International Day Nursery - Aarhus

We start our days on the playground and then move inside for our morning circle time, with songs and stories, followed by a snack of fresh fruit and homemade bread. The rest of the morning is spent on planned activities and play. The children are then served a warm lunch, and then it’s nap time. When the children wake up, they are given an afternoon snack and then we play outside. 

Every Tuesday and Thursday we do arts & crafts, Wednesdays we go on a field trip, and the other days are reserved for spontaneous play or specific activities related to traditions and themes such as Easter, Christmas, and Halloween. We also focus on working with different themes throughout the year, for example, the changing seasons, cultural diversity, food appreciation, farm life, etc.

Every Friday we join the neighbouring day care for “Friday Rock”, where everyone meets to kick-off Friday with singing, dancing and theatre.

We value and prioritise spending time outdoors. The children play outside all year round, and in all types of weather. We enjoy trips to the forest, beach, local parks and markets, or the city centre.

Lunch

The parent board has decided that the children should receive a parent-funded lunch, which is prepared by the Frederiksbjerg School. This includes a warm meal every day, with ingredients that are 90-100% organic.

The Frederiksbjerg Day Care District works with the “The good shared meal” initiative, which serves as a framework for creating mealtimes characterised by enjoyment, togetherness, and community. The goal is to give children an understanding of what a good and healthy food culture can look like. In our day care we strive to create an open and inviting atmosphere around both the table and the meal in front of us. We want to be part of creating a culture where children are open and curious to trying new foods and find joy in sharing a meal with others. You can read more in the link below.

The good shared meal

Afternoon snack

We serve an afternoon snack of fresh fruit, provided by the parents, and homemade bread with butter. This meal is financed by the day care’s parents. You can sign your child up for afternoon snack when they start in the day care.

Food Safety

The entire Frederiksbjerg Day Care District is aware and up-to-date with food safety guidelines concerning food and mealtimes. You can read the food safety guidelines in the following PDF

Food safety guidelines

When your child starts

Once you have accepted a spot at the International Day Nursery Aarhus, you will receive a welcome mail with practical information and relevant documents for you to read. You will then receive a phone call from the nursery to plan your child’s first day.

The first couple of days you will be present with your child at the nursery. We will use this time to get to know more about you and your child, for example, your child’s interests, sleep patterns, favourite foods, temperament etc. We will then jointly create a plan for the settling-in period where your child will practice and learn to be here on his or her own.

The settling-in period usually last between 1-2 weeks, where your child will gradually spend more and more time at the day care on their own. You can read more about the settling-in period in the following PDF.

More information on cooperation with parents

The text below provides more information on how we work on creating a cooperation between the day care and your child’s home life. The text includes information on different meetings, the parent and day care district board, and parent satisfaction.

As the parent, you are the most important adult in your child’s life, and our cooperation is important for your child’s development and well-being.

We focus on this cooperation from day one, to create a secure environment for your child, and ensure that we are aligned on expectations for our cooperation concerning your child.

Positive transitions

We focus on creating successful transitions for your child and you as a parent – from home to nursery, and then from nursery to kindergarten.

To prepare children for these different transitions we arrange visits to the different institutions prior to starting, and do targeted work with the older children to prepare them for the transition to kindergarten.

Meetings

The daily meetings and conversations, when you drop off and pick up your child, are very valuable. However, during your child’s time at the day care, there will be time set aside for meetings, where it will be possible to discuss your child’s development and well-being in more detail.

• Start-up evaluation meeting after 3 months
• Meeting when your child approaches the age of 2
• Meeting when your child approaches the age of 3 (before staring kindergarten)

In addition to the meetings stated above, you are always welcome to request a meeting if there is anything you feel the need to discuss in more depth.

In August every year, every day-care department has a parent meeting, where the parent board is selected (see below). Additionally, the Frederiksbjerg Day Care District invites all day care departments to targeted parent meetings on the following themes:

• The children’s language development (for all parents)
• Bilingual children (for parents with more than one language at home)
• The day care districts kindergartens and the transition to kindergarten (for parents with children around the age of 2)

Parent satisfaction

The Aarhus city council decided in august 2019 to cancel the municipalities parent satisfaction survey among day cares, schools and after school programmes.

The local municipalities survey has been replaced by a country wide user satisfaction survey. The most recent parent satisfaction survey was completed in 2017. 

Parent Board
There is a parent board in each day care department. Elections are held annually in connection with the parent meetings held in August. Perhaps you would like to be on the parent board in your child’s day care, and thereby have influence on daily life, structures, and routines in the day care?

As a member of the parent board, you will also have the opportunity to be the department’s parent representative in the day-care districts board.

Parent board (in Danish)

District Board

The day care district’s board consists of one parent from each parent board, three employee representatives and the day care district leader.

