New Year’s Eve 2016: With Heartfelt Thanks
Preschool
December 31, 2016
This year has been a whirlwind of preparation and opening Cosmo Global Kids. I feel relieved and grateful that we can now welcome 2017.
After opening our preschool here in Yokohama, CGK grew from three children at the start to fourteen by the end of the year.
For a school caring for children from age two, safety and healthy growth matter above all. We are deeply grateful to the families who entrusted their precious children to CGK in its first year, before we had an established record or reputation.
We tried to express that gratitude through wholehearted daily care and education. Then, on the final day before winter break, the families came to school and surprised us with a party!
Here are some of the things they gave us.
There was a “We love Cosmo Global Kids” display, plates with staff and children’s names (the children’s names have been obscured in the image), a cake bearing the CGK logo, balloons with everyone’s photographs and thoughtful gifts.
We heard that they had begun planning and preparing little by little around the summer.
Each family also shared words of thanks, leaving all the staff deeply moved.
Parents cannot see every moment of school life. We have therefore shared photographs and videos through our communication app and offered opportunities such as Sports Day and class observations to see the children’s development.
At the same time, our care and education have focused on what is best for the children, rather than on creating something simply to impress parents.
We still have more than three years together with these two-year-olds and their families before graduation.
Reading about life at home in our daily communications is a pleasure, and reminds us how eagerly we too look forward to each child’s growth.
Conversations among staff often turn to the children’s endearing moments and new achievements.
Finally, although our staff are experienced, a first-year school has no previous years of its own to use as a guide.
I am deeply appreciative of the way they focus on the children, share ideas, communicate and use their creativity to build this school together.
I would like to quietly leave my thanks here, hoping they will read it.
To everyone connected with CGK:
Thank you for all your support this year.
We look forward to another year together in 2017.
After opening our preschool here in Yokohama, CGK grew from three children at the start to fourteen by the end of the year.
For a school caring for children from age two, safety and healthy growth matter above all. We are deeply grateful to the families who entrusted their precious children to CGK in its first year, before we had an established record or reputation.
We tried to express that gratitude through wholehearted daily care and education. Then, on the final day before winter break, the families came to school and surprised us with a party!
Here are some of the things they gave us.
There was a “We love Cosmo Global Kids” display, plates with staff and children’s names (the children’s names have been obscured in the image), a cake bearing the CGK logo, balloons with everyone’s photographs and thoughtful gifts.
We heard that they had begun planning and preparing little by little around the summer.
Each family also shared words of thanks, leaving all the staff deeply moved.
Parents cannot see every moment of school life. We have therefore shared photographs and videos through our communication app and offered opportunities such as Sports Day and class observations to see the children’s development.
At the same time, our care and education have focused on what is best for the children, rather than on creating something simply to impress parents.
We still have more than three years together with these two-year-olds and their families before graduation.
Reading about life at home in our daily communications is a pleasure, and reminds us how eagerly we too look forward to each child’s growth.
Conversations among staff often turn to the children’s endearing moments and new achievements.
Finally, although our staff are experienced, a first-year school has no previous years of its own to use as a guide.
I am deeply appreciative of the way they focus on the children, share ideas, communicate and use their creativity to build this school together.
I would like to quietly leave my thanks here, hoping they will read it.
To everyone connected with CGK:
Thank you for all your support this year.
We look forward to another year together in 2017.
CGK International School
Minoru Kai, Chair at the time of this article