The establishment
The non profit-making AUFGEPASST e.V. German-English kindergarten was established as the successor to two entirely privately managed bilingual kindergartens, AUFGEPASST GmbH and AUFGEPASST GbR, which were founded in 2000 by their two founders and managing directors / owners, Judith Bethlehem and Yvonne Rösel-Bamberger. The first daycare centre for 15 children between the ages of 1 and 3 was located at Berliner Straße in the Wilmersdorf district of Berlin.
Since there was a serious shortage of daycare places for small children in the Berlin-Wilmersdorf district in the year 2000, daycare facilities for children were steadily extended. By 2002, another kindergarten group for 15 children aged 3 upwards was opened alongside the infant daycare section.
Right from the start, the children were looked after in bilingual German-English groups, with special importance being placed on the use of native speakers throughout the day by employing people with English as a mother tongue.
Internationality
AUFGEPASST e.V. soon registered a steady increase in the demand for bilingual daycare opportunities for children, due in particular to the growing influx of parents from an English or multilingual background. However, the facility also looks after the children of parents working in an international context (e.g. in embassies or international companies), mostly families with very mobile lifestyles (i.e. several moves to new countries). It has therefore been particularly important for these children to maintain the English language as a means of communication.
Growth
In September 2004, after a construction phase lasting several months, 69 children were moved to brand new premises with a garden at Blissestrasse. To begin with, the children were looked after here in mixed groups (children aged between 1 and 6 years old). It soon became clear, however, that it would make sense to separate the kindergarten children from the youngest children. And so kindergarten children aged 3 and above stayed at Blissestrasse.
Meanwhile, two groups of small children (1-3 years), 30 in total, were relocated to Aachener Strasse in 2006. The two facilities are just a few minutes’ walk away from each other. So parents don’t have far to go if they have children in both centres.
The non profit-making
Around this time, the Senate of Berlin was publicising the fact that it wanted to support privately managed kindergartens. This led to the foundation of the non profit-making AUFGEPASST e.V. in November 2006. Since then, the AUFGEPASST e.V. Kindergarten has been supported by the Senate and managed by Judith Bethlehem, Yvonne Rösel-Bamberger and Carsten Awe.