As a part of the district board, you will help ensure cooperation between parents, employees, and leadership teams across all departments. You will have influence on the children’s daily life and be a part of shaping the decisions made by the day care district's leadership. You will have the opportunity to bring your ideas and opinions to the table, when different strategies and principles are being developed on behalf of the entire day-care district.

In the most recent years the board has, amongst other things, been a part of introducing a new sign-up procedure for joint care as well as developing the principles for co-creation within the day care district and the principles for how to incorporate the local community.

Read more here (In Danish)

Contact the board

You are welcome to contact the district board by sending a mail to the board chairman: nicholashovgaard@gmail.com

Chairperson:
Nicholas Hovgaard, Vuggestuen Marselis Boulevard

Vice chairperson:
Mie Bryder Egtved, Naturbørnehaven Ajstrup gl. Skole

Parent representatives:
Alexander Xylander, Kroghsgade Vuggestue
Mette Bygebjerg Petersen, Frederiksbjerg Børnehus
Nicholas Hovgaard, Vuggestuen Marselis Boulevard
Anne Nørby Thomsen, Vuggestuen Jægergårdsgade
Mie Bryder Egtved, Naturbørnehaven Ajstrup Gl. Skole
Mathilde Schaumburg-Müuller, Børnehuset Jærergårdsgade
Nanna Sodemann, Børnehuse Ole Rømer
Julie Cleve Remvig Gustavsen, Børnehaven Guldbryllupsasylet

Employee representatives:
Pia Rasmussen

Meeting minutes from the board meetings

Link (In Danish)

In the Frederiksbjerg Day Care District our goal is to create healthy and happy children who are thriving and developing. We make an effort when meeting every child. We strive to ensure that the children are active participants in their own learning and development – and for us it is essential that our framework and routines are trustworthy and recognizable, providing the children with a sense of familiarity and security.

Community and play are the cornerstones of our pedagogical practice. This is what is so unique about being in nursery and kindergarten: The individual child has endless possibilities to develop themselves as an individual in relation to others, with play at the center of everything we do.

We focus on creating a good pedagogical learning environment. We specifically work with establishing diverse types of learning environments – with focus on how these environments change throughout the day, and how the pedagogue's role also changes and evolves throughout the day. Day care employees are present, emotionally available, and are focused on creating a sense of security for all children. We work with creating communities of children that are different in size and constellation, and where the pedagogue's position is carefully considered and changing depending on the needs of the group.

A significant part of a child’s learning process happens in daily routines. Here we focus on creating clear and recognisable frameworks, so the children experience being supported in active participation, mastering and independence. This happens via predictable frameworks and employees that guide and support children in their learning and mastering the next step in their development.

Pedagogical Curriculum

The Frederiksbjerg Day Care District Curriculum, and all local curriculums, are based on the national pedagogical curriculum that was adopted by the Danish Parliament in May 2018. This can be viewed in English in the following link.

The strengthened pedagogical curriculum (emu.dk)

In the Frederiksbjerg Day Care District we work with a common pedagogical curriculum, which is the foundation for how we work with the day care district’s children.

The curriculum is dynamic, and we therefore continuously adjust it according to our needs. See the most recent version of Frederiksbjerg Day Care District curriculum below (Please note this is in Danish).

Dit barns udvikling og trivsel (In Danish)

Signs of Learning

In our work with the six curriculum themes, we use Signs of Learning as a tool to evaluate our progress.

Signs of Learning gives us a framework, where the focus is on establishing a pedagogical learning environment throughout the day.

At the same time, it supports the connection between these environments and the children’s learning – by setting specific goals for the learning environments and formulating signs that the children are learning. As a framework, Signs of learning also supports a culture where reflection and evaluation are the norm.

The strengthened pedagogical curriculum (emu.dk)

Tegn på læring i dagtilbud | EVA (In Danish)

Pedagogical consultants

In the Frederiksbjerg Day Care District we have two pedagogical consultants in a project period for three years (2019-2022).

They are responsible for specific tasks relating to the inclusion of children in vulnerable positions. We aim to have a unified direction and approach regarding how we work with children in vulnerable positions, and we believe that the pedagogical consultants can help us achieve this.

The two consultants visit all eight institutions within the Frederiksbjerg District, to guide, support and optimize our pedagogical practice and learning environment.

Professional development

We offer the Day Care District’s employees courses to develop them professionally in their work with child development and well-being.

For example, every year there is a spring course where pedagogues, pedagogical assistants and experienced helpers are offered a two-day course with a relevant theme. Additionally, over the last three years the employees have participated in the project Robustness and Persistence, which is inspired by the strategy Early Intervention. Read more in the link below.

Robusthed og vedholdenhed (In Danish)

Different work groups across departments in the Day Care District are also in place to ensure the professional development of our employees. Our working groups focus on the following:

• The strengthened pedagogical curriculum
• Students in internships
• Language development
• Kitchen and Diet