The DEOEC kindergarten is situated in the city of Debrecen, which is the second largest city in Hungary. The rich history of this marvellous city shows its importance and magnificence throughout the centuries. Debrecen developed as the cultural and scientific centre of the region and one of the major cultural and social centres of Hungary. The city is extremely proud of its centuries’ old traditions and heritage in education and maintains a comprehensive network of kindergartens, schools and major universities, which make Debrecen not only regional and national, but an international centre of education.
The DEOEC kindergarten is open to children, from 3 to 7 years old, of employees (mainly) of the University of Debrecen’s Medical and Health-scientific Centre (DEOEC). The kindergarten is ideally situated within the university’s campus and amongst beautiful and tranquil forest called: “Nagyerdei” (Big forest) – a natural reserve, commonly referred to as the “white lung” of Debrecen. There is a total of 182 children, divided in seven groups and the staff comprises of 15 teachers (most of them with Master degrees) and fourteen nannies. The opening hours are from 5.30 AM to 5.30 PM, as most of the parents work on three different shifts – a working pattern that disadvantages about 40% of our children, who thus spend eight to ten hours a day in the kindergarten. Therefore, we offer a full day service with three meals a day and a rest period in the afternoon. The DEOEC kindergarten developed own curriculum, based on the Hungarian national curriculum and pointed towards the development of a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE. We believe that the most important thing in life is the harmony between soul and body and the best time to establish such a harmony is indeed the age between three and seven. We aim at creating a safe and loving environment, promoting the necessary for a healthy lifestyle habits and establishing the strong basis of our children’s further development. We emphasize on regularity and consistency, while being a good role models ourselves and leading by example. We organise various, child-centred and suitable for a particular age group activities that involve singing, drawing, mathematics and physical exercises, fairy-tale time or observing and experiencing the environment. Optionally, some children take additional lessons in music or English language, others swim, ride horses or dance Hungarian folk dances. We employ special educational methods in respect to kids with special needs (e.g. deaf pupils with hearing aid or pupils with special behaviour) and also benefit from the availability of a speech therapist. Some of our children come from abroad, together with their parents who study or work at the Medical and Health-scientific Centre in Debrecen. We teach those kids to speak Hungarian, support them and facilitate their easier adaptation within the new environment. There is a very good relationship between the children’s families, parental communities and the kindergarten, which operates an “open door” policy through informal daily meetings, consultation hours, open days and scheduled parental meetings. Celebrations, trips, sports and other extracurricular events are often being organised…The DEOEC kindergarten is open towards innovative and progressive methodologies of education and would welcome a mutually beneficial cooperation with our partner-kindergartens.
