International Small Hands Academy

At Small Hands Academy we strive to provide our children with a wonderful experience. Our children are our number one priority! We aim to establish a partnership with our parents, and commit to working closely in order for our children’s education to be most effective.

Since 1996 Small Hands Academy has offered children from ages two to six years-old, a warm and homely nursery. We assist and encouraging our children to develop skills which will contribute to their personal, social, emotional and intellectual growth. We provide an introduction to the world and access to a bright future.

At Small Hands, we encourage our children to develop self-confidence and independence by giving them the opportunity to express themselves on a daily basis. We promote human values and equal opportunities, encouraging our children to request and express their needs.

Our Small Hands campuses are located on both continents. Two campuses are on the European side and the other campuses are located on the Asian side. In addition, our Small Hands Academy’s continuous school, Ütopya Primary School has a kindergarten school. All of our campuses offer a secure and spacious garden so our children can explore and engage with other children. Our campuses offer English, Turkish, German, French and Japanese. We also have full time and part time options available.

We believe that children have the right to be given appropriate opportunities to be children and to learn through meaningful experiences using all of their senses.

At Small Hands, we give our children the opportunity to enjoy our outdoor garden. Physical activity is an important factor in their early childhood years. During their outside play, children learn about their surroundings, the world, and it effects every play aspect of a child's development (physical, social, emotional, cognitive and language development). This approach is based on the idea that children are unique and learn best by experimenting, exploring and creating.

We use an Immersion Programme for English, Turkish, German and French Language Learning with native speaking teachers, and we strongly believe that children can learn languages with an immersion programme.

The Immersion Language Programme for all languages is designed to build on children's experiences of language in the wider community, so that their developing use of English and other languages support one another as well as their home language development too.

We understand that learning two or even three languages supports cognitive development as well as all other skills, such as having an open mind, being tolerant, acceptance of each other and having a multicultural perspective.

We think being a parent is one of life’s biggest privileges and biggest responsibilities; and, so we are here to be our parent’s biggest partner on the journey.

As the saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child.” In this century, especially in big cities, it can be challenging to raise children with the sense of freedom, nature and community that villages once had and which we believe grow empathetic, confident and independent children who have the necessary skills to adapt in an ever-changing world. Beyond being a place for your child to have an international education, we want to be “the village” for you and your child(ren).

International Small Hands Academy and Utopya Primary and Secondary Schools are a second home, an extended family and a genuine, encouraging community for our children and their families. We are a place where children create magical childhood memories while gaining the skills, knowledge and aptitudes to be confident, capable and independent people in an unknown world that requires constant adaptability now more than ever before. We are a space where children grow freely, happily and courageously so they are ready for the challenges that come their way today and in the unknown future of tomorrow.