We view children, parents, caregivers, professionals, and other stakeholders as important learning and parenting partners. Together we share responsibility for children's development. This requires collaboration based on equality and mutual respect. We build learning partnerships with children, parent(s)/caregiver(s), and others in the child's environment. Only by working together can we provide the best for every child.

We create a rich learning environment where children are challenged to discover, explore, experiment, and learn. Our core group rooms are designed to encourage play, collaboration, and independence: with a large instructional circle, a quiet room, a lab for exploring and researching, a kitchen for tasting, cooking, and eating, various play and work spaces, and a covered outdoor area for playing and learning. Within the curriculum design of deep learning, attention is also paid to the targeted use of digital resourcesas a natural enrichment of the learning process and in keeping with children's experiences.

Children learn by doing, trying, and discovering. At Op 't Erf, we give children the space to take initiative, make choices, and take responsibility for their learning process. We believe that ownership grows when children experience influence. In deep learning, we encourage children to formulate their own goals. These goals are meaningful to them and connect with their sense of wonder, curiosity, or learning needs. By taking their own goals seriously, intrinsic motivation develops and engagement in learning visibly increases. We create a rich environment with room for experimentation, making mistakes, and reflection. As professionals, we also take initiative, dare to explore, try, and learn from each other. This makes us learn together and curious, just like the children. Children are co-designers of their own learning process. By giving and taking space, ownership, engagement, and deepening arise.

Learning begins with encounters. By maintaining open contact, we create space for trust, curiosity, and mutual growth. We approach children, parent(s)/guardian(s), professionals, and external parties with an open mind and genuine interest in who they are. Respect for each other is central to our pedagogical approach: we acknowledge each other's perspectives, actively listen, and take differences seriously. Based on deep learning, we work with various learning partnerships—child, parent(s)/guardian(s), professional, and environment—who together shape the developmental process. Each partnership contributes unique knowledge and experience. Only through open and equal collaboration can we truly achieve profound learning. We maintain dialogue with each other, even when things get challenging.