Big plans are afoot: Managing Director Julie Andermatt, her brother Jérôme Andermatt (right) and Christoph Gut are working together to create the new daycare center in the Papieri neighborhood.
Growing together: Papieri’s new kindergarten
Peals of children’s laughter will soon resound in the lanes of the Papieri neighborhood. A future addition to the development is a lovely daycare center that aims to offer children from the local area and surrounding region a home from home. Little Home, as the newly founded company is called, is not as small as its name might suggest. On the contrary, in fact: it is set to be one of the largest daycare centers in the canton.
It is headed up by Managing Director Julie Andermatt and her two co-founders, her brother Jérôme Andermatt and Christoph Gut. They are committed to creating a cozy place where everyone feels at home: both the children and the parents who are handing them over. The founders are drawing on their experience to create the perfect environment.
Featuring high-ceilinged, airy rooms and a bright, friendly interior, the Little Home daycare center will be very spacious, at over 440 m2, so there will be lots of space to play, run around and get creative. An outdoor area of 400 m2 almost doubles the area and offers even more opportunities to romp around. With an area equivalent to over two sports halls at its disposal, the daycare center can look after around 40 children here, ranging from babies through to kindergarten age. It’s the ideal setting for Little Home’s daycare concept. Andermatt wants to set new standards in childcare. A mother of two, she is speaking from experience when she talks about the importance of finding a daycare center parents can trust.
When Andermatt took her own children to a daycare center for the first time, she felt uncomfortable.
“I know just how difficult it can be to hand over your children. That's why it’s extremely important to be able to trust the staff at a daycare center.”
Julie Andermatt
Andermatt believes it vital that she and her team create a loving environment with trusted caregivers who can be there for the children as they develop. A safe and familiar environment is a must for the daycare center. “Children are very sensitive and react to the atmosphere around them. As such, it’s crucial to have the right people in place and ensure that the support staff enjoy their work,” she explains.
Andermatt can barely hide her delight at the project, cheerfully reeling off her many plans for the daycare center. Two kitchens will provide the 40 children with healthy meals, and there will be separate rooms for different groups and individual clothes pegs for each child. Every morning, the children will partake in a special 30-minute program tailored to their individual abilities and skills. Andermatt is also very excited about the huge outdoor area. The entire area belongs exclusively to the daycare center and will be cordoned off for security reasons. It’s essential to keep the children contained, too, laughs Andermatt. “By the time we’ve dressed the last child, the first has already pulled their clothes off again,” she explains. The safe hedge boundary means that carers can let the children outside without having to be right behind them.
The manager is a big fan of outdoor play for children. The outdoor area will have a playground, plus a little garden, chairs and benches.
“In the summer, we’ll probably stay outside all day,”
she muses.
For extra interest, there will be a number of excursions throughout the year. The River Lorze, Lake Zug and the forest are all in the immediate vicinity of the daycare center, and farm trips are also planned. The location of the Papieri neighborhood therefore couldn’t be better, explains Andermatt. She adds that Cham is a wonderful place regardless, and the founders would rate it highly no matter what.
The founders are firm believers in the importance of outdoor play for children. From left to right: Julie Andermatt, Jérôme Andermatt and Christoph Gut.
Andermatt has teamed up with her brother Jérôme and associate Christoph Gut to create the daycare center. The two men have already founded several companies together and the three of them now make up the founding team of the new Little Home daycare center. The Papieri development provided exactly the site they were looking for. Its blend of businesses, eateries and homes is unique and offers incredible diversity, she explains.
“Whether you’re young or old, from the local area or out of town, this is a beautiful and vibrant place where people can come together. The Papieri neighborhood is designed to provide a perfect home for everyone, and that’s precisely our aim, too.”
Her team found out about the vacant space purely by chance. As a result, she was all the more delighted when her proposal received a positive response. “The Papieri development will create 1,000 apartments and 1,000 jobs, which will only add to Cham's appeal. “We hope that our daycare center will meet with huge interest among the local people,” says Andermatt.
Most of the 40 children attending the facility will come from the immediate neighborhood. This offers a great many benefits for the children and their parents alike. “The children will leave their homes in the morning and stroll with their parents over to us, their second home,” she enthuses. Andermatt is keen to stress that Little Home will aim to provide a caring environment for all children, regardless of their cultural background, social circumstances or religious beliefs. All children will receive professional care and encouragement according to their needs. It will be a little while before all of this comes to pass: Little Home is scheduled to open in summer 2024. In other words, some of its future attendees won't even have been born yet. Andermatt is already dreaming of the future:
“When I go to the office for the first time and finally hear children laughing in the background, then I’ll know that my fondest wishes have finally come true.”
