Our day care centre introduces itself

Preface
Dear Reader,

for us, a day care centre is...
  • ...a meeting place for children, parents and educators
  • ...a place of education
  • ...a place where your children are well looked after.

After the family, the day care centre is the first place where your children come into contact with the topics of upbringing, education and socialisation, intentionally through the educators. In addition to your loving and responsible guidance, I see it as an elementary task to support you and your children as best as possible with our professional expertise. We see ourselves as counselling experts and multipliers for upbringing and education. For your children we are: Early risers, helpers with a heart, musicians, nappy changers, toilet trainers, arbiters of disputes, tear-dryers, motivational artists, storytellers, playmates and paving the way for successful entry into school. Our day care centre sees itself as a place of experience for your children. Here they can be discoverers and actors of their own experiences and adventures. We make this possible by offering a wide range of activities and projects at the day care centre and through their very own discovery tours and adventures that arise during free play.

As a provider of day care centres - primarily for students' and staff members' children - I see it as our most important task to contribute to the success of studying with a child and to the family-friendly profile of the colleges and universities. In addition, the Studierendenwerk's facilities also serve to promote youth welfare and/or welfare work. Due to far-reaching social changes that extend into the family, it is increasingly a balancing act for you as parents to reconcile your studies, career and family life. Through lived participative mechanisms, our day care centre offers the possibility to successfully master this balancing act and to support you in the best possible way.

You as experts for your children and we as experts for upbringing and education are strong partners for a successful early childhood education, which makes your children experience the present in a variety of ways and strengthens them for their individual future.

I wish you and your child a lot of fun and joy in our institution.

Marcel Schmitt
Supervisor
Legal framework
The Social Code (VIII §47) defines the framework of our day care centre work. The facts described according to §47 are to be made accessible to the competent authority.
The day care centre provider is subject to a legal duty to report and document as well as a duty to keep documents related to their child and the care contract. Furthermore, the day care centre law of Rhineland-Palatinate determines the structure of our day care centres and the protection mandate in Social Code Book VIII § 8a in a supplementary form.
Introducing our day care centre
The Villa Unibunt day care centre is located in the middle of the Landauer Fort (municipal park) on the campus of the University of Landau. In our day care centre we offer a total of 70 full-day places in four groups for children from nine months to school age.
There are between 12-16 children from nine months to three years in the two entrance groups (Minis red and yellow). The transition to the older groups usually takes place in the autumn, when the school children have left the day care centre and new admissions are due.
The older groups (Maxis green and blue) each have 20 children from three years old until they start school.
Admission requirements
Admission to Villa Unibunt is primarily open to students of the University of Landau. Children of employees of the University of Landau are admitted second. Children of municipal families are given lower priority if places cannot be taken up by university staff.
The catchment area for students and staff covers the whole of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Opening hours and closing days
Our opening hours and closing days
As a result of the day care centre law in Rhineland-Palatinate, which has been in force since 01.07.2021, parents can choose whether to register their child for 8 or 9 hours of daily care. Registration takes place annually and is binding for one kindergarten year.
  • 8 hours of care from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • 9 hours of care from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The children are handed over to the professionals directly at the respective group doors. Access is via the garden gates. The main entrance is closed until pick-up time at 14:00.
Supervision is handed over to the professionals when the child is handed over and returned to the parents when the child is picked up. In the presence of parents on the Kita premises, the duty of supervision is always incumbent on the parents.
In order to make it easier for the children to become actively involved in group activities and play, as well as to participate in weekly activities (e.g. excursion to the fort, music workshop, etc.), we have a core time from 9:30 am to 2 pm. During this time, all children should be in the house. During the semester break in the summer, our facility has a holiday occupancy period of six weeks. For the families, this means that the children are allowed to take a break at home for at least one week within the given time frame. Irrespective of this, the Villa Unibunt day care centre has a total of 15 closing days, for example during the Christmas and Easter holidays (the annual planning is adjusted annually and handed out to all parents).
Food and drink
The Villa Unibunt day care centre offers all children freshly prepared lunch. The composition of the menus is regularly checked by parents and professionals. The topic of nutrition plays a special role in our day care centre and is therefore explained in more detail in a separate catering concept.
Our meal times are as follows:
  • Breakfast until 9:30 a.m.
  • Lunch between 11:15 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.
  • Snack from 14:00
Staff key
  • 10.79 approved professional staff positions, including leadership leave
  • 1 annual trainee
  • 1 trainee
  • 1 trainee in voluntary social year
  • 2 housekeeping staff
  • 2 cleaning staff
  • 1 caretaker
In addition, school interns are in the house throughout the year. We see the guidance and support of these interns as a welcome enrichment of our daily pedagogical routine, as well as an important core task in order to optimally (co-)train future professionals during their education.

