NAJWAŻNIEJSZY
ETAP ROZWOJU
NAJWAŻNIEJSZY
ETAP ROZWOJU
HOW WE TEACH?
Our pioneering No Bell teaching method combines the concept of Flow, Montessori pedagogy, research projects and other active forms of learning. We teach our children independent search for knowledge through personal experience and explorations.
NO BELL – EVERY CHILD COUNTS
“Passion + vision + action is the equation for success”
Marylin King
Our key aim is to build and enhance the child’s internal motivation – to solve ever new puzzles, to ask questions of its own, and to learn how to observe the world.
We do not strive to fit the kids to ready-made curriculum. Quite the contrary – it is the curriculum and the syllabuses that get constantly modified to suit the needs of our kids.
- we support and help build the child’s personality;
- we stimulate cognitive, emotional and motor development;
- we enhance cognitive motivation;
- we customise knowledge acquisition, skill and attitude training to suit each individual child;
- we develop creative thinking;
- we help the child become more and more self-reliant;
- we teach to cooperate and to function in a peer group;
- we adjust teaching methods to the child’s individual predispositions;
- we care to provide the daily share of exercise and physical activity.
THE MONTESSORI METHOD – HOW TO FIND THE KEY TO THE CHILD’S MIND
“Children learn what they live”
Dorothy Law Note
The child who enters our kindergarten gains the unique opportunity to learn in a specially prepared environment, to choose the materials with which it will work at its own pace and in accordance with its individual needs or the enthusiasm to learn a given skill or element at this specific stage of its development.
The teacher helps the child satisfy its curiosity, stimulates cognitive activity and moderates the learning process.
In Montessori pedagogy, a child’s freedom implies inner discipline, the ability to make responsible choices. Such discipline is more effective than the one imposed by adults. We help the children build up their self-esteem, mental strength and the ability to cope with challenging situations.
We constantly stimulate the child to discover the world. Therefore in practice everything that surrounds the kindergarten kid can become a tool of education.
Our educational aids allow the child to control its own work, to analyse and assess its results.
We introduce the children to the real world. They use real knives, pour water into glass containers or groats into pots; they zip and unzip their jackets, tie their shoelaces, learn to listen intently to silence, keep their things and the classroom in order, bake cakes, pickle cucumbers and sauerkraut.
Our kindergarten groups bring together children of different ages, and the syllabuses are adjusted to their different needs and possibilities.
WHEN EACH TONGUE IS MINE
„To learn anything fast and effectively, you have to see it, hear it and feel it. ”
Dorothy Law Note
Foreign language learning at our kindergarten is based on state-of-the-art methodology suited to the kids’ age, interests and needs. We teach languages effectively, with a focus on successful communication.
We encourage our youngest learners to overcome the language barrier, be brave and daring in their communication and, most importantly, speak English as much as possible.
Our kids play with language and from the very first months are taught to consider speaking a foreign tongue as natural as anything else.
This makes the lessons much more effective. In our kindergarten, English is also part of spectacles, the Nativity play, and school trips.
“Every child needs to feel that school helps him or her become a better person”
Philip Zimbardo
It is our conviction that teaching syllabuses must combine knowledge acquisition with personal spiritual development, practical life skills which help solve problems in a creative way, control one’s life and one’s own process of learning. This ought to start already in the kindergarten.
At No Bell all pre-schoolers learn emotional intelligence on a regular basis. We believe that EI is extremely important to the child’s development in all aspects of its life, that it is responsible for practical success and the sense of feeling happy. Classes of EI as well as everyday activities teach the kids to name and recognise their own and other people’s emotions, and to express themselves. This helps them make new friends and work in a team. We approach our pre-schoolers with respect, recognise their needs and leave them space for assertiveness. We do not impose ready-made solutions, but focus on the child’s emotions related to the given problem. We build in our children empathy and teach them to reach agreement without resorting to violence.
The kindergarten is not just the first step in education, but also a field of human interrelations. Professional support and advice of a psychologist and a speech therapist are available to both the parents and the children.
“A new generation is growing, which will change the world as none other has done before”
Don Tapscott
We encourage a creative approach to learning, combining the Montessori method with others, including project work. We creatively put elements together, placing emphasis on independent acquisition of skills and abilities, on the inquiring and active mind. We replace traditional passive repetition and transmission of knowledge with live educational situation.
Our motto is to go beyond the established stereotypes. We teach kids to formulate questions, hypotheses – and seek for answers. We educate inquisitive researchers who will never rest satisfied with their current state of knowledge.
We choose high quality books printed by the top Polish publishers, paying attention not only to the contents, but also to the ‘packaging’, attracting the kids’ attention to book covers – which helps shape their aesthetic tastes. Classes taught by a visual artist open the children’s eyes to the incredible wealth of colours, shapes and textures. We are also regularly visited by a music band which holds meetings for our kids, letting them get acquainted with various exotic instruments. There are also separate music classes for pre-schoolers. Ear training and contact with good music are part of our education from the very first years.
MOTIVATION AT NO BELL
“Every child born has, at the moment of birth, a greater potential intelligence than Leonardo da Vinci ever used”
Glenn Doman
At No Bell we place great emphasis on building and developing an active attitude and a questing mind in our kids.
We are convinced that inspiring internal motivation is one of the key tasks of contemporary education.
We reject the ideology of ‘reward and punishment’. Already at kindergarten level we introduce elements of Stephen R. Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. We are Poland’s first kindergarten to have introduced this method.
We cannot know what the future world will look like, but it will certainly be one of constant change. We aim to prepare children for life in that world, so that they can find their place in it and shape it as its autonomous authors.
PHILOSOPHY CAN HELP
“The only dumb question is the question you don’t ask”
We are convinced that it is never too early to ask fundamental questions concerning the meaning of being human and about the world around us.
Therefore from the earliest years we involve kids in free discussion and debate, letting them consider the key philosophical questions with their teachers, teaching them how to formulate questions and understand ethical issues. In this approach, philosophy becomes a live dialogue, in which also the youngest kids take active part. Children learn that thinking by oneself is a good thing and that they should not only limit themselves to looking at the world through the eyes of others.
Artur Schopenhauer
At No Bell, we want intellectual ability to go hand in hand with a fit body. We go out to play in the school yard every day, regardless of what the weather is like. We are not scared by rain and snow or by the cold.
As in Scandinavian kindergartens, we believe there is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.
We let the kids play and frolic in the mud, to have fun – naturally, within the boundaries of common sense. We want physical activity to be first and foremost enjoyable and entertaining.
The readiness to make effort, endurance, team skills – these key qualities of a sportsperson are also important for the development of a child. Thanks to physical activity, our minds are more efficient and willing to cope with problems. Our pre-schoolers feel fresh, relaxed, and ready to face all the challenges of school.