Preschool (age 2-5 years)

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Preschool/Early Years Curriculum

At Westminster International School in Tashkent (WIST), we recognise that every child is unique, is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. Their development is a journey of discovery through curiosity and we ensure that our environment reflects this through personalised learning and supports our youngest students achieve their milestones.

At WIST all children will have the opportunity to be the best that they can be, and foster a love of learning, in a safe, caring and stimulating environment. Children are encouraged to be independent learners with opportunity to explore their curiosities and investigate their ideas. We have a clear vision for our children, and we aspire to supporting the children in our care to develop a range of lifelong skills & aptitude. We incorporate our school values of  Respect, Resilience, Integrity & Responsibility in all we do.

Our Early Years setting aims to be the best place to learn and achieve socially, emotionally and academically. We believe that in our Early Years setting, there is huge potential to fully engage children in their learning through quality play experiences within a stimulating environment.

Curriculum

Our curriculum is relevant to children growing up in the Uzbek community but also broadens children’s experiences to enable them to become well rounded individuals. We use the child-centred and research-based International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) to guide the content that the children learn from Pre-Nursery to Reception. Learning through play is one of the key principles of any Early Years education, and this is at the core of our approach to the IEYC. To ensure our curriculum aligns with the requirement of the British EYFS, we use the IEYC to develop seven areas of learning with the children, outlined in the UK’s ‘Development Matters’ curriculum guidance document. The seven areas of learning are as follows:

Prime Areas

  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  • Physical Development
  • Communication and Language

Specific Areas

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the World
  • Expressive Art and Creativity

The seven areas of learning are separated into two categories: Prime areas and Specific areas. The prime areas of learning are the roots that need to be modelled and rehearsed in order for the skills to be transferable to the specific areas of learning.

Our Pre-Nursery and Nursery classes follow the UK’s ‘Phase 1 Letter and Sounds’ phonics document, which primarily focuses on speaking and listening skills. This helps build a strong foundation, ready for the start the ‘Twinkle Phonics’ program in Reception. Our reception children will also use the ‘Abacus’ maths program, which is a unique toolkit that is carefully crafted to help inspire a genuine love of maths and help every child master mathematical concepts.

Assessment

Our curriculum is delivered through a balance of direct focus teaching through whole group, small group and individual activities based on each individual child’s needs. The children will also spend time in our Continuous Provision, which is the thoughtfully planned play environment that encourages children to become active and independent learners.  Your child will participate in a variety of specialist subject too, such as: Physical Development, Movement and Music, Russian, Library and Swimming. Reception will also have one ICT lesson per week.

The school does not dictate a specific lesson structure in class time and instead allows teachers the flexibility to plan for their individual class’s needs, interests and learning styles. Teachers will make judgements about how to group children to achieve the best learning outcome. Our staff ensure the play environment is tailored to the children’s developmental needs and will support the children’s learning by providing commentary, modelling concepts and scaffolding their learning through guidance and questioning- all of which helps to develop a wide range of skills and language.

Our staff will be assessing the children’s progress throughout the year using the seven areas of learning outlined in the UK’s ‘Development Matters’ document. This will be done through regular observations, helping our staff gain insight into how the children are developing and to support planning for their next steps in learning. We will be using our online learning journal called ‘Tapestry’ to share some of these personalised observations with you and to celebrate their learning.

Communication

We believe that forming a ‘learning-link’ partnership with you and having regular communication is vital in helping your child to thrive.

We will be using an online communication platform called ‘Class Dojo’ to regularly update you on important information and share photographs and other in-class learning activities throughout the year. You will also be able to contact your class teacher via the Class Dojo application. A report will also be sent at the end of each term and a copy of the relevant Learning Journey from ‘Tapestry’ will be shared at the end of the academic year. Additionally, parents will be invited to join classes for a range of activities throughout the year, attend parent teacher consultations, and information evenings.