Pedagogical focus and goals

Mission statement
Accompanying the families and the development of the children is our greatest motivation.
On the one hand, our educational work is based on the legal foundations of the Rhineland-Palatinate Child Day Care Act, the education and upbringing recommendations for child day care centres of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Sozialgesetzbuch (SGBVIII). On the other hand, the image of the child, the pedagogical concept of the situational approach and the latest scientific findings on the education of children also form our pedagogical foundation.

"The situational approach is an invitation to engage in life with the children."
Jürgen Zimmer

We see our facility as a place of security, experience and learning. Doing things together - playing, doing handicrafts, experimenting, singing, celebrating, going on outings and laughing together - is the best way for children to discover and conquer the world, in short, to learn.
Successful education and upbringing need the cooperation of adults. Professionals in the day care centre and parents, as experts for their children, work together in partnership in the Villa Unibunt day care centre.
The continuous development of our team and the pedagogical work corresponds to our idea of quality. The transparency of our work is another essential quality feature.
Our "image" of the child
The basis for all developmental and educational processes is a secure attachment and relationship. Only when the child's need for attachment is fulfilled can educational processes succeed.
The child actively develops its own educational processes, finding individual and creative ways to do so. A child always learns by finding its own solutions to new challenges.
Due to its innate curiosity, the child forms its own complex idea about the world. To do this, children need to interact with other children and adults. The child and its individual needs are at the centre of our pedagogical work, and this image of the child thus determines the pedagogical actions of the professionals.
Bonding and relationship
The basis of all learning lies in relationships - without secure emotional bonds, children cannot develop freely and autonomously. On the basis of relationships that provide security and safety, children explore their environment and make educational experiences. The quality of the relationship has a great influence on the emotional, linguistic and social development of the children.
Situational approach
Our day care centre works according to the pedagogical concept of the situational approach. We have decided to work according to this concept, because for us the life situations of the children and their families form the starting point for the development of the children. This concept serves us as a tool to accompany and support the children in their development, as well as to perceive the individual needs of the families and to include them in our pedagogical considerations.
The situational approach places the child and its family at the centre of our pedagogical work. Learning situations are developed from the individual life situations of the families and the claim is formulated that children, young people and adults can shape their living environment together and influence social processes.

The aim of the situational approach is that all children can acquire competences with which they can act independently, in solidarity and competently in a changing world.
Knowledge, skills and abilities are not acquired in artificially created situations, but in their normative and meaningful contexts. Factual and social learning form a unit and support personal development. Children can thus acquire different competences in one and the same situation depending on their previous experiences, their prior knowledge, their developmental interests and their temperament.
Ownership and participation
In pedagogy, participation means sharing decisions that affect one's own life and life in the community and finding solutions together. It is important to us to shape everyday life and living together with the children. This starts with individual suggestions on the use of materials, the design of the daily routine or the design of the room and ends with children's conferences in which the groups also have a say in rules and planning of living together and activities. The educator responds to the individual composition of the group, needs and life situations.
Participation competence develops above all through trying things out and trying them out for oneself. Therefore, it is necessary to give the children room for self-determination and co-determination. In the monthly children's conference, for example, the children have the opportunity to exchange ideas and make decisions together. At the same time, this lays the foundations for an understanding of democracy. The children also have opportunities for self-determination and co-determination in everyday life, be it at lunch or in the sitting circle. The children should realise themselves through their own activities. The professionals support and accompany the drive through which the children become aware of their own skills and abilities in dealing with the environment.

