Learning Through Play

and Curiosity

At First Friends Preschool we aim to promote awe and wonder through the learning opportunities and the environment that we create. Each child at our preschool is a unique individual and, through careful planning, our staff work with the children in their care to support them on their personal learning journey.  

Our staff guide the children to be curious and have fun in order to develop their imaginations, their knowledge and understanding, their vocabulary and their problem-solving skills

The Curiosity Approach

 

Our preschool setting is currently working towards The Curiosity Approach accreditation. The Curiosity Approach is a recognised approach to Early Childhood where nurturing and developing young children’s curiosity and imagination is at the forefront of each practitioner’s decision-making. The environment plays an important role in this approach and is seen as an extension of the practitioner themselves. In our setting, you will see lots of natural resources such as sticks, stones, pebbles and wood. These natural, loose-part resources offer the children so many possibilities in their play. Through working through this accreditation, we hope to develop a beautiful learning environment with a home-from-home feel that allows your children to feel safe to explore, have fun and become excited by learning

Learning

 

Our preschool has a qualified teacher who oversees the planning for all children ages 2-4 years old. However, all our practitioners contribute to the wonderful environment and activities that your children are exposed to. We believe that children learn best when they are interested and excited. This is why we don’t have set topics throughout the year. We have identified themes linked to certain times in the year due to key events or seasons and these themes, alongside children’s current knowledge, act as a starting point for our preschool children’s learning. Their own knowledge and interests then drive new learning and opportunities. 

Reading plays a huge part of each day at preschool. Our children are exposed to 5 texts a day and all of our children engage in a daily guided reading session where they share copies of the same story until they become fluent in recalling the text. Our 5 A Day reading opportunities ensures that every child in our setting is exposed to a wide range of vocabulary and experiences the joy of reading and sharing stories.