4C FOOTSTEPS

The pandemic and its consequences - focus topics 2022-2023

The educators at the HORIZONT daycare center were able to recognize direct negative effects within the families early on in the course of the pandemic: Against their already difficult backgrounds - experience of violence, flight and homelessness - old traumas re-emerged during the crisis, new tensions and fears arose and put a great strain on the relationships between many mothers and their children. Emergency care was therefore quickly set up for the HORIZONT daycare center, but it was still not possible to fully compensate for all the deficits within the family. Many of the children receive very little attention from home during this challenging time and receive little to no support. Of the 37 children cared for in the HORIZONT daycare center, 25 currently have a very high need for support. Therefore, supplementary measures were developed by HORIZONT to counteract the negative consequences of the pandemic in a targeted manner, which we, as the
4C FOOTSTEPS Foundation, would like to support:

Therapeutic year music project - already initiated

As an outlet for stress and anxiety, to support interaction and a sense of community, and to build self-confidence, the children will compose songs and chants together with an external music therapist and a musician, and will also bring their own songs and elements from their families' cultures. The goal is the experience of self-efficacy and appreciation.

Additional support for remedial education

Some of the children are currently suffering particularly due to the extreme conditions of a strained relationship structure: they are deficient in various areas of development (social, emotional, creative, interaction, language acquisition, physical and hygiene experience). In order to compensate for this, an external curative education specialist is called in: The goal is to prevent these children from moving to special education facilities, as this change would be critical for their entire future. For this purpose, additional 1-to-1 care and support in motor and cognitive areas is necessary in the medium term.

Nature educational excursions

In order to get the children out of the usual and very one-sided setting due to the pandemic and to give them positive leisure time experiences, target group oriented excursions will take place during the care time. The families of the children often do not have the possibilities or the demand to organize the free time of the children profitably.

House of Little Scientists

Early childhood education in the fields of mathematics, information technology, natural sciences and technology (MINT): The special education program provides qualified support for children of daycare age in discovering, researching and learning. The "House of Little Scientists" improves educational opportunities, promotes interest in the STEM field and professionalizes educational staff for this purpose. The foundation wants to enable all daycare and elementary school children to have an everyday encounter with mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology, as well as with issues of sustainability.

Psychomotricity

Holistic, development-oriented promotion of perception and movement. Movement and perception are crucial for stable early childhood development in the areas of emotionality, cognition, language development and social behavior.

Parent support

"Parental opportunity is child opportunity: Engaging families in education early." With this program of the European Social Fund, parents of socially disadvantaged families in particular are sensitized and accompanied at an early stage and individually for the topic of the educational careers of their children.

Advanced training

Against the background of the clientele to be cared for (families formerly affected by homelessness and socially disadvantaged families), the pedagogical focus in the daycare center is on the areas of language and integration. The training courses attended by the pedagogical staff will initially focus on the topics of intercultural communication, language education, strengthening resilience and healthy nutrition.

Orientation of learning materials

The learning materials are based on the pedagogical orientation of the team and support early childhood education in the STEM areas and language development (German as a foreign language), promotion of movement, social behavior, emotionality and cognition, healthy nutrition and music.