Early Years Approach

At King’s College our high-quality early education and experiences can significantly impact a child's ability to learn and acquire essential skills. Life experiences, including exposure to diverse perspectives, challenges, and opportunities for decision-making, can reinforce independent thinking. At the heart of our curriculum, we foster the child's interests, curiosity, and actively encourage participation in the learning process. Teachers are viewed as co-learners and facilitators rather than as authoritative figures. Teachers are partners, nurturers and guides to children and help them explore their interests through concepts. Our Early Years department also identifies ‘Creating and Thinking Critically’ as a key characteristic of becoming an effective learner.

As well as teachers, parents and caregivers play a significant role in a child's early years. Quality interactions, support, and the home environment have a profound impact on a child's development. Parents are seen as partners in the learning process, and their insights and contributions are actively sought. This strong connection between home and school reinforces the child's sense of belonging and support. Where parents and practitioners work together it has a positive impact on children’s learning.

At King’s College we believe that children learn best when they have strong and positive relationships with their teachers, peers, and the environment. These relationships provide a sense of security and trust, which is essential for children to feel comfortable exploring and learning. Every interaction is based on caring professional relationships and respectful acknowledgement of the feelings of children, parents and their families. Children thrive best in an inclusive environment based on mutual respect, where their uniqueness is valued. Warm, trusting relationships with knowledgeable adults support children’s learning more effectively than any amount of resources.

We learn through making connections between things, concepts and experiences. We make these connections through interaction with others and the environment we are in. Our classrooms are designed to promote interaction among peers. Children work together on projects, problem-solving, and creative activities. This collaborative environment fosters social skills, empathy, and a sense of community.

In Inspired schools, we are incredibly lucky to benefit from purpose built classrooms with direct access to outdoor areas. Our surrounding outdoor environment is exceptional, enabling children to have contact with nature on a regular basis.

Our classrooms have an aesthetic dimension. This not only looks good, but fosters a calm, focused learning environment. It impacts directly on the belief that young children have to make choices and act on them independently and collaboratively. Interesting, beautiful and ‘intelligent’ resources in our classrooms speak to the children, inciting curiosity and creating deeper questions.

Experience has shown that technology has a central role to play in the creation of a relational learning community. In the context of early learning, this means using technology to enrich the exploratory environment as children investigate and interact with their environment from different perspectives. Digital projectors, microscopes and WiFi cameras are key tools used in exploratory learning in our Early Years department.