“Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire”
W B Yeats  

We believe that young children:- ·

·         learn actively by doing, through constructing, exploring, experimenting, problem solving 

·         have a range of learning styles and therefore access knowledge, concepts and skills in a variety of ways

·         require a wide range of experiences, since their rates of development and learning are most active and varied at this stage

·         require opportunities, space and time to repeat, practise and consolidate what has been learned, as well as challenging new experiences

·         build on what they can do and explore further what is familiar to them.  They work most effectively on matters of current interest to them, learning form first-hand experience in meaningful situations

·         need opportunities to take risks, make mistakes and try things out without fear of failure

·         learn from play – which can be spontaneous, purposeful, fun or serious – which encourage children to develop their ideas, understanding and language as well as promoting control, mastery, confidence and wellbeing

·         are naturally curious and have an innate desire to find out more

·         learn most effectively in a social context, but that the role of adults in mediating, supporting and extending learning is crucial

·         learn from each other and benefit from working in an environment that reflects the needs of the whole age range from birth to five

·         can be damaged by introducing formal instruction too intensely and too abstractly, since children may learn the knowledge and skills offered but may do so at the expense of the disposition to use them 

·         need opportunities to represent their first hand experiences through a wide range of media as they move from behavioural to symbolic knowledge

·         require opportunities to experience what it feels like to understand something in depth, so that their disposition to seek in-depth understanding can be developed and strengthened

·         gain the dispositions to be interested, engaged, absorbed and involved in intellectual effort when they have extended opportunities to work on their own interests over a period of time

·         are not likely to gain desirable dispositions from instructions; rather, these are gained from being around people who exhibit, exemplify and model them

·         gain a positive self-esteem when adults show respect for their ideas, thoughts, interests and concerns

·         use talk as an important tool to express their ideas and feelings; and in so doing they question and develop their powers of reasoning, interpret thoughts, modify ideas and extend their thinking

·         learn best when they are confident that their own abilities, gender, home culture and background are valued

·         benefit from the security of knowing that positive attitudes have been fostered between school and Home, through close partnerships and shared understanding

Children need “…… freedom to investigate and try, to make mistakes, to choose where and with whom to invest their curiosity, intelligence and emotions.  Children need the freedom to appreciate the infinite resources of their hands, their eyes, their ears, the resources of forms, materials, sounds and colour.  They need the freedom to realise how reason, thought and imagination can create continuous interweaving of things, and can move and shake the world”.

(Malaguzzi, Hundred Languages of Children, 1996)