The experience of participation, of having scope for their own ideas and decisions, gives children a sense of agency, which strengthens their self-efficacy. They experience themselves as competent people who master difficulties that arise themselves, take responsibility for themselves and their actions, and develop their own problem-solving and planning strategies. A basic understanding of participation and democracy is laid through experience and their own experience.
Rituals and festivities
Rituals give the child a sense of security and support in the large structure of the day care centre. They structure the day and give the children orientation and security. For example, a farewell ritual, such as "giving a pep talk" at the door, can make the separation from the parents much easier, because repetitive experiences provide security. Rituals can also be extended to the week and the year. For example, weekly exploration of the fort is on the schedule for all children. Throughout the year, we look forward to recurring celebrations such as the joint summer festival, Lätare or St. Martin's Day with the lantern parade.
Standards and values
In the daily get-together, in togetherness and communication with each other, the children learn the importance of values and norms and why they are necessary in living together. The children are involved in agreeing on rules and thus learn that rules are made to order the community. However, they also experience that rules are adapted to life and can be changed.
Prejudice-conscious education
"Yes to differences, no to exclusion".

We are aware of the cause and effect of prejudice and discrimination and want to actively create a respectful approach to diversity in everyday life. As an educational institution, we have the responsibility to protect children from discrimination, to take social differences into account and to create a learning environment that ensures protection and belonging for all children. We want to achieve this goal by strengthening the children in their identity and enabling all children to experience diversity. We strive for a respectful approach to differences and counteract the formation and consolidation of stereotypes. We support the children in developing their sense of justice and the ability to stand up for themselves and for others in the face of discrimination. It is the task of the professionals to constantly reflect on themselves and their own actions and to remain in dialogue.
Learning in daily life
In everyday life situations, the children acquire necessary knowledge, skills and abilities. Recurring activities (setting the table, playing games, preparing parties, preparing breakfast, etc.) allow time for deeper insights and provide sufficient space for individual experiences and learning progress. Everyday situations affect the children holistically and provide them with insights into far-reaching connections. This understanding is constantly developed through playful learning and movement.
At the Villa Unibunt day care centre, both movement and play are given high priority. The children have the opportunity to pursue their urge to move at any time. Play always comes first and is valued by the adults as a learning activity.
[Where free play is possible for children, learning comes alive. Giving space and freedom to play is the basis for meaningful learning processes." [/F]
Ina Schenker
Food
At every meal, whether breakfast, lunch or snack, the children are supported in developing their own eating behaviour. This is done by giving the children the opportunity to take a portion for themselves and follow it up. The children decide for themselves what and how much they want to eat. In this way, they learn to pay attention to their hunger and satiety signals. In addition, they experience a table culture through eating together, where the exchange with the children is important to us. The professionals eat with the children pedagogically in order to show them that they can try and eat all the food, but that it is also okay if they don't like something.
Sustainability
[The meaning of sustainability refers to the fact that all people should act and think in such a way that all living beings on earth can live well and that the earth is still worth living on in the future. This means that we should treat the earth's treasures, air, water, soil with care." [/F]
(Source: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation)

Based on this statement, we would like to introduce and clarify the topic of sustainability to the children in everyday situations. Our goal is for all children to develop a sense of what sustainability means; to create an awareness that they can positively influence their environment and take responsibility for it. To this end, we use situations such as food preparation or waste separation, excursions and walks. In addition, we develop and pursue projects together with the children that make the topic of "sustainability" clear and tangible for them.
Media
Analogue and increasingly digital media are a big part of children's lives nowadays. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and strengthen the children's media competence already in the day-care centre through a pedagogically sensible handling of digital media. The competent and responsible use of media must be learned in the same way as behaviour in traffic. We do this by offering the children a variety of ways to use and create media, by critically questioning media content together with the children and by using media as a means of entertainment, research and information. Our guidelines on media use include a set of rules for the use of digital media in an educational context.

Education places
An educational place invites the children to discover, experiment and explore on a daily basis. Furthermore, it serves as a meeting place for the children from all groups (e.g. the outdoor area and the corridor). Through clear, agreed rules, the children have the opportunity to use the room according to their age and with the guidance of a specialist.
Through regular use, the children expand their competencies and can process their experiences and adventures.
Therefore, the children are offered the opportunity to use different educational places and meeting places every day.

