ADAPTATION

At Ursus SCERTS Pre­scho­ol, we do not use a beha­vio­ral sys­tem of puni­sh­ments and rewards. Chil­dren in our faci­li­ty have the right to expe­rien­ce a ran­ge of emotions—including, for exam­ple, anger or sadness—especially during the adap­ta­tion period. We sup­port chil­dren and parents in the­ir emo­tio­nal deve­lop­ment (ER), cre­ating a pla­ce full of empa­thy and mutu­al respect.

We also stri­ve to give our pupils time and spa­ce for all emo­tions, whi­le teaching respect for the boun­da­ries and feelings of others. The safe­ty of children—especially in situ­ations that are dif­fi­cult for them—is always our prio­ri­ty.
We con­stan­tly enco­ura­ge our pre­scho­olers to build mutu­al rela­tion­ships based on friend­ship (LEAP: Lear­ning and Play­ing with Peers accor­ding to the SCERTS Model). As an inc­lu­si­ve insti­tu­tion, we do not exc­lu­de any­one on the basis of gen­der, skin color, disa­bi­li­ty, or eth­nic back­gro­und. We address eve­ry­one with respect and stri­ve to teach our stu­dents the same.
We pla­ce gre­at empha­sis on buil­ding chil­dre­n’s self-esteem—maintaining an appro­pria­te balan­ce betwe­en caring for the­ir own needs and being atten­ti­ve and open to the needs of others (empa­the­tic com­mu­ni­ca­tion).
Eve­ry day at pre­scho­ol begins with a mor­ning circ­le, during which chil­dren (in addi­tion to the stan­dard gre­eting) have time and spa­ce to talk abo­ut all the emo­tions they are expe­rien­cing (TUS and TUPS).
The­se acti­vi­ties are a per­ma­nent part of the daily sche­du­le (DALTON PLAN) and are con­duc­ted both in Polish and in English. During the mor­ning circ­le (TUPS) and later edu­ca­tio­nal acti­vi­ties, we work toge­ther to ensu­re that all chil­dren in our pre­scho­ol feel like impor­tant mem­bers of the­ir peer gro­up (LEAP: Lear­ning and Play­ing with Peers accor­ding to the SCERTS Model).
We are clo­se to the ide­als of empa­the­tic com­mu­ni­ca­tion accor­ding to Mar­shall B. Rosen­berg, the 8 basic prin­ci­ples of Attach­ment Paren­ting by Wil­liam and Mar­tha Sears, as well as selec­ted ele­ments of Maria Montessori’s peda­go­gy, such as an order­ly and mini­ma­list envi­ron­ment, the selec­tion of teaching aids that sup­port the child’s inde­pen­den­ce, lear­ning thro­ugh vario­us sen­so­ry expe­rien­ces, the right to expe­rien­ce all emotions—without adults try­ing to jud­ge them, and final­ly: empa­thy, respect, and mutu­al under­stan­ding.