Play school for Saadiyat Island

The Redwood Saadiyat Nursery will be the first pre-school education to open on Saadiyat and the second branch in the Capital. The Khalifa City A school opened in January this year.

Spread over 1,500sqm, including 500sqm building and 1,000sqm dedicated to outdoor facilities, the playschool will be located close to the Saadiyat Beach residences, five-star resorts and leisure venues.

Construction of the nursery is nearing completion and is expected to welcome students by the third quarter of this year. Redwood will have the capacity to accept about 140 students between four months and four years.

Adopting a curriculum based on the specialised world-renowned Montessori method of exploration and experimental learning, the school offers high standards of educational and recreational facilities, providing children with a wide range of learning experiences within stimulating and empowering environment, the school said.

“The educational method which will be taught at the Saadiyat Redwood Nursery will enrich children’s lives and encourage their development,” said Kids First Group co-founder Kamil Al Najjar.

Similar to its sister school, Redwood Saadiyat is integrated with sustainability features and embraces the Feng Shui philosophy, providing positive energy and reinforcements crucial to a child’s formative years.

The new school will have a music room, areas for arts and crafts, library and media centre, technology room, performing arts facility, and a gymnasium. It will also have language classes in Arabic, Mandarin, French, Italian, and Spanish.

Play areas will include an archaeological sandpit, a mini-city to familiarise students with traffic signs and important elements of a modern city, and an agricultural area where kids grow their own vegetables to be used later at cooking classes.

“We are proud to host the Redwood Saadiyat Nursery, particularly that it will offer a curriculum based fundamentally on a model of human development. Saadiyat is fast becoming a vibrant community with more residents making the island their home. The nursery is our next step to serve residents of Saadiyat, as well as, Abu Dhabi city with an essential education phase for their kids,” said TDIC marketing, communications, sales and leasing executive director Ahmed Al Fahim.

The nursery complements the educational projects currently being developed on Saadiyat that include New York University Abu Dhabi and Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, which are scheduled to open by 2014. — olivia@khaleejtimes.com