With the Berlin model of Early Excellence the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus walks on new ways in the area of the early-years education by connecting an advanced educational theory with integrative parental work. 

Early Excellence was developed in the 80s in Great Britain. In cooperation with the English Pen Green Centre in Corby the PFH opened the first Early Excellence Centre in Germany in Berlin in 2001: the children and family centre Schillerstrasse. This pilot project has received a wide resonance and has stimulated an intensive content discussion in Germany about the English Early Excellence Centre program. 

The three leading ideas are:
 
Every child is excellent!
In the centre of the educational work stands the child with his strengths and competence.

Parents are the first educators of her children! 
Parents become involved in the educational processes of her children and co-operate with the educators.

Kindergartens change into Centres for the whole family!
Educational facilities for children are not only a social learning space and educational sites. The change into a kind of service centres and communication centres for the whole family. In addition the interlinking with other facilities within the social space is necessary.

The results from England and also the PFH-pilot project show that the quality of education in day-care centres and other educational facilities can be improved with this concept with a lasting effect. Because this concept offers practical answers to three basic questions which play a central role in the topical debate:
 

  • How is it possible to ensure high quality of education in day-care centres and other educational institutions that reaches also children from undeprivileged families?
     
  • How can education competence of parents be strengthened?
     
  • Which contribution can educational facilities perform for the construction of a helpful infrastructure for families in the social space?

Early Excellence at the PFH tries to get the connection with internationally approved and successful practise of early-years educational theory. Therefore, the PFH 2004 has decided to transfer the experiences from the pilot project "Schillerstraße" to all its other institutions. So the whole PFH with his day-care centres, basic school cooperations, projects and youth welfare projects, the family centres and neighborhood centres and with his professional school for social educational theory is recently in the transfer process.