All children are natural inquirers; during the early years, they are curious about the world around them and that curiosity must be nurtured; they need more challenge and extensions on skills that will help guide that inquiry. Our Early Years Level aims to holistically develop a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing. This level includes Nursery, Reception, and Kindergarten and is called the ‘INQUIRERS.’ Inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy, we use Project Based Learning (PBL) as its approach to teaching and learning. Children are continually ‘followed’ to see where their interests lie, their journey is documented and a trained facilitator uses these documents to create meaningful learning opportunities.
Building on the knowledge acquired in the inquiry stage, at the core of our Lower Primary is a commitment to developing children’s social and emotional skills while continuing to create an inquiring and critical mind. This level includes Years 1 and 2, and are called the ‘BUILDERS’. Children learn how to interact with kindness and empathy with others in a shared multi-aged space. This unique setting allows the children to explore beyond what they are ‘supposed’ to learn and encourages them to extend their abilities and build their own unique perspectives. Because children are not bound by books of only their grade level, they have opportunities to excel in areas of their particular interest. We strongly believe each child has the potential to excel and it is the facilitator’s job to help the student reach that potential.
Children as Thinkers is the most important skill in fostering the development that enables children to be engaged and create dispositions such as curiosity, persistence, flexibility, reflectiveness, and a collaborative outlook to problem-solving. By upper primary, children will be trained to make critical decisions, have a voice and choice in their learning and be able to communicate these choices and decisions in a logical and cohesive manner. This level includes Years 3, 4 and 5 and it is called the ‘THINKERS’. Our aim is to scaffold the child’s mind in such a way that they have a natural thirst for acquiring knowledge and more importantly an ability to apply knowledge. Children are encouraged to become globally aware, culturally sensitive, and open-minded citizens who celebrate the fact that they attend a school with a diversity of cultures and beliefs. They are also encouraged to become balanced individuals with a wide range of sporting, artistic, academic, and cultural interests. There are multiple opportunities for each child to express their individuality academically and non academically
Children learn how to interact with kindness and empathy with others in a shared multi-aged space. This unique setting allows the children to explore beyond what they are ‘supposed’ to learn and encourages them to extend their abilities. Because children are not bound by books of only their grade level, they have opportunities to excel in areas of their particular interest. We strongly believe each child has the potential to excel and it is the facilitator’s job to help the student reach that potential. At the core of our Lower Primary program is a commitment to developing children’s social and emotional skills while creating an inquiring and critical mind:
Children are encouraged to become globally aware, culturally sensitive, and open-minded citizens who celebrate the fact that they attend a school with a diversity of cultures and beliefs. They are also encouraged to become balanced individuals with a wide range of sporting, artistic, academic, and cultural interests. There are multiple opportunities for each child to express their individuality academically and non academically. By this stage, children will be trained to make critical decisions, have a voice and choice in their learning and be able to communicate these choices and decisions in a logical and cohesive manner. Our aim is to scaffold the child’s mind in such a way that they have a natural thirst for acquiring knowledge and more importantly an ability to apply knowledge.