About us

We are

an international, English language, private preschool located in the suburb of Gauting,
south of Munich, and we are open to children of all nationalities and cultures.
We run two mixed-age groups (3-6 years old) with a maximum of eighteen children per group.
Each group is led by two full time, trained teachers.
We also have an extra floater to assist in both rooms, this may at times be an intern or volunteer.

Our services are geared to support you and your child in arranging a healthy balance between
work and private life. We offer:

  • An all-day preschool program, taught in English by qualified, english speaking teachers
  • Opening hours Monday through Friday from 7:30 to 16:00.
  • Aftercare from 16:00 to 17:00
  • Additional holiday programs throughout the year.

Our Environment:

Busy Bees preschool is well-situated in the suburb of Gauting, 11 kilometers drive from Starnberg, and 20km from Munich. Within a 5 minute walk, we have access to the forest, the river Würm, parks and sports fields. Gauting S-Bahn station is 15 minutes walk from the school, and the U-Bahn at Fürstenried West is also accessible by a short bus or car journey.

The preschool building consists of a cloakroom, bathroom with three children’s toilets and basins, kitchen, dining room, art room, change room with shower, two classrooms, each licensed for 18 children, and a multipurpose room. The two main rooms have under floor heating, double glazed windows and direct access to the outdoor area. All internal doors are fire safety approved. The main door is alarmed and operated by intercom. The preschool also has a large outdoor play area. Features include a large grassed area, a concreted area for bikes and bobby cars, a sandpit, a vegetable garden and a large playground comprising of a slide, log bridge, rope ladder, climbing wall and two towers.

Our Goals:

We are committed to:

  • The safety, happiness and developmental skills of each child
  • Building strong relationships with our children and their families
  • Creating a work environment based on the principles of sound ethics, professionalism, diversity and growth

Our Philosophy

Our Children

We believe in developing socially and emotionally competent children

Children learn best in a safe yet challenging environment. We promote the development of a strong sense of self-esteem , self-acceptance , safety and security to ensure mental and emotional growth and learning. We believe in maintaining a positive, supportive and encouraging environment at all times.

We believe in respecting and valuing children as individuals

There are many forms of knowing, learning, and expressing knowledge. Busy Bees believes each child’s knowledge, experience and skills are valuable, and should be supported. We therefore work hard to ensure the needs of each individual child in our care are met.

We believe in children taking ownership of their learning

Children are capable and resourceful learners who are active contributors to their own learning. Children should be inspired, motivated and enthusiastic about learning, and be actively involved in the learning process, continually constructing knowledge and their own ideas and view of the world with their classmates, teachers, families and communities.

Our Program

We believe the role of teachers in the education process is to facilitate learning.

Busy Bees believes teachers should act as facilitators, rather than instructors in the classroom. Rather than imparting information unto the children, teachers should guide, question, encourage and generally enable children to form their own conclusions about the world.

We believe in investigative learning and hands-on experiences.

Children most effectively learn by doing – through a hands-on approach to learning with the use of concrete experiences and materials. Similarly, exploration is vital to young children’s learning as it allows them to draw their own conclusions and definitions about the world around them.

We believe learning experiences should be relevant, meaningful and connected.

Busy Bees believes continuity and context when teaching various curriculum areas is of utmost importance. Rather than separating learning experiences into areas such as mathematics and English, learning should cross subject boundaries and be taught in a context that is relevant to the child.

We believe mixed age/ability groups provide an optimal environment for learning.

Children learn effectively through peer scaffolding and when given the opportunity to participate in mixed ability groups. Grouping children this way allows them to observe, emulate and initiate a wide range of competencies. It can also lead to an increase in cooperation and behaviours such as sharing and turn-taking, and the enhancement of children’s motivation and self-confidence through their interactions.

We believe in the importance of free play.

Play is vitally important for a child’s development. Play encourages and refines development across all cognitive, physical and spiritual areas of an individual. We believe play should be self-directed and the child should be in control of the play experience.

Our Families and Community

We believe family involvement is integral to a high quality program.

Parents are the most important and influential adults in children’s lives, and therefore, a joint parent/teacher relationship based on mutual respect is essential to children’s learning. We believe regular communication and parental involvement in the program and preschool events are key in maintaining positive parent/teacher relationships.

We believe diversity should be valued and encouraged.

Our position as an international preschool affords us a unique opportunity to bring international and local families together, and give them an opportunity to develop relationships, share experiences, and create a mutual respect and understanding. Most importantly, it allows our students to gain a unique perspective of the world, where they learn to embrace their own culture, whilst respecting and appreciating others.

Our Program

Busy Bees offers a varied and interesting program that is tailored to meet the needs of every individual child in our care. Our educational focus is on the following main areas:

Language Development

As an international preschool, we have children entering our groups with varying levels of language ability and English knowledge. We work with children to acquire the English language as quickly as possible, in a relaxed and friendly environment through play and social interactions. We do this through daily language circles, singing, dramatic play, group conversations, reading, storytelling and small group activities.

It is our firm belief that children must feel safe, secure and comfortable within an environment for any learning to occur, and this is our primary concern at Busy Bees. We maintain a positive, supportive and encouraging environment at Busy Bees, regularly employing positive reinforcement to guide the development of the children in our care. We encourage our children to become independent and thoughtful individuals by frequently giving them the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas, make choices, and attempt tasks on their own or with the help of a friend. Our teachers promote conflict resolution and problem solving with children during their daily interactions, and encourage children to take responsibility for their actions, helping them to become well adjusted adults in the future.

Social and Emotional Competence

Investigative Learning

We believe in children taking control of their own learning, and our teachers act as facilitators, rather than active instructors in the classroom. As such, each unit of our project work begins with a brainstorming session involving what the children know about the topic, and what they would like to know. Their answers provide the foundations upon which the teachers structure and plan the entire project. Children work towards finding answers by discussing with their friends and teachers, looking in books and encyclopedias, sharing thoughts and ideas, researching on the internet, completing hands on, practical activities, devising and implementing experiments, and discussing, recording and analyzing their findings.

Busy Bees promotes a healthy balance of structured learning with free play and creative activities. We understand the importance of a varied educational program for the growth and development of children, and our schedule is structured so that children experience a range of activities throughout the day and week. As well as project work, children have the opportunity to participate in arts and crafts, construction, baking, science, dance, drama and sports activities.

A Well-Rounded Education