The group room
The affiliation to the home group and its staff form an important basis for the child to feel safe and integrated in the facility.
The core group creates a structured framework through recurring rituals that only take place in the group (breakfast, conversation and singing circle, setting the table, lunch, snack, etc.). This enables the child to experience itself in a safe environment. Through integration into daily tasks, the child can develop a sense of belonging and test its self-efficacy.
In the course of its further development, the child can draw ever larger circles and increasingly explore the diverse educational places according to individual needs.
The adjoining room belonging to the group is adapted to the children's topics on the basis of observations and designed together with the children. During lunchtime, the adjoining room is converted into a sleeping and resting room.
The hallway meeting place
In the entire hallway, the children have the opportunity to engage in various play opportunities across the groups. These include the role play area, which is regularly designed according to the needs and interests of the children, and the various movement toys, which encourage the children's natural urge to move.
In role play, the children can re-enact situations they have experienced in order to better understand and process their own life situation. In their interaction with the other children, they practise their linguistic, social, emotional and cooperative skills.
In addition, there are regular opportunities for singing together in the hallway.
Creative space
Various materials are available to the children for free design, which they can use according to their own ideas.
At the workbench, the children are familiarised with different tools and how to handle them. This is where they make their first experiences with construction and technology. A unique feature of our day care centre is the work with wood and tools.
Studio
In the studio, the children try out different techniques of art and creativity. It should be noted that it is not about the product, but about the process of creating, as well as living out and developing the imagination and sensory experience.
The gym
The gym is available to the children every day. The children can intensively develop their sensory experiences and their motor development at the movement building sites and play situations, some of which they have designed themselves.
The building corners
With various construction materials in the building areas, the children create their own imaginary structures. Here they gain their first experiences with mathematics, physics and technology, which form the basis for later understanding.
The library
On the one hand, the library can serve as a place of rest in a relaxed atmosphere, where the children experience security and safety.
On the other hand, there is a large selection of picture and non-fiction books that the children can choose according to their themes and feelings. They have the opportunity to leaf through them independently, to introduce the books to each other or to have the books read to them by adults (dialogue reading).
In addition, they make their first experiences with written language and can practise writing at the painting table.
The outdoor area
Our crèche garden and our large outdoor area are available to the children all year round. By arrangement, they can use the garden in small groups or independently on their own.
Experiences of nature are gained through daily play outside in all seasons and weather. In the process, the various natural phenomena can be observed. The children take responsibility and experience the conscious handling of their environment also through our kitchen garden.
Various movement experiences and role play take up a lot of space in the outdoor area. Huts and hidden niches offer the children retreat corners.
Children experience movement throughout the entire grounds.
Complementary educational venues
The professionals offer the children additional projects and workshops that are limited in time and space. These include the music workshop, visits to the neighbouring fort, singing circles with the children from all groups, baking, experimenting (Nawi workshop), gymnastics in the university gymnasium and much more.
Excursions
Development goes from the inside to the outside, from the near to the far. Children should move on foot in order to be able to make their own independent and self-determined experiences along the way. In this process, individual development determines the achievable distance, the path is the goal.
On this basis, the children conquer their environment. The first excursions therefore take place in the immediate vicinity of the day care centre, perhaps the youngest children manage the way from the day care centre to the university or the fort and explore the grounds there. The older and more mobile the children become, the further the excursions can take them, down the campus hill, to the market on Messplatz or through the fort to the hospital. Developmentally, the excursions take the children further and further, until finally, in the last year before school, they explore entire city districts - also by bus.

The "Minis"

Welcome to the nest!
The younger children up to the age of four at Villa Unibunt can be found in the yellow and red groups. In the first days and weeks, the foundations for further development are laid by building up the bond during the settling-in period.
After the morning arrival and welcome ritual, the daily routine is adapted to the age of the children. This consists of meals (breakfast, lunch and snack), free play time, care and nappy changing times and bedtime. Accompanied by the specialist staff, the children gradually discover the functional rooms of the day care centre and the outdoor area.

