At Circles & Cycles, we believe that meaningful early childhood education doesn’t stop at the classroom door. It lives in the hands of the people who hold children every day, their parents, their caregivers, and their facilitators. It shows up in how a child moves through space, how a Didi opens a lunchbox, how a parent is invited into the learning story.
These four commitments are what make us who we are. They are not add-ons; they are the architecture of everything we do.
Movement as a Language
At Circles & Cycles, movement is a way of being at home in our bodies. When a child balances on a beam, climbs a structure, or cradles an egg on a spoon, they are doing some of the most important work of early childhood: building the muscle strength, body awareness, coordination, and self-regulation that everything else grows from.
This is why we have woven occupational therapy into the very fabric of our curriculum. Our occupational therapist, Hannah Mehta, works alongside our Facilitators twice a week in the classrooms, on the turf and inside our sensory gym. Together, they design experiences that invite discovery and hold purpose.
Parents are partners in this process. We look for growth in the quiet moments: a steady climb at the park or the determination to put on shoes. When a child feels at home in their body, they are free to explore the world; together, we design experiences that support discovery and hold purpose.
Families as Co-Creators
Parents are partners at the heart of our circle. We value a relationship built on trust, listening, and reciprocity. From the beginning, we move at the child’s pace. When a child needs time to settle, we slow down and walk alongside the family. Through home visits and quiet conversation, we ensure every transition feels like coming home.
Our community thrives on collaboration:
- A Bridge: Parent representatives shape our celebrations and welcome new families
- Shared Discovery: On Learning Days, parents engage with the same provocations as their children.
- Creative Leadership: Families design festival activities and lead celebrations, bringing their unique stories into our space.
- Movement and Connection: Through roundtables and Movement Days, parents become a vital part of the story we write together.
This is a space of mutual respect. We hold space for the wisdom families bring. Together, we support discovery and hold purpose.
Caregivers as extensions of our Circle
We invite all didis, nannies and nurses to participate in our Caregivers workshops which are held every quarter.
The Caregiver Workshop Series is a three-part programme designed for the didis and nannies in our children’s lives. Over three sessions, we explore the Reggio Emilia image of the child — curious, capable, and full of potential — and what it looks like in the small, ordinary moments of a day.
- What does it mean to truly listen?
- How do we resist the urge to step in when a child is figuring something out?
- What happens when we meet a child at their level, literally and figuratively?
But the workshops are about more than technique. We begin by inviting caregivers to remember their own childhoods, their own experiences of being listened to, or not. Because the way we were cared for shapes the way we care. And in making space for that reflection, something shifts.
The series also tends to the caregivers themselves. Being fully present with a child is demanding, generous work. We believe that the adults in a child’s life deserve to feel supported, seen, and valued, not just instructed.
When everyone in a child’s circle is growing together, the child thrives.
Expanding the Reggio Circle
We have always believed that learning is richer when it is shared.
At Circles & Cycles, our pedagogista Angela Mee Lee and Dr. Bindiya Hassaram lead a series of four original educator workshops open to early years teachers and school leaders from Mumbai and beyond. These workshops are not a curriculum package or a certification programme. They are an invitation to slow down, to reconsider, and to rediscover what it means to truly learn alongside children.
Each workshop builds on the last. The first, Reclaim Your Childhood, asks educators to reconnect with curiosity and set up provocations that spark wonder. The second, Interpret the World, explores the hundred languages including all the ways children express what they know and feel. The third, To Be Present, focuses on the art of observation and documentation. The fourth, Find Your Place, helps educators bring the Reggio philosophy home to their own spaces and communities, inspired by the educational approach that originated in Reggio Emilia.
Participants leave with practical tools they can use immediately and questions they’ll carry for much longer.
For those who want to go deeper, a six-month hands-on internship at Circles & Cycles is also available.
When educators grow, children everywhere benefit. That’s reason enough.
