Friedrich Froebel was an educational pioneer who first termed the word kindergarten.
Today, although our setting has evolved we still believe in the principles of child care he believed were vital to a healthy child’s development. So what can you expect from the George Eliot Day Care Settings in 2012 ?
- Knowledgeable and qualified early childhood professionals
- Skilled and informed observation of children, to support effective development, learning and teaching
- Awareness that education relates to all capabilities of each child: imaginative, creative, symbolic, linguistic, mathematical, musical, aesthetic, scientific, physical, social, moral, cultural and spiritual
- Parents/carers and early childhood professionals working together
- Activities and experiences that have sense, purpose and meaning to the child
- An holistic approach to learning which recognises children as active, feeling and thinking human beings, seeing patterns and making connections
- Encouragement rather than punishment
- Individual and collaborative activity and play
- An approach to learning which develops children’s autonomy and self confidence
3) An environment which
- Is physically safe but intellectually challenging, promoting curiosity, enquiry, sensory stimulation and aesthetic awareness
- Demonstrates the unity of indoors and outdoors, of the cultural and the natural
- Allows free access to a rich range of materials that promote open-ended opportunities for play, representation and creativity
