Academics

Northriding College has a pre-primary school in Northriding, Roodepoort. We offer a preschool programme designed by Curro to grant an excellent early childhood development for children from 2 years to 5 years old. As part of the Curro school group, our teachers model positive values, our play area includes a veggie and herb garden, and we also have an early drop-off time, half and full-day options.

Get an overview of everything we can offer you on our fact sheet.

How big are the classes

Children need lots of attention and nurturing. That is why our classes are divided by age, and we carefully control the number of children in each class to be no more than 20 to 25 (based on age). Our teachers also have one or more assistants, depending on the age group and number of children in the class. By having a limited number of children in class, our teachers can give each one the individual care and attention they need to flourish and feel loved.

As part of the Curro school group, our children automatically progress to our primary school, unless they apply elsewhere. They also get preference when applying to any schools in the group. Nearby primary schools include The King’s School Linbro Park, Meridian Cosmo City, Curro Rivonia, Curro Douglasdale, Curro Aurora and Curro Academy Wilgeheuwel, with Curro Krugersdorp a bit further away.

What your child can enjoy

As part of the Curro school group, our children enjoy a programme that supports their physical, social, emotional and cognitive well-being. This approach to early childhood development is built around Early Learning and Development Areas (ELDAs), which focus on development areas rather than strict milestones. This means that children feel supported and encouraged instead of pressured to develop at someone else’s pace. Children spend the day playing and being creative while teachers and teacher’s assistants guide them through the activities to ensure that the ELDA areas are engaged.

The learning and development areas include the following:

• Identity and belonging: personality, friendship, sharing
• Physical well-being: balance, movement, safety
• Communication: speech, listening, understanding
• Creativity: playing, drawing, painting, dancing, imagination
• Mathematics: shapes, size, time, counting
• Learning about the world: exploring and understanding the world around them

We encourage loose-parts play

The development of curiosity and imagination in early childhood is vitally important to the development of problem-solving skills and critical thinking later on. Therefore, as part of our excellent preschool programme, we encourage playing with loose-parts and multi-purpose playthings rather than single-purpose toys that don’t involve much imagination. Through loose-parts play, our children learn to use their natural curiosity to explore previously undiscovered fascinations such as stacking, rolling, sliding, fitting, colours, and more.

Activities your child can enjoy

Our daily programme is packed with a variety of physical and cognitive activities where children play while they learn. We also offer additional, optional extramural activities as additional opportunities to strengthen focused areas or hone certain skills. Our extramural activities are offered by external tutors or coaches at an additional cost and take place on the school’s premises.

As a pre-primary school in Northriding, these extramural activities are tailored to the interests of you and your family. This ensures that your child can grow and excel in areas that they truly enjoy. Your child is sure to find something that will pique their interest.

See which activities we offer on our fact sheet.