Little Warthogs Playschool
About Little Warthogs
Little Warthogs is a nurturing playschool in Parkhurst based on love and learning through play. We believe in focusing on the whole child, thereby supporting their personal, emotional, physical and social development during this significant time in their lives.
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At Little Warthogs Playschool, our aim is to empower young children through creating a space that enables them to do things on their own. This supports their sense of self worth, and allows them to develop autonomy.
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Toddlers can so often be misunderstood as tyrants, or terrible, when really, they’re just in need of a bit more support and understanding of their predicament of being two! We believe, with lots of love, acceptance, guidance and understanding, toddlers' troubles can be soothed. This helps them to slowly learn how to deal with their big, scary emotions, and with lots of practice, one day, they will manage to do so all on their own. But for now, we're here to help.
We are open 4 days a week from Monday to Thursday. Little warthogs can be dropped off each morning between 8 and 9 and collected between 12 and 12.30, after a fun filled day of learning through exploring, creating and playing.
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Children from 18 months are welcome and we take between 8 and 12 children, with a staff to child ratio of 1 : 4. Our big warthogs leave us at the end of the year they turn 3 in.​
Clothing
We know that toddler outfits can be some of the cutest things around, but please make sure to kit your little one out so they can play freely without tripping or catching on their clothing. Please also ensure that you dress them in things you are happy to throw into the wash afterwards, so they can paint and play and let their imaginations run wild – inside and outside, gardening, painting and cooking at the mud kitchen.
Eating
Please have breakfast at home with your little warthogs before playschool, so that they have energy to start their day. Please also pack them a healthy "lunch" box for our mid-morning snack. "Lunch" time will take place at our tables together on the stoep, outside in the fresh air. Once a child has had enough, they are encouraged to pack away their own lunch before running off to play.
Woodwork
Occasionally we will be joined by my husband, a budding carpenter and gentle soul. Before you panic, please be reassured that it won’t involve anything your little warthogs aren’t capable of handling. Woodwork is yet another great sensory activity that teaches your children how to look after things, and gives them a great sense of self and confidence to be trusted with real tools – and not only toys.
2024 Term Dates
Reopening: Monday 6th May
Term 2
Starts: Monday 6th May
Half Term (closed): Monday 8th July - Thursday 11th July
Last Day: Thursday 8th August
Public Holidays: Monday 17th June
Term 3
Starts: Tuesday 3rd September
Half Term (closed): Monday 28th October
Last Day: Thursday 5th December
Public Holidays: Monday 23rd & Tuesday 24th September
2024 Fees
R5 000 per month
*payable termly or monthly
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Enrollment (once off): R1000
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Deposit: R5000
Settling In
to Little Warthogs
"when a child starts in an early childhood setting for the first time and has to be without their parent/carer, separation and loss are at the centre of the experience"
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Julia Manning-Morton & Maggie Thorp
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Leaving home for the first time can be daunting, for both big and little people, and so in order to support our little warthogs through this time, we believe it is best for everyone to take this slowly.
Research shows that when a child feels safe and secure in a new environment, this can help to dramatically reduce the stress experienced during separation. Feeling secure and supported is also necessary before any learning can take place. This is part of our brain's way of keeping us safe. Only once we feel secure, do we have the confidence to go out and explore and learn new things.
So we encourage you to spend some time with your child at Little Warthogs in the beginning, so that when it’s time to say goodbye, they know they're in a safe space, and they've started to build a relationship with us that will help support them while separated from you.
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Settling in is a very important process and is likely to unfold differently with each child. We will be there to support you and your child throughout the entire process, to ensure that you ALL feel comfortable. This will be discussed in more detail before you start, but if you have any questions in the mean time, please don't hesitate to get in touch.
About
the founder
I am so delighted to be reopening my beautiful playschool, this time as a parent myself. I dreamt up Little Warthogs and opened it in September 2020. I am a qualified early childhood specialist, having attained my Masters in Early Childhood Studies with distinction, where I focused my dissertation research on discipline with young children. I also coach parents and teachers and help them navigate young children's big emotions with kindness and boundaries. Head over to my coaching page by clicking on the logo.
Claudia Geiger Krige
A few moons ago, I completed my Bachelor's Degree in Psychology (with Honours in Organisational Psychology) before setting off to Europe to explore. Just over a year later, I followed my heart and my heritage to Hamburg, Germany, where I also fell in love with early childhood development whilst teaching at a bilingual preschool (1-3 year olds). It was there that I discovered the great gift of working with an age group that is so present, raw and honest, and that demands of me, too, to be present, patient, loving and sure of my decisions - daily. It also enabled me to step into the role of offering guidance and advice to parents on particular issues that they found most challenging with their toddlers. I found the work so rewarding and knew I had found my calling. When my husband and I decided it was finally time to come home, we made one last pit stop in Sweden. There I completed an internship at an international preschool in Stockholm, to try and learn more about how the Swedes did things. Soon after arriving on home soil, I helped out briefly at a local playschool before beginning my Masters. This I completed through London Metropolitan University via distance learning (which allowed me to continue with my studies uninterrupted throughout Covid-19).
My preschool experience from Germany, Sweden and South Africa has enabled me to have seen a wide range of early childhood approaches, handpicked the best and combined them to form Little Warthogs Playschool.
Testimonials
"We could never have anticipated what a huge impact Little Warthogs was going to have on the start of our education journey with our little boy!
We have learnt so much from Clau and our little boy has had the best start to his schooling career. Little Warthogs is a deeply nurturing and carefully considered environment where emotions of little people are honoured, whilst demonstrating and teaching age-appropriate behaviour with sturdy boundaries and patient and consistent care.
Our little boy has moved on from Little Warthogs to a much bigger environment as he turns 4 and has the skills and EQ to navigate a bigger environment with confidence. We too as parents have the skills to support him through the ups and downs from what we’ve learnt simply from our daily engagements with Clau.
We are so grateful for Clau’s expertise, her genuine passion and delight in toddlers, and her sturdy leadership of her beautiful school. If you’re lucky enough to secure a spot, you will be so happy here."
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"Our 2 year old had an excellent experience at Little Warthogs. Claudia's dedication, sincerity and deep knowledge of early childhood development and its challenges and intricacies make it the ideal place for young toddlers. A caring and nurturing environment, great for a gentle first separation. Our son, who is very attached to his parents, was always happy to be at playschool. Highly recommended."
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"Thank you for absolutely everything, you are amazing! I cannot get over the change in our babe! She is just more since she has been with you! More confident! More happy! More talkative! More more more more more! Thank you - she is soooo happy and we are going to miss you and your special school."
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"Honestly Clau, you have created such a special, nurturing, unique environment for the kids who come to your school. Where they can just be and learn and experience and explore and grow. And we, as parents, still feel so much a part of it, and that is so special and so important."