The exploration of the nursery takes place from the inside to the outside. In the course of their development, the children conquer new and additional spaces in the house as well as in the garden or outdoors. As far as possible, networking with the maxi groups takes place in that the minis also participate in joint activities.
Nursing
Diapering is a time of undivided attention between the child and the educator; a time of the closest social and emotional relationship. Diapering is predicted for the children and they can, within certain limits, help decide when they are diapered and by whom. The process is characterised by the children's self-determination; they are involved in every step according to their development.
Sleeping
As far as possible, we take into account the sleep and rest needs of each individual child. The younger a child is, the greater his or her need for sleep. The afternoon nap takes place after lunch.
The sleep phase is individually supervised by a specialist.
Our nap rooms are designed to meet the needs of the children.
Children who no longer need a nap take part in other activities at the centre.

Transitions
Transition in the pedagogical sense is the change into a new, unknown life situation. Transitions are part of human life and belong to a child's world of experience. By successfully coping with transitions, the child acquires skills that it can use in dealing with future changes and that strengthen its personality. The child learns that transitions are challenges that also offer opportunities. They gain self-confidence, flexibility and a certain composure with regard to further transitions.
Every day, the children experience a small transition in the drop-off situation. In order to facilitate this and due to the experiences gained in the pandemic, the separation on arrival takes place directly at the group room door to the garden.

Settling in
For children as well as for parents, the transition to a childcare facility is a far-reaching step. All sides have to go through a process of detachment. For the parents, this means that they have to entrust their child to people they have never met before.
The acclimatisation process at the Villa Unibunt day care centre is based on the Berlin Model. The initial focus is on building up the bond and relationship between the child and the responsible specialist, the so-called transition companion.
The positive support of the accompanying family person is a key element in this process. The aim is to create a basis of trust between all those involved, on which the child's attachment to the transition companion can grow.
A positive settling-in phase is a decisive step towards the child's independence. The settling-in period depends on the individual life situation of the child on the one hand, and on the development within the day care centre on the other hand, and can last several weeks.
Transition within the day care centre
This change affects all children who are admitted to one of the mini-groups (red/yellow) and remain in the facility beyond the age of four. At the age of about four, the children move to the maxi-groups (green/blue). Before the change, a "transition meeting" takes place between the specialist of the mini-group, the specialist of the future maxi-group and the parents of the child. The content of the discussion is both an exchange about the child's development so far as well as information about the upcoming changes and the new framework conditions of the future group. The transition is organised individually with each child.
Transition from day care to school
[The transition from nursery to primary school is a crucial interface for children. The aim must be that the children, taking into account their individual resources and deficits, have elementary knowledge and skills that form the basis for work in primary school. This includes sufficient language skills as well as so-called key skills such as perseverance, completing a task" [/F].
Source: Ministry for Integration 2014

In the Villa Unibunt day care centre, the future school beginners form their own group in the last year of the day care centre to gain experience for the start of school. The focus is on successful orientation in the social space of the city of Landau, as well as planning and organising excursions in this living environment on their own responsibility. In this way, they train key skills such as self-efficacy, self-confidence, personal responsibility and orientation skills. They practice their social and emotional competences, conflict skills and frustration tolerance again and again in the everyday life of the group. Another aspect of the pre-school work is the regular school workshop. In the school workshop, the children deal with various school materials and try out, among other things, particularly demanding play materials that challenge their cognitive abilities. With this weekly role play "Playing School", they playfully acquire their first skills for school.
In the last few months before starting school, the children visit all the schools to which they will be admitted together. In doing so, they gain confidence in dealing with the new environment of school and learn to find their way around. The daycare time ends with the ritual of a special evening planned by the children, when they have the daycare "to themselves" and can prove their courage and confidence on a night hike.

Observation and documentation
Observing a child and documenting his or her actions enables professionals to draw conclusions about the child's development. Based on this, the child's learning paths can be supported and accompanied.
In order to make observations and documentation as transparent as possible for parents and children, we use various methods:
  • Marte Meo (video interaction analysis),
  • Portfolios with photographs,
  • education and learning stories.

