At ISC, we believe wholeheartedly that every child deserves the best possible start in life and should be supported to enable them to fulfil their potential as they grow within our school community.

 

Early Years children develop rather quickly and sometimes supporting them means giving them the tools to enable them to make their own choices and decisions; to foster independence and self-confidence.

 

Because of this, one way I ensure that our children are able to flourish under this philosophy is by creating an exciting and engaging environment. Within this, we have an assortment of stations which offer a multitude of activities developing a range of skills. We want children to think for themselves, but we also want them to be creative, analytical and reflective and you do not do that by dictating to children, no matter their age, what they should be doing.

 

In our morning sessions, we engage children from arrival with a sensory station, which is changed every day. They also have the option to play, use their imaginations and be creative at other stations. These provide opportunities to use fine motor skills, while also generating work that can reflect their best efforts. In addition, the children use language and social skills as they work and play together. It is always rewarding for me to move amongst them, listening to their conversations about what they are doing and seeing how engrossed they are.

 

We also change the environment, going outside of our classroom to give the children a greater range of experiences and activities within our natural setting. We encourage them to investigate their environment by moving away from the comfort of their teachers and finding their own activities and interests to engage in.

 

Not only do these method help to encourage a sense of autonomy, but they also instil curiosity in the activities we provide and a love of learning in and out of the classroom.That is what we wish to inspire most as educators at ISC.