Not everyone wants or needs full day care! Many parents want to stay home and spend time with they’re children, but also want a space where their children can play, learn and develop in an environment supported by trained and qualified early years staff. The immediate benefits to children of attending some kind of early childhood development programme such as Rainbow, are huge! Some of them include:

• Increased stimulation with a broader range of activities and experienced that are often available at home
• Greater opportunity to interact with other children and development of social skills
• Opportunity to explore, take risks and develop challenge in play
• Faster development of independent skills, leading to greater confidence and self-esteem

According to UNICEF and the World Bank, the long tThe Rainbow playgroup runs each morning from 8:00 am until 12:15 pm, and is suitable for children from 2 years old and upwards. Rainbow provides a nurturing and nourishing bi-lingual environment for children to learn, play and develop. The provision is fully inclusive placing a strong emphasis on ‘inclusive’ families. We know that children come from lots of different kinds of family backgrounds, and our childcare facility aims to recognise and reinforce positive identities for children from gay, lesbian, single, mixed and straight families.

We believe in a ‘home from home’ approach; and we work hard to understand your needs as a family, and reflect your background, culture, values and experiences in our environment.

Attending half days at Rainbow the year before children are due to start the state provision, is an excellent way to introduce them to the routines of being in nursery (or gan) in a smaller and more nurturing group. This way, when they arrive at the state provision, and are in a class with 30 other children, they will already be familiar with the routines of saying goodbye to parents, circle time, choosing activities, playing with other children and taking part in adult led activities. This will provide a ‘softer landing’ for them when they start attending the state provision, at aged 3 or 3.

We do undertake specifically focused activities for with the children, such as circle time, story time and adult initiated and led activities, this further enriches learning and development and provides a an opportunity for ‘focus’.

Our books, play materials and toys are a mix of Hebrew and English, providing a rich bi-lingual environment reinforcing both English and Hebrew simultaneously as equally important languages. Two staff members native English speakers, and speak only English with the children, and the other two are native Israeli, speaking only Hebrew.