Early Childhood in an ALT School

We celebrate the uniqueness of each child, recognising they all learn and develop in different ways, at different rates and bring diverse experiences to our school.

We have the highest aspirations for every child, believing that they should be empowered to take ownership of their learning and their environment.

We believe that risk and challenge are vital in order for our children to develop critical thinking, resilience and perseverance.

We are committed to partnerships with families to provide every possible opportunity for our children to become confident communicators, to be socially competent, to have high levels of well-being and to develop the necessary physical skills.

We nurture children’s natural curiosity, joyfulness and intrinsic creativity as powerful motivator across all areas of learning and development.

Early Childhood Environments in an ALT School

We recognise that the environment plays a significant role in supporting children’s learning and development and so our indoor and outdoor spaces are designed to promote high levels of involvement and the level of learning.

Well-planned, high-quality continuous provision provides for children with familiar and consistent areas and resources that are open ended and flexible, promoting all aspects of learning and development.

We provide stimulating and challenging enhancements that give children new experiences and support new learning.

To enable children to participate in “risky freedoms” we ensure that both adults and children are involved in processes of assessing risk/ benefit.

Our environments are created to reflect and respond to children’s predictable and specific needs and interests.

Our daily routines are flexible and a key teaching strategy to embed learning. They are designed to provide sufficient time for children to become in grossed in self-initiated activity.

Early Childhood Staff in an ALT School

Our greatest resources are the adults who have a good understanding of child development, support children’s autonomy, and are reflective and evaluative.

Sensitive and skilful adult-child interactions focus on extending thinking, broadening communication and introducing challenge.

Warm, authentic relationships between all staff, the children and their families are a priority.

Use observation assessment effectively to be responsive to the children’s needs and interest ensuring that all children make progress from their starting points.

Our adults utilise a range of strategies to ensure that the teaching is developmentally appropriate, varied and stimulating. 

All staff recognise importance of modelling skills, learning behaviours and high expectations.