EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Give toddlers a better start

Give toddlers a better start - The Hague, The Netherlands

Introduction

The The Hague Preschool is a combination of playgroup, called preschool-playroom, and Groups 1 and 2 (the first two years of primary school before formal education begins), called preschool-primary school.

Problem

How can the deficiency in language skills of children in The Hague be resolved?

Description

Many children from deprived backgrounds in The Hague lag behind in their language skills when they first go to Group 3 of primary school. Research shows that while at primary school these children make little or no progress towards making up the deficiency.

To give toddlers a better start when they reach primary school, in 2001 The Hague introduced a new approach: the Preschool.

Approach

When a child reaches the age of 2½ it goes to the Preschools playgroup for four sessions a week. There the child learns new words and how to play in a circle.
Two teachers work with special learning programmes so that a child learns Dutch in a fun way and learns how to play with other children.
The playgroup requires no extra expenditure on the part of the parents: the child attends four times a week but the fee is the same as for a child attending the playgroup twice a week.
• One important element in the success of the Preschool is the increased involvement of parents with their children's development, upbringing and education.
At the drop-in mornings for parents, parents can spend some time playing with their own child. This allows them to see what their child is doing and learning at the Preschool playgroup.
When the child reaches the age of 4 it moves up to Group 1 in the Preschool primary school department. There the same programmes are used as in the playgroup.
In Group 2 the same programme continues.
After Group 2 the child moves on to Group 3 and formal schooling - still in the same primary school.

Results

The Preschool is working. Teachers in Group 3 are seeing better results when children, aged 6 years, enter formal education. Teachers in Group 1 can see clear differences between children who have come from a preschool-playgroup and those who have not had the same opportunity. Children of the Preschool are better at retaining what they learn and they also clearly enjoy working with the method.

In August 2004 a further start was made with introducing the The Hague Preschool. The total number is now 66, teaching a total of 6500 children. However, this does not mean that the local authority has achieved its objective: that is, to have a Preschool attached to every primary school covered by the National Policy Framework.

Beneficiaries

The future citizens (now: children) of The Hague.

Resources used

The The Hague Preschool is, for the greater part, financed by the department of Education. Those means are part of the 'policy of Large Cities'. The other part of the Preschool is financed by means of the local government of the city of The Hague.

Contact info

City of The Hague
Christine van Bemmel, tel. +31 70 3535596

Project start date

01/01/2001

Links

To see the movie of the The Hague Preschool, go to 'voorschool' and then 'ouders'.

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Quality of life

Keywords

Skills improvement, Social services