we offer your child: Land of Oz Nursery School in Fourways (now known as Curro Fourways) was founded in 1987 by our first Executive Head, Maureen Irving. The school started as a playgroup with small class sizes for boys and girls from 18 months to 3 years, but in 1994 expanded to accommodate children from 12 months to 5 years. Our safe, nurturing environment based on Christian values (ethics and morals) and excellent offerings helped us to further expand by becoming members of the Independent Schools Association of South Africa (ISASA) by 1997. The second preschool campus (now known as Curro Chartwell) opened in 2007 in Chartwell, providing the community with another dynamic environment for learning. However, our school further grew in popularity so that we moved to our current, much larger, campus in Chartwell. After more than 30 years of offering excellence in early childhood education, January 2020 saw a new chapter as we joined the Curro group. The campuses that comprised Land of Oz Nursery School, now act as unique entities, each a Curro school, to better improve their approaches to early childhood development.