Data protection
Data protection at the Villa Unibunt day care centre serves to protect the personal rights of the child. If consent to data use is required, parents must decide in the interest of their children whether or not to give such consent. As a rule, photos are used for the children's portfolios and notices within the day care centre. We also require a written declaration of consent for this.
Marte Meo
The strength of the method is the recording with video images. Everyday situations are filmed and discussed. The video is the most important tool for examining the effects of everyday interaction. Special attention is paid to social, emotional and linguistic development. Facial expressions and gestures are also an important part of the video analysis.
The aim of the method is to provide all groups of people concerned with information that is needed to enable the individual to develop "on their own" (= marte meo).
Portfolio
A special feature of the portfolio is the individual view of each child. The portfolio is a free form of documentation and allows for the inclusion of elements appropriate for each individual child. Individual development paths, interests and topics are recorded without comparing the child with other children.
Professionals design the portfolio, thus giving parents a transparent view inside. The portfolio should create an occasion for dialogue between children and professionals, professionals and parents, and parents and children.
The children's participation in their personal portfolio enables them to contribute their individual "handwriting", for example by painting, drawing or writing. In addition, they are encouraged to look again at their previously documented development paths, preferences and inclinations and to consciously reflect on them
Educational and learning stories
"Learning stories" (Lerngeschichten) can make a learning process conscious. Learning steps are observed and documented that show how the child has learned something. This makes the conditions for learning processes clear to the child as well as to the professional and the parents. Learning stories should encourage children and adults to reflect on learning.
Educational partnership
For us, parents are partners in the care, education and upbringing of children. They are the first and most important attachment figures for their child. With their knowledge about their children, they are the experts in the educational partnership. In this way, the experience of parents and the pedagogical expertise of the professionals are combined.
In conversations at eye level and constant exchange between the parents and the professionals, the educational partnership becomes alive and is lived by everyone. It is important that parents can openly express their issues and suggestions. We want parents to participate and encourage them to make suggestions and constructive criticism. Together we look for possibilities, changes and solutions.

Therefore, door-to-door talks are important components within the educational partnership. These usually take place during drop-off and pick-up and serve as an informal exchange. In addition to the daily well-being of the child, this time-limited conversation serves to make arrangements and pass on relevant information to each other.

In addition to the regular door-to-door talks, the regular development discussions between the parents and the professionals are very important for us. During these meetings, progress made so far and milestones in the individual areas of development are communicated, as well as the child's current learning topics. Continuous observations by the professionals form the basis for discussion. The mutual communication between the professionals and parents helps us to better understand and categorise the child's behaviour and emotions in everyday life.

We see our facility as a meeting place where parents are welcome. Parents are always invited to participate in the daily routine and educational activities of the day care centre. In our hallway there is a parents' sofa which can be used to linger and exchange ideas.
It is important to us that parents can contribute their own competences. Be it through professional or job-related knowledge or through hobbies and preferences. In this way, they can provide us as professionals and the children of the day care centre with additional valuable resources.

The transparency of our work for all those involved is another essential quality feature. This is reflected in the documentation of our work in the house, in parent meetings, parent afternoons or evenings and in other joint activities.

The Parents' Committee
The parents' committee is elected at the annual parents' meeting and represents the parents' interests vis-à-vis the day care centre. At Villa Unibunt, the committee has a very high status and is consulted on many matters. The committee mediates between the interests of the different families and advises the day care centre on the implementation of the educational partnership.
Kita advisory board
The day-care centre advisory board is made up of the provider, the management, the pedagogical staff and members of the parents' committee. At the annual meeting, the advisory board decides on recommendations for important decisions, taking into account the children's perspectives gained in everyday life in the areas of education, training and care work.
Pedagogical team
Our weekly team meetings take place every Tuesday. In these meetings, the team discusses upcoming changes, special challenges from the groups and upcoming events that affect the day-to-day life of the day care centre.
The individual groups (Mini and Maxi) have the opportunity to come together in small teams during childcare hours to discuss and plan important events for the week.
Throughout the year, our nursery offers many activities for parents and children, such as parents' evenings (first day at school, parents' committee election, theme-specific evenings), parents' afternoons (get-to-know-you café, lantern craft) and festivals (summer festival, lantern parade). These events are planned, prepared and carried out by the team together with parents and children.

