Reddford House The Hills
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EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL

INSPIRED LEARNING

The Early Learning School caters for children from our Nest to Stage 5 (3months- to 6-year-olds). The Early Learning School follows a strong Reggio Emilia-inspired approach to teaching. The school features a very large, central piazza to exhibit children’s work, a performance hall, a kitchen and dining hall and a covered AstroTurf play area. As in many Italian towns, the piazza is designed as an interconnected space fostering interaction, curiosity, exploration and celebration. All classrooms open out onto multiple playgrounds, with two larger outdoor explorations and play areas. Our curriculum is based on the internationally recognised Reggio Emilia inspired approach.

This discovery-based approach, enriched by a strong focus on phonics, reading, writing, and mathematics in the older stages, creates an opportunity for children to receive an outstanding start to their education. With a strong academic framework in place children can move confidently on to Junior Preparatory and beyond.

OUR REGGIO EMILIA INSPIRED APPROACH

Post World War 2 parents were determined to create a more hopeful and sustainable future for the children of Reggio Emilia, a city in northern Italy. The community rallied to build the very first nursery school. Many years later a group of schools in the Reggio Emilia area were voted the best schools in the world. This prestigious accolade sparked great international interest, which resulted in more countries beginning to explore and apply the Reggio Emilia teaching approach. Today the Inspired group, made up of over 25 schools across the globe, embraces this approach as we successfully integrate the philosophy into our Early Learning School.

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INSPIRED LEARNING

Our Reggio Emilia inspired approach portrays a unique view of the child: each seen as beautiful, powerful, competent, creative, curious, and full of potential. Placed at the centre of the curriculum, children are encouraged to select and explore topics and activities for themselves, developing deeper engagement from the child, building independence and stimulating curiosity.

Rather than being seen as the target of instruction, children are seen as having the active role of an apprentice and researcher. A lot of our activities take the form of projects where children have opportunities to explore, observe, hypothesize, question, and discuss to clarify their understanding.

Children are also viewed as social beings and a focus is made on the child in relation to other children, the family, the teachers, and the community rather than on each child in isolation.

TEACHERS & PARENTS

Early Learning School teachers are handpicked and rigorously trained to ensure children at all levels are enthused and provided with the tools to self-motivate their own learning journey.

Through observation, teachers become acutely aware of each child’s individual needs and latent potential as they constantly engage through attentive listening and observation of the child’s interests, concerns or ideas. Our teachers challenge the children to deepen their understanding and ultimately identify the endless possibilities to their thinking. Teachers plan rigorously, yet are flexible, for on-going projects and explorations, whilst still covering the prescribed curriculum. Materials and resources are carefully chosen to inspire inquiring minds and build skills.

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CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

The children’s environment - both indoor and outdoor – is considered the ‘third teacher’. Care and consideration are given to the layout and design of the indoor and outdoor environment. The spaces aim to stimulate our children’s imagination, creativity, exploration, discovery, engagement, and sense of wonder. Open-ended materials are frequently used, these allow for spontaneous and unguided responses.

At Reddford House The Hills, the impressive Piazza space greets you as you enter the school. The Piazza is a central area where parents, teachers and children may come together in the morning or afternoon. The look and feel of the Piazza is determined by the children and managed by our Atelierista, an artist-specialised teacher, who ensures that children’s artwork, is beautifully displayed and often rotated.

AN EXTENSIVE OFFERING

Our co-curricular activities form an integral part of our holistic education. These activities allow children to explore, discover and develop latent skills and talents outside of the traditional learning areas. We encourage our children to enthusiastically participant in these specialised, character-building activities.

Stage 1-5 do mini sports in the morning as part of the morning programme. Stage 3-5 can participate in private co-curricular at an extra cost.

Stage 5’s are allowed to participate in the co-curricular with the Junior Preparatory School.

ACTIVITIES INCLUDE: ELS: Stage 1 - 4: Netball, Rugby, Soccer, Tennis and cricket all done during school time. ELS: Stage 5: Mini Tennis, Chess, Judo, Mini Soccer, Mini Cricket, Glee Club, Mini Art, Mini Athletics and Golf.

SCHOOL HOURS

At the commencement of term, students and parents can access the Term Calendar on the Reddford House App featuring the extra-curricular timetable, functions, and events for the term.

 

ELS SCHEDULE

STAFF ARE AVAILABLE TO RECEIVE CHILDREN FROM 07:15
At the commencement of term, students and parents can access the Term Calendar on the Reddford House App featuring the extra-curricular timetable, functions, and events for the term.

STAGE MORNING BELL END OF SCHOOL DAY
Nest 8:00 12:45
1 8:00 12:45
2 8:00 12:45
3 8:00 12:45
4 8:00 13:00
5 8:00 13:10 (Term 1 & 2) 13:30 (Term 3 & 4)


ADVENTURE ZONE

Reddford House The Hills offers students a safe, secure aftercare programme that commences at the end of the school day.

The Adventure Zone programme ends at 17:30 every day. Parents are able to collect children any time during the course of the afternoon. Late collections will result in an additional fee and be recorded.

The children follow a varied programme in the afternoons with the aim of providing a caring and nurturing environment.

Children receive a well-balanced meal at lunchtime and an afternoon snack. Every child is required to have a rest in the afternoon.

To enrol your child into the Adventure Zone programme, please contact our Administrator and complete the registration form. We also offer a Holiday Care Programme during the school holidays for parents who need to utilise these facilities.

 

UNIFORM

The Reddford House uniform is worn with great pride and joy. The uniform, more commonly referred to as a multiform, is designed to serve as practical and versatile attire, which allows our children to feel comfortable at all times.

It is available in various forms to ensure the ideal dress code can be applied to complement any school event, activity, excursion, etc. Items from the multiform can be coordinated throughout the seasons and year to accommodate the child’s needs. In addition, children are encouraged to follow the Sun Smart Practice of wearing a hat and sunscreen during outdoor play. The policy “No hat, no play” applies at all times.

The Reddford House uniform is optional for students in Stage 3 and compulsory for Stage 4 and 5. The school uniform is only available from School and Leisure.