Welcome to the Early Years
The Early Years are crucial years in a child’s education as they underpin all future learning. For this reason, we strive to provide a safe, nurturing and happy environment that is combined with educationally stimulating surroundings and activities.
Our Early Years programme aims to not only academically prepare the children for Primary school, but to develop them socially and emotionally. The classroom groups are intentionally maintained at small numbers so that the children are able to develop at their own pace and are well supported. The small groupings mean that the children are able to bond with regular friendly faces and quickly become comfortable and confident in the environment.
At Eaton, we recognise that parents and carers play a vital role in aiding children to make personal and academic progress, and so we develop effective home-school partnerships through regular communication, information meetings and celebrations. Teachers and parents communicate regularly as teachers will update the parents daily with photos or news of the classes events and share evidence of learning. Parents are able to connect with teachers via the same app and there can be a smooth flow of communication to ensure that the child’s best interest is met.
As young children enter school for the first time with a wide range of different experiences, it is necessary to provide a well-planned and resourced curriculum that is able to target different developmental levels through first hand, multi-sensory experiences. Using the principles of the highly esteemed Montessori approach, which guides children to be independent and provide hands-on individual learning experiences we apply the objectives outlined in the English National Curriculum for Foundation Stage(EYFS). This ensures that the children are truly prepared for Primary school.
Curriculum
The Eaton curriculum aims to encourage pupils to develop abilities such as independence, social interaction, imagination, observation, exploration, and investigation. By using these new skills, they will discover how the number system works, be able to identify shapes, learn how to read and write, how to express themselves through painting, drawing, dancing and, above all, how to enjoy learning!
At Eaton, the core subjects of English and Mathematic are supplemented with thematic topic lessons in which Science, Geography and History are introduced. They are exposed to both Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin in the Early Years. Their gross motor skills are developed through weekly PE and swimming lessons. They are also introduced to music and role playing and movement through weekly Performing Arts lessons.
Each class has 2 qualified teachers, and the teacher to student ratio is to a maximum of 1:10 ensuring that individualised learning is possible. Specialist teachers conduct PE, Swimming, Music, Drama, Mandarin, Bahasa Malaysia. As with the rest of Eaton, there are extra-curricular activities (ECA) such as Swimming, Taekwondo, Gymnastics, Little Ninjas, Drama, creative drawing available.
The children take part in termly educational excursions and present a performance for parents as part of the Early Years graduation event.
The timetable for the Early Years is thoughtfully planned with a learning experience followed by a time out for a snack and free play or an outdoor playtime. This scheduling ensures that the day flows in a stress free manner and that the children are able to track the day through a visual schedule.
Subjects Taught In Early Years
Montessori English language materials are designed primarily to teach children the intricacies of written and spoken language. A firm grasp of writing and speaking will allow students to progress with their learning. Students use language materials to explore letters, sounds, handwriting, and eventually spelling and writing. These materials are supplemented with the Jolly Phonics programme and readers.
Mathematics in the Early Years is taught using the Montessori materials. Montessori math materials help children approach math with hands-on, visual, and physical learning aids. These materials allow students to attach concrete knowledge to the often abstract concepts in math.
Each term 2 topics are taught through the use of hands on activities, stories and craft work. These topics are Science around us, Malaysia our home, Homes around the world, Transportation, People who help us, The Earth, sun and moon, the globe and its land and water forms , minibeasts, farm animals, wild animals, the food we eat, our senses.
The children participate in weekly swimming lessons with our qualified swim instructors. The lessons initially focus on the children’s water confidence and their water safety. The children learn how to float and paddle to safety before moving on with the introduction of strokes. They also have weekly PE lessons which focus on their gross motor skills which include gymnastics, ball games, balance bicycles and team games.
The children are introduced to role playing and dance and movement. They are exposed to sound bells, tone bars and percussion instruments and keyboards. They also sing.