REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL
LINDFIELD NEWSLETTER 3rd February 2023
Principal’s Message
By Christine Irwin
Dear Parents, Welcome to 2023. It has been so wonderful to see all our families return and to greet all our new families to Reddam ELS Lindfield. Throughout January, our team have been enjoying working to get to know their new classes, orientating the children into their new routines and environments. Our focus during this time has been to get to know the children by interacting with and noting their interests, development, and emerging skills. We as a team base our educational program on the children's individual developmental needs by providing learning environments that promote choice with open-ended experiences planned around their interests and developing skills whilst extending their pre-reading, prewriting, and pre-mathematics. This period of observation of the children will serve as the platform on which we begin the years learning program. We are inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach and this we incorporate into our everyday Practice. The Reggio Emilia Philosophy , refers to the “100 Languages” which explores and highlights the fact that children learn in many different ways, and how it is important to offer multiple opportunities for children to show what they know. This may be through reading, writing, creating a sculpture, painting, or climbing. Having various ways to create and construct offers children multiple ways to learn. Responding to children’s interests helps bring authentic engagement and exploration to life. Project work fosters in-depth studies that the children and teacher(s) are living and learning alongside each other. Listening well, leading with questions, and exploring—using experience, materials, hands-on learning, and integrating content areas—all create opportunities to learn in deeply integrated ways throughout the day. In Reggio Emilia, “The Environment as the Third Teacher” is an idea that allows us to think critically about how we are setting up the environment so that all children can learn.” Edutopia .org Reggio Emilia approach. We as a team strive every day to provide the environment for the children in our care to learn the way that suits them in learning spaces that offer open-ended resources to spur their creativity and curiosity.