Copenhagen, Denmark
Excerpted from a talk for the Neohumanist Education Exchange Meetup
by Andjela Vekic
Sunrise International Preschool was established in Copenhagen in 1980 by a group of parents inspired by Neohumanist education. The school was originally a playschool, situated on Østerbro in Copenhagen.
Over time, the school developed and grew into what is now a preschool for a larger group of children, with a curriculum that not only includes fun and play but also a more structured framework for learning and development. In April 2004 the school moved to its present location, a large and beautiful villa with a lovely garden in Hellerup, a mere 15-minute drive from the heart of Copenhagen. The school has two sections, preschool 1 and preschool 2. Preschool 1 (ages 10 months to 3 years old) has at least 1 teacher per 4 children while preschool 2 (ages 3 to 6 years old) has at least 1 teacher per 7 children.
Sunrise Curriculum is uniquely created for our small preschool of 34 children and is closely adapted to our specific setting, staff, and circumstances. As a tiny international kindergarten, we continuously evolve in response to the flow of life and the ever-changing needs of our Sunrise Family – children, parents, and professional staff. Our community is mainly made up of expat families and an international team. With the children and educators coming and going, we remain flexible and responsive, always adjusting to transitions and new situations.
Every member of our staff carries a spark—ideas, talents, values, and lived experience that can enrich what we offer children. When each person is trusted to help shape the curriculum, their gifts don’t just add to it—they elevate it. By opening space for every voice, we create something far more meaningful, creative, and alive than any one person could build alone.
The curriculum is also intended as a rich source of inspiration, offering a wide range of possibilities for our professional early childhood educators to explore. Staff are encouraged to choose areas that resonate with children and their personal interests and passions, so they can express them with authentic energy and enthusiasm. In doing so, they help spark curiosity, engagement, and inspiration in the children.
The Areas of Development and Awareness represent an integrated Holistic Curriculum, which is founded in Neohumanist Education:
- Personal, Social & Emotional Awareness
- Language Arts
- Universal Outlook & Knowledge of The World
- Creative Development
- Cognitive Arts
- Physical Development
- Environmental Awareness & Science
Three Layers of the Neohumanist Education Curriculum
The First Layer of Curriculum
This stage honors the child’s natural spark of awareness rather than ignoring it. It embraces the big inner questions that quietly live in every child:
- Who am I?
- Where do I come from?
- What are my gifts, my potential, and the tools I can use to explore them?
- What is love?
- Why am I here?
- Who and what else helps this world function?
- What are my values?
- What makes me happy?
These questions and sparks are explored in a fun, playful, and engaging way through genuine, individual connection with each child, built by being present, truly interested, respectful, and honest.
The Second Layer
The second layer goes deeper, awakening the vast
inborn potential within each person by raising
awareness of our personal, social, and emotional
abilities, as well as our language, cognitive, physical,
artistic, and innate knowledge potentials — all nurtured
through projects inspired by children’s unique view of life.
The Third Layer — The Living Heart of Our Work
There is a sacred layer within our calling—the place where true connection with the soul of the child, and with Life itself, is born. This layer is delicate. It begins to contract when our attention rests only on the outer:
Professionalism—though deeply important. Performance—though it may dazzle and delight. Form—though beauty and structure are always present. Presentations, confirmations, proving, and perfecting… all of these, when held as the sole focus, slowly make this inner space smaller.
And yet—this same layer becomes vast, luminous, and alive the moment we turn inward. When the focus shifts to the heart, it opens. Here is the realm where love moves quietly beneath the surface, where energy flows freely, where inspiration rises like breath, where compassion softens every edge, and where miracles feel natural.
This is the layer that gives life its meaning. From this place, the other layers don’t disappear— they begin to function with authenticity, warmth, and soul. Only when the heart leads does everything else truly come alive.
This is the realm where the child naturally lives—wide open, timeless, and whole. We, as adults, can only enter for moments at a time. When we do, we do not lead—we witness. We listen. We learn. The children become our teachers, guiding not with instruction but by the purity of their example.
You are invited into this Third Layer. They are waiting—hoping—for your presence there. Step in gently. Observe without hurry. Learn without judgment. This is the realm of Life itself, where every moment is both a gift and a present.
Andjela Vekic is the Sunrise Pedagogical Leader and a graduate of the NHE Teacher Preparation Program.
To view the video of Andjela Vekic’s full presentation, please visit: https://www.nhca-gurukul.org/meetups