Vision

Community

Our community is created in relationship with the local space and residents. Each family is invited to consider Centre Pastel as a space for sharing their family culture (traditions, cooking, celebrations).

Centre Pastel is an English and French bilingual environment.

Inter-generational

A special feature of Centre Pastel is the recurring presence of elderly people with the children, some afternoons. It provides the opportunity to the child to learn from adults about the life that the child is discovering. Sharing moments with the elderly enriches and illuminates the development of the young child.

Environment

Centre Pastel offers a “home-like” environment that provides warmth and safety for the young child during this delicate time from birth to the age of 10. The Center’s large garden with trees, swings, a sandbox and a garden shed provides ample opportunities for nature exploration, gardening and free movement.

Doing, Feeling, Thinking

At Centre Pastel, contact with nature and the arts is at the heart of experiential learning. Humans connect with the world not only through thinking, but also through feeling and doing. The heart, in fact, lies on the path leading from the head to the hands.

“Knowing” is more than just intellectualizing concepts. At Centre Pastel, we nurture creativity by providing space and time for playful engagement in everyday life. The whole being of the young child is thus awakened in its thinking, feeling and doing.

At Centre Pastel, learning and integration of a wide range of skills is achieved through group collaboration on everyday tasks such as gardening, cooking, creating and mending.

Fulfilling a Child’s Potential

Centre Pastel is a learning center and social project that aims to help children up to the age of 10 year, to reach their full potential. This short period lays the foundation for lifelong health and wellbeing.

Like a tree in its seed stage, a young child needs enough time to grow its roots, and develop its strengths and uprightness. At Centre Pastel, just like in nature, we cherish childhood by offering a nuturing and intimate environment, in which the child can unfold and develop all their strength and full potential.

Pedagogical Impulses

The Center’s methodology is directly inspired by Rudolf Steiner’s pedagogy.

In addition, it draws on other teaching approaches like nature and “traditional education”.