From a small dream to a thriving community — here's the journey of Tournesol Nursery.
In 2008, a group of passionate educators sat around a kitchen table in Heliopolis, Cairo, and asked one simple question: "What if school felt like coming home?" That question became Tournesol Nursery — a place built not on rigid systems, but on the simple belief that every child deserves to be seen, heard, and celebrated.
We chose the bee as our symbol because bees are community builders. They work together, protect each other, and create something sweet from their collective effort. That's exactly what we do — and what we help children learn to do too.
We opened with just 3 classrooms, 2 teachers, and 28 students who believed in our vision. Our first year was small but mighty — exactly like a young bee.
Demand grew faster than we imagined. We moved to a larger campus in Heliopolis and launched our primary school program for grades 1 through 6.
The Egyptian Ministry of Education recognized Tournesol Nursery as one of Cairo's top private nurseries. This was a moment of deep pride for our entire community.
We invested in a state-of-the-art technology lab and became one of the first Cairo schools to introduce coding education from Grade 1. Our students built their first app that year.
We partnered with Cambridge Assessment Education, integrating globally-recognized curricula while maintaining our Arabic language and cultural roots.
When the world changed overnight, so did we. Within two weeks we launched a full online learning platform. Our community stayed connected, and attendance never dropped below 94%.
We launched our custom parent portal, giving families real-time access to their children's progress, payments, and school events — all in one place. Because a connected community is a stronger one.
We now serve over 500 students across kindergarten and primary school. But our goal has never changed: to be the school every child remembers as the place where they truly discovered themselves.
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
— W.B. Yeats — a quote that lives on every wall of our school