Curro Castle Brackenfell

Curro Castle Brackenfell is an independent school in Sonkring, Brackenfell that provides high-quality early childhood development for children from 3 months to 5 years. Our small class sizes allow our dedicated teachers to engage each child in our internally developed play-based curriculum and to build strong, caring relationships with each child.

At Curro Castle Brackenfell, we created a safe, nurturing centre of learning. Our carefully designed classrooms and playgrounds encourage children to explore a wide variety of experiences through play and developmental activities, aimed at developing a curious mind and creative thinking.

Our classes are divided by age group and each teacher has one or more assistants, depending on the number of children in the class. Furthermore, our internally developed programme incorporates the latest research in physical and cognitive development, such as encouraging loose-parts play that boost creativity and curiosity, above playing with single-purpose toys. The programme even includes activities built around Lego Soft Bricks that form the important early foundations for later Robotics studies.

We believe that participation in extramural activities plays an important role in promoting friendship and self-confidence in addition to physical and social well-being. Many of our activities are designed to help learners learn valuable skills that require more time for development than can be provided during the daily programme.

Our strict security measures ensure the safety of our children. Access to the campus is restricted through biometric access, while CCTV cameras monitor the playgrounds as well as classrooms. Visitors need to sign in to gain access and the number of visitors per class is limited. Children are collected from the classroom and are signed in and out daily to ensure that they remain safe and accounted for.

Curro Castle Brackenfell is located in the quiet, suburban Sonkring neighbourhood on the edge of Brackenfell, next to the Protea Heights neighbourhood. The school is removed from the city bustle, but is easily accessible from Brackenfell Boulevard, the R300, and Bottelary Road. Nearby attractions include Devon Valley Golf Estate, Kuilsriver Golf Estate, several small shopping centres (such as Hazendal Gables), and larger shopping centres (such as Cape Gate).

Our internally developed nursery school programme is designed with the early learning and development areas (eldas) in mind. The programme is designed to stimulate physical, social, emotional and cognitive well-being through developmental activities and engaging play areas.

These eldas focus on aspects such as gross motor development, social awareness, communication, spatial awareness and arts. Learners also benefit from activities built around lego soft bricks that form the important early foundations for later robotics studies.

Curiosity and imagination in early childhood is vitally important to the development of problem-solving skills and critical thinking later on. Therefore, 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, children use their natural curiosity to explore previously undiscovered fascinations such as stacking, rolling, sliding, fitting, colours, and more.

Children learn by interacting with the world around them. Therefore, our classrooms themselves are considered to be inanimate teachers of sorts. They are designed to allow maximum room for play and movement while being stimulating on a visual and tactile level. An additional indoor play area allows a change in play space on days that the weather doesn’t allow outdoor play.

Our outdoor play areas include jungle gyms, play houses, see-saws, a fruit and vegetable garden, and more. These areas are designed to encourage physical play, and generally have synthetic grass to prevent allergic reactions. Children are taken outside to play on days with moderate weather conditions to prevent excessive cold or sunburn. Additional safety measures are taken on sunny days; these will be discussed with parents after enrolment.

Curro Castle Brackenfell’s on-site kitchen is fully equipped to prepare well-balanced, wholesome meals and snacks for children in all age groups. All meals are prepared with fresh ingredients just before being delivered to the classrooms and we carefully accommodate allergies and other dietary requirements.