Our curriculum is designed to ensure our children’s best adaption to the CAPS required learning outcomes for Grade R which will put them in good stead in any school. We also ensure that we are aligned to the UNICEF/Department of Basic Education National Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Education. However, we also have the luxury of integrating the best of the world’s pedagogies into our own daily school life, looking towards elements of the philosophies of Montessori, Reggio Emilia, Forest Schools and other global advances in providing the best start for young children. At the end of the day, our view is to offer our children the most time playing, guided exploration and outdoor time, and love and care. That is the best we should all do for young children.

Our school is split into two parts, essentially a Nursery School for the youngest children and a Pre-Primary School for the Grades 000 and 00. Our Nursery School teachers are required to have a Diploma in Early Childhood Education which is a two-year qualification. Our Pre-Primary teachers a required to have a Bachelors in Education Degree which is a four-year qualification. All our teachers are SACE (South African Council for Educators) registered and all our staff have passed their standard checks (police clearance/sexual offenders register/child protection register). They all have to regularly complete their first aid refresher courses and specific teachers have to complete a fire fighting course.

We are honoured to be connected to a church which holds its services in our school hall every Sunday. The Living Stone Bible Church is not officially integrated into our school, but we regularly interact and share resources. Teaching staff are required to be believers in Jesus Christ. We teach the children Bible stories which are specifically connected to every weekly theme as much as possible. The stories are always read from children’s Bibles found in each classroom. We say grace before every meal. We speak about the grace of our Saviour and try to instil an awareness and awe in our Creator’s natural world. We sing “Sunday School” songs at our weekly assembly. We also celebrate all Christian holidays and take time to explain their meaning and relevance. It is important to note however, that we accept and love people of all religions and there is no condemnation of any religion.

There is no official “feeder school” arrangement between any pre-primary schools and “big schools”. Many schools are setting up Grade 00 and Grade 000. However, these usually have smaller enrolment numbers than the schools can accept in Grade 0. Therefore, there is still a place for loving, family-style pre-schools which gently prepare children for Big School. The private schools to which Pine Forest children usually move are St Stithians, St Peters, Brescia House, Knights, the Crawford schools, Redhill, St Davids, St Johns and St Teresas. The excellent public schools in the area include Rivonia Primary, Bryanston Primary, Bryanston Parallel Medium, Bryneven and Bryandale Primary.

School starts at 8.00am sharp after breakfast. We follow a set theme curriculum where each week we introduce a new theme. The Nursery School section educational classes end at 9.30am and the Pre-Primary School section educational classes end at 10.00am. During the classroom time various planned learning activities are covered and include fine motor skills, vocabulary development, numeracy, art, sensory development and other foundation skills. Gross motor development is also guided during this time. A story is always read to develop vocabulary, imagination and a love for reading.

After a snack children move to unstructured outdoor playtime. All outdoor activities continue to be closely supervised. Social skills, muscle development and core strength are developed during the outdoor play. After playtime children are provided with a healthy lunch (or given the food provided from home). Little ones nap from 12.00 to 13.45 and the older children nap or rest from 12.45 to 13.45. The Morning Only programme ends at 14.00.

For those children staying for Aftercare or the Full Day Programme, they move to the specific aftercare areas and enjoy a fun activity each day such a painting, baking, musical statues and fantasy play. The afternoon snack is served at 14.45. Collection is around 17.00, latest 17.30.

Our kitchen is regularly visited by the Department of Health and we always have an updated certificate of compliance. Our kitchen cooks each meal fresh, every day. Breakfast consists of scrambled eggs on toast, cereals or porridge. Fresh produce is purchased during the week and made into wonderful, healthy warm lunches such a chicken and veggie pies, sausages, mash and peas, chicken bakes and different pasta dishes. Seasonal and fresh fruit is provided to children with each snack which consists of either a sandwich, muffin or other item. On Fridays we throw caution to the wind and enjoy a picnic on the lawns where either burgers, pizza slices or toasted sandwiches are served followed by a treat of jelly and ice cream.

Children who are picky eaters at home, mostly land up being great eaters at school. Should any meal not work for a particular child, the parents will be notified.

During both the Private and Public school holidays children may land up going away with their families, or get kept at home with siblings. The number of children at school during these times does drop. However, other than during the December holidays, Pine Forest remains open during the holidays and mid-term breaks as set by ISASA. Our hours remain the same and there is no need for parents to make any alternative childcare arrangements. Our Holiday Care is a fun program where the children enjoy a relaxed but active time in our care. We create art, bake, dance, jump on trampolines, read stories and play outdoors according to a specific program.

We have a range of amazing extra mural providers. The extra murals are entirely independent and you would arrange the application and pay the provider directly. Pine Forest merely vets and facilitates the different offerings. The activities or lessons are conducted during the outdoor play time to ensure no distruption to the important routines of the day.

We currently offer:

Playball, Junior Jive, Tastebuddies, Candy Carousel, Buildembrix, First Pointe Ballet, Music Box, Catrobatz, and Beaux Arts Pottery.

We offer both Speech Therapy as well as Occupational Therapy on site. These therapies are conducted by vetted therapists who offer their services in the same way as the extra mural providers: you liaise with and pay them directly. However, by offering the therapy onsite, any functional processes that may need to be intergrated into school life are easily and readily available as the therapists engage with our teachers on a daily basis.