LEARNING FOR LIFE STARTS WITH CURIOSITY, CONFIDENCE AND COMPASSION
The Giving Tree School
The Giving Tree is a cosy, private English Nursery School located in Nicosia, Cyprus. It offers a “Home Away From Home” for its students surrounded by a natural and home like environment. Children are loved and made to feel safe. It attracts an international community and local parents looking for top education for their children in these formative years. The school philosophy is based on TGT values of equality, openness and accessibility. We believe that every child deserves quality early childhood education based on children’s rights to have a meaningful learning experience. This is why we aim to be accessible for as many children as possible.
We provide a learning environment of utmost safety and comfort, filled with age-appropriate learning material and child-friendly furniture. Our responsive and inclusive teaching methods meet each student’s individual requirements and needs.
The cornerstones to all that we do
MORE
CHILD’S PERSPECTIVE
CREATIVITY & PLAY
EXPLORATION
ENCOURAGEMENT
SOCIO-EMOTIONAL SKILLS
LESS
TESTING
COMPETITION
PERFORMANCE
RANKINGS
SCHOOLING
Still not compromising the academic learning results
The will to wonder, take intellectual risks and exchange ideas
A sense of competence, ownership and commitment
Equality and mutual respect between all people
Recognizing every child’s full potential
Sustainable way of living
OUR MODEL SUCCESSFULLY COMBINES EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACADEMIC COMPETENCE.
Competitive, performance and test based models are not good for children. At TGT we promote comprehensive growth, learning, development and well-being of children, and provide a rich foundation for the progress of their emotional development, skills and competence.
Head of School
Melanie Pappas Lemona is the owner and Managing Director for The Giving Tree School. She was born and raised in the U.S. and moved with her family to Cyprus as a young teen. She later completed her studies in Child Psychology and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy at the Anna Freud Centre. Her specialization is in Play Therapy from the U.K. Through her years spent in the UK Ms Melanie worked with children through different children’s hospitals and an International Private School as Head of the Student Support Department setting up inclusive programs for children. Relocating back to Cyprus that she always felt was home she discovered the need for an educational system that saw children as natural scientists and focused on a child-centered approach by learning through play, experimentation and wonder. In order to provide this type of an environment for her own children The Giving Tree opened its doors in May 2013. Ms Melanie created a space where her students have rights over their learning and she aims to make it as meaningful as possible through personalised learning and multi-sensorial approaches.
An integral part to her philosophy is teaching children to care for their own environment. This is done through a Farm School program, caring for all the wonderful pets the school homes as well as growing their own plants, vegetables and fruits in the school greenhouse. Children learn to become consciously aware about nature, compassionate and responsible participants so they learn to respect and appreciate the environment they live in.
Ms Melanie is also a strong advocate for children with learning difficulties and special needs, which was the main body of her work in the UK. The school values equality, openness and accessibility and the belief that every child deserves quality early childhood education based on children’s rights to have a meaningful learning experience. Her approach is unique among other international schools in Nicosia in that where her school offers a highly developed and specialised Student Support programme through her guided experience.
Finally, Ms Melanie also works tirelessly to protect the rights of children through different charity work that she delivers through shelters, refugee camps, hospitals and through a literacy and social program by offering free education to children in need.
Ms Melanie believes strongly in working in partnership with parents to create a home like environment and community to all of those that attend her school.