Since a child's window of language acquisition is wide open during the preschool years, HESS Kindergarten serves as a foundation for later learning. We strive to create fun, stimulating environments that allow students to learn at their own pace.

To meet the needs of young learners, our teaching philosophy consists of four key principles.

Educare is an approach to schooling, which recognizes the inseparable relationship between 'educating' and 'caring' for a child. If a child feels safe, cared-for and loved and is provided with an attractive, stimulating environment then learning will come effortlessly.

The human mind learns and performs different tasks in several different ways. We call these multiple intelligences. The eight different intelligences are logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, musical/rhythmic, naturalist, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and verbal/linguistic. These ways of thinking are all equally important learning channels.

HESS Kindergarten develops the whole child. Education scholarship shows that children will achieve the best results cognitively, emotionally, physically and socially when they develop a balance of these intelligences. HESS' curriculum, has therefore, been written with the methodology of integrating several ways of learning simultaneously.

This theory was developed by Dr. Joseph Novak. It holds that all curricula must be integrated and in order for learning to be effective, it must be built on prior knowledge. Our lessons are theme-based, integrated, and progress accumulatively. Applying the concept mapping theory to our methods and materials helps children to understand their world and learn more easily. All HESS lessons focus on one central element - the child.