SAIIER 2021:Auroville Pre-Crèche

SAIIER office		Kindergarten
Entity::Auroville Pre-Crèche by Author::Auroprem, Tatiana and all teachers

The aim of Auroville Pre-Crèche is to offer the pre-school kids of Auroville a safe and harmonious atmosphere for being, exploring, and learning. The parents can find here a supportive place to meet and share their experience about raising children.

Activities of the year:

Pre-Crèche usually has two groups, the Babies Group and the Toddlers Group.

The Babies Group is for babies from 8 months old to 1½ year old who are accompanied by one of their parents. The group gathers 2 to 3 times a week. Due to Corona we didn't open this section for this year.

The Toddlers Group is a regular activity where kids aged 1½ to 2½ years old stay without their parents. Due to the covid-19 situation, we were open only for 3 months starting from middle January to mid April. We had around 22 children.

In order to follow all the precautionary measures we made smaller groups of 5 kids every day and only twice a week for the same kids. As the situation was very new to us it was a tough time for the teachers and the kids as well.

The adaptation process this year was very difficult due to losing seven months due to Corona and the kids had become a little bigger than usual. Also they had adapted themselves to be with their own parents during these difficult times. We could not hold a summer program this year, which usually helps the adaptation process of the kids.

We had to be very careful in this situation and chose games in order that the kids kept physical distance from each other. These games mostly took place outside in the playground. We created a little garden outdoors. The kids would water the plants and enjoyed doing this. When going out for a little walk in the playground, the kids would collect small tile pieces out of their own interest. We created a new activity in the playground, where a net is placed and the kids would throw a ball into it and play.

Outcomes:

We opened only in the middle of January with a total number of 22 irregular kids due to the epidemic and the Government orders. The school remained closed until we came to a conclusion taking our own risks to keep the school open and trying to minimise the negative effects. We kept the school open from 8:40am to 11:40am. Later on we segregated the full batch of children into two groups called ‘Jasmine’ and ‘Rose’, which came to school on alternative days.

Most of the activities were conducted outdoors in order to provide the group with more space. And as we started the school year a bit late compared to the other years, it was more difficult for the kids to stay apart from their parents even if it was for a little while.

Compared to all the other years, this year's experience was completely different. Even though it was a bit tough at the start, most of us were satisfied with the outcome. In the end we had to shut down again due to the increasing corona cases. We are not prepared now to take any more risks.

Reflections:

This year was very special. We have never been in this situation before and this gave us enough time to do small things amongst the team of teachers.

The most challenging aspect was to face the Corona in front of us not knowing what we were dealing with.

The adaptation period this year was very different and as we had to explore new ways; we as teachers also experienced and learned new things. Some kids had a noticeable sense of insecurity in the new environment, because of the prolonged social isolation. As we had to allow only a limited number of people on campus, we separated our usual group into two, so kids were coming on alternative days and for a shorter period of time. Often we had less than the planned number of kids attending our program, due to signs of health uneasiness, and this reduced the chances for some of them to make friends and play freely. As a result, the adaptation period became longer and with set-backs. Normally in forming the relationship with each child we rely a lot on close physical contact, which this year was somewhat less spontaneous.

Conclusion:

As all teachers love what they are doing at the school it was a huge disappointment to miss school for the most of the year.

With the sudden challenges in the world, we too were pushed to grow in consciousness and there was a stronger drive for harmony, truthfulness and serving the Spirit of Auroville. We took the advice of an elderly Aurovilian, who in her youth had been asked by the Mother to take care of the youngest kids in the Ashram school, to create the right atmosphere by calling the Mother's presence and guidance. It is an ongoing process for us, but in these times it is becoming even more imperative.