Entering in the morning
Before 8:45am
Until 9:00 there are two dedicated team members on the door of the building, who will welcome your child and take them to their classroom. You will say goodbye at the gate. The team member on door duty is from a different class each day, so will not necessarily be from your class. At 8:45 the Giraffes go to Mazeh Square to have their morning snack and Morning meeting. They usually come back at 9:15. So if you arrive between 8:45 and 9:15, you should walk through Mazeh Square before arriving at the gan to check if the class is already there (the team are not always 100% on keeping time, so sometimes they don’t leave until 9am!). If you arrive at the gan, and the class are at the square, we will ask you to drop them at the square.
Arriving later
The main entrance is staffed until 9am. After this time, you need to call the Classroom phone and ask a team member to come out to the street, via the main door to get your child. The team member may be busy, for example changing the children, running activities or taking the children to the garden or another part of the building, so arriving after 9am may mean that you have to wait a bit until someone is available to come and get your child.If the class are at Mazeh square, you will need to drop them there. As there are only two practitioners in the room, it is not always possible for someone to leave to bring in a late child, so where possible we suggest you arrive BEFORE 8:45, and if you arrive afterwards, sometimes a practitioner from another team will assist your child in to their class.
What to bring
On the first day of attendance in the Giraffe class you need to bring a new drinking cup, clearly labelled with your child’s name (in English). The drinking bottle show be easy for your child to carry as they will have it with them as they walk between the gan and the park or Mazeh Square.
All children in Giraffes will require a Wet Bag, and 2 – 3 sets of spare clothes, so they can get changed if they wish during the day. All clothes should be labelled with your child’s name in English.Please bring extra spare underwear as there may be more toileting ‘misses’ in the first month of being in a new classroom.
Please do not send anything else that is not listed here. Please do not send a bag with the children with other things in it, such as spare water bottles, or toys or other items from home. We do not have the space to store additional bags or belongings, beyond what is listed above.
As we go to the park daily, sun hats and suncream are very important. Please show your child how to apply their suncream and explain to them the importance of wearing a hat. Obviously, there will be other weather considerations as the seasons change!
In Giraffes the children have a box which they share with ONE other child. In their box must fit any personal items (including wet bags) that they bring to gan. They also have their own drawer inside the classroom where they can store drawings and other work their produce.
Communication with the team
At drop off
You can send a whatsapp message to the classroom phone with any key information you need to pass on.
During the day
If something happens during the day that the team want to inform you about, they will call you or send you a message or voice note from the classroom phone. If you wish to speak to a team member (either your child’s key worker or team leader); then please send a message to the classroom phone, stating who you want to talk to, and what you would like to talk about… and someone will call you back as soon as possible
Weekly feedback
Each week you will receive a voice message (between 1 and 3 minutes) of extended feedback regarding your child. This will be sent to you by the key worker, team leader or another classroom based practitioner. If you child is new, during the settling period you will receive more detailed feedback daily, either face to face, recorded or by telephone.
Calling or messaging the gan
Click here for the phone numbers of your class, the administrator, late club, Friday club and the manager!
You can send a Whatsapp message or call the gan phone for your classroom during day. The team cannot always reply to messages, or answer the phone immediately because they may be involved in care or learning activities with the children. Staff are asked to try and respond to all parent messages within two hours. If your call is urgent, or you need to talk to someone immediately, you may call the admin office on +972 54-6271708 or the manager on +972 54-6982969. The administrator or manager can go directly to the classroom to alert the staff to your need for an immediate conversation.
The Team
You have the A-TEAM! We are sure you already heard how amazing the Giraffe team is! Jescah and Victoria run the group together. Victoria doesn’t always work on a Thursday, when she is off, another team member is allocated to the group, we will inform you about this when it happens. Jescah is a fully qualified Montessori Teacher, and is the English speaker, and Victoria has a degree in Art, and is the Hebrew speaker. Hopefully you will see during the year how the children’s appreciation of and knowledge of art develops… there is an artist of the week, every week! Both Jescah and Victoria have been with Rainbow for many years.
The Daily structure
Whilst there is a clear daily structure, and a well developed teaching routine, the staff in this group remain very flexible and because the group size is small, they often extend learning session or activities that the children are super engaged with, and take a dynamic approach to the day’s learning. There is a higher degree of focused teaching and learning in this group, with daily literacy and numeracy sessions. We deliver the UK Jolly Phonics and Letters and Sounds programme. As there is no role play area or wet art area (eg paint) the Giraffes always spend ONE hour a day in the Leopards classroom (without the Leopards in it!) with Jescah and Victoria to have an opportunity to access these learning centres that are not available in their classroom.
The day structure includes two trips out per day. One in the morning for morning snack and meeting. This is to Mazeh Square and takes place between 8:45 and 9:15 and the other is before lunch when they visit a local play park area (either Shenkin or Balfour). Autumn of 2022 Balfour will be closed for a few months, so the daily trip will be to Shenkin.
Children in the Giraffes class do not have an allocated sleep time. There is a rest basket and cosy corner if the children wish to have a rest during the day. If parents would like their children to continue sleeping at gan, this is no problem, please make this known to the team, and your child will join the Leopards class for their nap time instead of going to the park.
If you prefer your child NOT to go to the park, please let the manager (Emma) know, and she will arrange for your child to have quite time in the Leopards room.
Please click the link here to download the daily timetable so that you can see the times and organisation of the day.
Pick up
Pick-up before 3:45pm
If you wish to pick up your child before 3:45 it is always a good idea to message the classroom phone in advance, with your expected pick up time. This is so that the team can help make sure your child will be broadly ready and available at that time. So for example they are not in the middle of water play, or a cooking activity in the Mitbachon! When you arrive at the gan, you should come to the main gate, call the staff in the room (not message) and ask them to bring out your child. If you left your buggy with us, please collect it and have it fully erect before your child comes out.
Please note, in the Giraffes class, there is NO PICK UP BETWEEN 3:45 and 4:30
The 4:30 pick up
This is when most of the Giraffes are picked up!
The children will come down at 4:25 and will be ready to be released at 4:30 from the main entrance. The parents from the Red group should queue to the LEFT of the front door along the wall and the parents from the Blue group should queue to the RIGHT.
Pick up is very quick from the Giraffes, and is usually over in under 5 minutes! One of the team stands at the main door, and calls the child to come out as they see you. Please take your child from the team, and then move away as quickly as possible so other parents can get to the door to take their child. If you need to talk to a team member, please wait until the other children have all been picked up.
Late pick up charges
We ask you to arrive on time to pick up your child, and if you wish for your child to stay late, then you make advanced arrangements for them to stay for the late club. Click here to see how to make a late club booking. Parents arriving after 4:30 or, if they have pre-booked late club after 5:30 are charged a penalty of 10 ILS per minute, per child (as per terms and conditions).
Calendar for this year
Please click this link to download the calendar for this year. It has our closure days and other important dates.
Some pictures of the Giraffes Classroom!