We are regularly supported by interns in training, e.g. interns in the voluntary social year, recognition interns, trainees in dual training, block internships, student internships and various job shadowing. The interns often give us an external view of our work and enable us to reflect and critically question our work.
As professionals, we attach great importance to regular further training in order to develop the quality of our work. Quality in discourse, first aid courses, fire protection training, safety training, "Kita est besser" (Kita eats better), situational approach, child welfare risk, hygiene training and a day of further training for the responsible body are just a few examples of how we have advanced the education of our staff.
Concepts
We have written our own concepts for some topics. As some of these documents are very extensive, we do not want to integrate them directly into the concept. Nevertheless, these concepts are to be seen as a basis for our understanding of the pedagogical work and the togetherness in Villa Unibunt. The following concepts are available and can be explained in more detail upon request:
  • Protection concept with complaint management for professionals, children and parents
  • Quality management with process documentation for quality in discourse and quality manual of Villa Unibunt
  • Framework hygiene plan
  • Catering concept and process documentation for "Kita isst besser" ("Kita eats better")
  • Situation in the environment of Villa Unibunt, a "lifeworld analysis".

All documents have been compiled by the professionals of the facility and are accessible at all times.

Networking
The Villa Unibunt day care centre relies on diverse networking in the social space of the city of Landau in order to provide the children and their families with the greatest possible variety of life experiences and support.

University
  • Department of Sport (use of sports halls; movement construction site with students)
  • Faculty of Natural Sciences (science workshop)
  • University library (borrowing books)
Schools
The future school starters visit all the schools together where children from the group will be enrolled. The children get to know the premises and some of the teachers.
Dentist
Once a year, a dentist visits us, practices proper tooth brushing with the children and informs them about healthy nutrition basics. The group of children starting school visits the dentist after the last visit to the doctor's surgery in Insheim.

Emergency plan of the Kita Villa Unibunt

The challenge
Staff absences, planned e.g. due to holidays and further training, but especially unforeseen absences due to short-term illnesses, are a continuous challenge in the kindergarten.

Foreseeable absences (holidays, further training, time off in lieu) always happen in consultation with the management. She has to find a replacement for this time or reschedule the services.

Unpredictable absences mean a short-term change of services, overtime, waiving of further training, availability time, postponement of pedagogical activities, etc.

Many things can be absorbed and mastered by flexible reactions in the team. Beyond that, however, it is necessary and helpful to proceed according to a structured plan of action. The aim of the plan is to be able to proceed in a concrete emergency situation in a way that is actionable, transparent and comprehensible. Even in emergency situations, it is our claim that cuts in the quality of care are avoided as far as possible and that the staff on site are not overburdened.
The staffing ratio is calculated on the basis of the Kita-Gesetz RLP. According to this, 0.263 specialist staff must be available for a child under 2 years of age and 0.1 specialist staff for 7 hours for a child over 2 years of age. When assessing emergency situations, the minimum attendance to ensure the duty of supervision is used as a benchmark.

Preliminary measures
We see one of the foundations for the effectiveness of our action plan in transparent communication with parents. Thus, as a matter of principle, we try to maintain care for families with an urgent need. To this end, all families are informed of the emergency situation and asked to organise alternative care if possible. In the past, this has often made it possible to provide care without restrictions.
Minimum requirements
In principle, the following regulation applies in the event of staff absences in order to be able to guarantee the duty of supervision:

The minimum requirement is based on the individual care intensity of the child as well as on the staff situation in terms of competence/requirements. As a guideline, the stated full-time equivalents (FTEs) in the U2 area of 0.263 FTEs and in the Ü2 area of 0.1 FTEs per child apply. In summary, the minimum requirement consists of the variables:

  • Individual child care intensity,
  • Competence/requirement of/for the pedagogical specialist,
  • FTE in the U2 and Ü2 area.

In addition, the opening hours of the Kita must be observed. Likewise, the legally required break after six hours of work must be made possible for every employee. Otherwise, the Kita must be partially or completely closed. At least two educational specialists must be present in the day care centre in order to be able to admit children in general.

In justified exceptional cases, this can be deviated from; this applies above all to covering the marginal times (early and late service). In these cases, a specialist in assistance (1) can provide support. This assistant must be suitable for this exceptional case (the suitability is checked by the kindergarten management).

