Early childhood education consists of activities and experiences that are intended to bring-in developmental changes in children before they plunge into the elementary school. These experiences are aimed at fostering physical, cognitive, social, and emotional growth, setting a strong foundation for lifelong learning. It is during those early years of education and care, children get benefitted the most while their parents and educators work collectively for their future. Understanding the deepest nuances of this early education, Tots N Toddlers was founded for children to learn and grow in a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment under the supervision and guidance of competent, caring adults.
The institution meticulously plans a balanced program for children to not feel bored of learning by providing them with a secure, stimulating, and fun-learning space including innovative, fun, and engaging activities. This program also entails a strong foundation in language development – early literacy & math. Most importantly, the program consists of purposeful learning activities and plays for individuals, small groups, and large groups of students.
Developing the Whole Child!
Swetha D’souza, Director, Tots N Toddlers (TNT), articulates, “What sets you apart as a mentor is not how fast the child learns from you, it is how often the child looks up to you for learning new things! We, at Tots n Toddlers, strive to foster this belief and our main vision is to offer small-centred attention with big-centred benefits”. Today, Tots N Toddlers believes in providing holistic & high-quality early childhood education to children, thus giving them the best start to their lives and developing them on the whole.
The unique approach followed by TNT entails the perfect combination of educated, experienced and nurturing teachers; secure, stimulating, and interactive classrooms; and innovative, fun and engaging activities. Its curriculum is customized for each age and stage with a goal of fostering healthy cognitive, socio-emotional, and physical development – all while keeping the child smiling, laughing and loving learning!
Each activity or lesson taught to children is generally performed through practical means to make learning fun and interesting. Math concepts with Montessori materials, STEM activities, Phonics through practical & material-based learning, reading, Music & Movement, indoor & outdoor physical activities (including yoga & Zumba), Art & Craft, Family-involved events including father and child – fireless cooking, Mother & Child Art Carnival, Grandparents’ Day, Workshops for parents on Child Health & Nutrition, Child Psychology, and others, are some of the examples for practical learning at TNT.
Some of the primary education programs offered by TNT for children entail Infant & Toddlers care (6 months to 2 years) – Day Care (8am to 8pm), Early Learners (Playgroups for 2 to 3 years), Preschool (Nursery for 3 to 4 years., Kindergarten (Jr. & Sr. KG for 4 to 6 years), and After school (2 to 12 years.) Swetha adds, “Across all these programs, we ensure that fun learning shouldn’t stop when the school bell rings. In fact, our after-school program creates an organized club-like atmosphere. Your child can choose from a variety of carefully planned activities including art & craft, music, dance, yoga, reading, writing, etc”.
Focus on Personality Development
A child’s social and personality development emerges through the interaction with their peers and teachers. Hence, TNT provides children with a lot of verbal and non-verbal activities such as circle time, presentation day, role play, etc, which helps them in expressing and understanding one another better with each day. Presentation day is one such event, conducted every quarter, to give children an opportunity to perform individually and in groups along with the parents. This helps them overcome the stage fear, gives them confidence, helps in public speaking, and improves their communication skills.
In addition, parents are bestowed with opportunities to get involved in the classroom experiences including regular one-on-one conversations around the progress of the child rather than just giving status updates and reports. Thinking beyond the child’s development, TNT ensures to organize regular workshops and counselling sessions to help parents stay successful outside the classroom as well.
At the end of every month, a newsletter is released, which encompasses information about all the events that occurred in the month with various activity pictures of children. It also helps parents in understanding the importance of all-round development for children in the school. Furthermore, TNT’s application called Kriyo, helps the management to actively stay in touch with parents through notifications, holidays, assignments or any such updates.
The Real Backbones
At the backend of all this hard work stands the staff of TNT, who are extremely passionate about their work and love children. Each teacher assures them to put their best foot forward to help children become independent and lifelong learners. Thanks to the management of TNT for arranging weekly meetings for the faculty members to discuss the objective of the week, plan & prepare for the activities, and events for the children. The institute also conducts various training programs and workshops for both the teaching and non-teaching staff to help them grow with time. To further motivate the staff and encourage them, ‘Star of the Month’ award was introduced for the faculty member who has put their best foot forward.
Speaking about the road ahead for TNT, Swetha concludes, “The future looks very promising for us! While the pandemic presented numerous challenges for parents and teachers alike, we have demonstrated remarkable resilience and adaptability over the past couple of years. Through these difficult times, we have gained valuable insights and learned many lessons that will undoubtedly bear fruit for years to come. Despite the hardships, we have emerged stronger and more equipped to face any future obstacles that come our way.”.
Swetha D’souza, Director, Tots N Toddlers
Swetha is deeply passionate about catalysing a paradigm shift in Indian early childhood education. She is constantly making sure that each child gets the best foundation which will help them in becoming lifelong learners. She was the only Indian member among 21 International participants accepted to the Graduate School of Education’s program for Principals this year at Harvard University (USA).
