Our Vision
At KOOKABURRA, we do not have a mission statement or a goal, or an objective. We strive to take the raw emotional threads that every child is born with and weave them into intricate tapestries full of character. We aspire to give a child the building blocks he or she can use to live their lives with heartwarming zest and compassion.
This aspiration is founded on a fundamental principle - THE MAGIC OF LOVE.
A child is not born with all emotions, he or she ‘develops’ them. There are six basic emotions we are hard-wired with -
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Joy
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Sadness
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Anger
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Surprise
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Disgust
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Fear
All the other emotions besides these are learned skills. So, a child requires a mentor to develop them. Our learning model is optimised to help the child distinguish between different emotions and hereby, mentor helps the child to learn -to use these emotions effectively in everyday interactions. Emotions such as empathy, love, forgiveness, humility, passion, compassion, optimism, self-control and gratitude are complex feelings that must be nurtured and encouraged - they are important self-growth tools. The earlier a child imbibes them, the more rewarding his or her life - and the lives of people around them - will be.
Tejal Mehta - Our Founder
Tejal Mehta holds a Masters degree in Neuroscience, has studied Biotechnology and is a certified Brain Trainer and has Ph.D. in Early Brain Development. She is also loving mother to a Twenty one-year-old son and hence in the position to understand a parent’s psyche and emotions perfectly. Founder Tejal Mehta is of the strong belief that, children learn best:
"When they follow their passion" - success is following your passion
- When they are emotionally regulated
- When they feel safe
- When they are curious
- When they are supported and encouraged
- When they experience appreciation for their success
- When they focus and analyse new information in bite-sized chunks
For all this, she prefers using only one language as a teaching medium - the universal language of love.
One of her philosophy is to mentor her children with "values of life" , than losing time in teaching them manners.
What sets us apart
Our underlying philosophy - LEARN TO LEARN - is a vital guiding principle for everyone associated with KOOKABURRA.
If a child learns something new and has no context or connection towards it, the brain automatically discards that information. This is why we start with the absolute basics: the child has to learn how to learn. All emotions are interconnected, and only once the child starts understanding these emotions can he or she successfully process Executive functions like logical and rational thinking. Even concepts like intuition and spirituality are not beyond the child if taught to him or her correctly - these are all dots we try to connect by using the simple but effective formula of 'earn to learn'.
Working with parents
We do not build relationships with just the children - we build relationships with their families as well. We feel it is critical for the child to have a cohesive support system around them. Hence, we try to create a learning experience that involves the family as well. To ensure this, an important aspect of our program is to regularly interact with the parents to keep them apprised of their child’s progress. We firmly believe that learning should be an ongoing process and should continue even outside KOOKABURRA. To reinforce this, our founder Tejal Mehta conducts a session with both parents at the start of the course. This helps lay down the guidelines and plot out the most suitable approach towards their child’s development. Faculty members are trained to prepare daily progress reports which are shared with the parents on a periodic basis.
'Nurturers' instead of teachers
At KOOKABURRA we groom nurturers, not teachers. Our faculty is carefully chosen and put through intensive training programs by the founding senior team. We maintain small group sizes and a high nurturer to student ratio - a nurturer is always available to children when they need guidance or assistance. Their main role is to create a positive atmosphere that is conducive to learning new skills and facilitates a healthy, symbiotic relationship between the child and his or her surrounding environment.
Time and depth in teaching
Founded in 2000, KOOKABURRA has two learning centers in Mumbai (Juhu and Lokhandwala), currently. Unlike many other pre-schools, we have a comprehensive non-standardised program which requires a time investment of 4-6 hours daily. Our classes run between 9:30am and 3:00pm everyday except Sundays.
Important Announcement