The number of children admitted is determined individually on the basis of the rule described above. Temporary staff who do not fulfil the criteria of a qualified assistant do not count as a qualified assistant and are therefore excluded from the regulation! An exceptional case only applies to short periods of time.

In order not to overburden the day care centre staff in the long term, the regulation must not be maintained in the long term. It is important to bear in mind that assistants cannot be responsible for the pedagogical part with regard to e.g. documentation, parent talks, offers, settling in, overall view of the group, etc. The assistants act as a supplement to the nursery staff in order not to overburden the nursery staff in the long term. The assistants act as a supplement. They have a supplementary character and support the daily routine, especially in care and nursing.

During a very high staff shortage, it can also come to the closure of individual groups or the complete closure of the facility. In the case of foreseeable and unforeseeable absences, temporary staff can be brought in as support. The work of our housekeepers is also part of the quality work in a day care centre. In the event of their absence, they are also to be replaced by our qualified staff.
If no temporary help is available, it is possible to ask for support in the other day care centres of the Studierendenwerk Vorderpfalz.

to (1): Specialist in assistance is: educators without professional experience, social assistants, educational assistants with a state examination, child care workers with state recognition, curative education assistants after completing their training, professional trainees in their final year of training, dual trainees who have completed their school education and need to work off the remaining time.
Procedure and concrete measures in the event of staff shortages
Emergency situations are assessed on a case-by-case basis before appropriate steps are taken. The absence of a specialist is compensated for by internal arrangements regarding early and late duty, changes in break arrangements and/or swapping of duty times. In addition, the ratio of registered children to the professionals present must always be assessed.

We divide emergency situations into three levels, which are usually manifested by the absence of two, three or four (and more) professionals
The emergency group
An emergency group must be formed as soon as supervision in several groups is no longer guaranteed due to a lack of staff. The number of children in the emergency group is based on the minimum requirements described above and is variable. Criteria for the selection of children are presented below.

1. both parents (2 points) ...
  • a. ... work full time (without the possibility of home office)
  • b. ... are studying and working (without the possibility of a home office)

2. one parent (1 point) ...
  • a. ... works in presence
  • b. ... works in home office
  • c. ... studies in presence
  • d. ... is a single parent and studies / is employed

3. pre-school child or child with special care needs (1 point)

A sum score (a sum score is the sum of the values of the criteria of the emergency group) is formed from the criteria and decides which children are given priority if there are too many applications. In addition to this sum score, the registration time of the need counts; i.e. at what time the notification of need arrived at the day care centre (preferably by E-MAIL, in exceptional cases also possible by telephone).

In detail, this means for the day care centre Villa Unibunt:.
In the event of the absence of two specialist staff, the management must ensure that all services are covered, organise temporary staff and, if necessary, ask for overtime.

From July 2021, according to the requirements of the Kita law, the facility will have 10.79 positions available for specialist staff.

Stage 1: 2-3 certified absent
  • Use of external substitutes
  • Team arrangements for early and late services
  • Exchange of duty times
  • Use of preparation times for care services
  • Agreements on overtime
  • Merging of groups with reduced number of children
  • Modification, postponement or cancellation of planned projects and plans
Stage 2: 3-4 certified absent
The measures according to Level I are fully utilised, in addition:
  • Cancellation of further training
  • Faculty on leave are requested
  • Ban on new holidays
  • Parents are asked to look after children at home if possible or at least to pick them up as early as possible
  • Postponement of familiarisation sessions
  • Shortening of opening hours for individual groups
  • Promoters, Youth Welfare Office and State Youth Welfare Office are informed
Stage 3: 50% and more certified absent
All measures of levels I and II are exhausted, additionally
  • Shortening of opening and care hours
  • Stop of settling in
  • Closure of groups, establishment of emergency care
  • Temporary closure of the facility

All measures are agreed and implemented transparently (team, parents, parents' committee, provider, youth welfare office, state youth welfare office) in accordance with existing laws, regulations and rules.
Procedure in case of closure of individual groups or closure of the facility:
  • Agreement by telephone with the responsible body (Mr. Schmitt: 06341/ 9179190 or Mr. Spieß 06341 / 9179191)
  • Information to parents
  • Information to the responsible youth welfare office and state youth welfare office