Our approach to Childcare and Education

At Pooh Corner we establish a strong link with our families as it is of paramount importance that we know every child as an individual. The children’s background, and home experiences are valued and integrated in our practice.

Our focus is to encourage independence and nurture self-esteem in children. Stimulating them with meaningful play experiences and activities aimed at nurturing the excitement of new thoughts, imagination and discovery. Also the personal and physical care of each individual child is deemed equally important.

Our educational approach is based on High Scope which is a child centered approach with emphasis on active participatory learning. Children's interests and choices are at the heart of our educational approach. Children construct their own knowledge through interactions with the world and the people around them. In this active learning environment, adults expand children's thinking with diverse materials and nurturing interactions.

All our play experiences are in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS 2021). Well planned play areas correspond to each of the three Prime (Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development and Communication and Language) and four Specific areas (Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding of the World and Expressive Arts and Design) of the EYFS. Observations are taken during child initiated play and adult suggested activities. Our highly qualified team use their observations and parents/carers observations to build our short and long term plan which has our children’s interests as a central point and gives them the opportunity to explore in their own time in accordance with their developmental stage.

When children start at Pooh Corner, we allocate each child to a Key Person who is one of the Early Years Practitioners. The key person is the professional who works very closely with his/her key children and their family. Our children and families are well known by all members of staff, however the key person is this special grownup the children can seek for support and comfort at any time. The key person builds a learning diary for each of his/her key child which contains photographs, observations, the child’s artistic and mark making expressions and a thorough analysis of the child’s developmental stages and a plan to extend and sustain each child’s interests and development .

In addition to that we offer drop in sessions to all our families. Our Educational Coordinator offers friendly support to all our parents/carers about a variety of subjects such as child development, behavior, healthy eating and education.