Teaching Philosophy
Key person approach
Starting nursery is an exciting time for children and their families, but it can be nerve-wracking too. Children’s first years are completely centred around their parents and families and the relationships they build can impact them forever. That’s why every child is assigned a key person when starting nursery and the child joins their practitioner’s ‘key family’. Your key person is the familiar face for you and your child at nursery.
The key person approach allows practitioners to create a special bond with your child, enabling a positive relationship to be built. With strong attachments to support your child’s wellbeing, they can then feel happy and confident and able to leave you, full of excitement and positive emotions and ready to engage in their learning.
It is important to us that every child has a buddy key family so that they can always feel safe and secure at nursery. And over time your child will develop new relationships and begin to form attachments with some of our other amazing practitioners too.
Parents as Partners
Children and families are at the heart of everything we do and we believe in forming strong partnerships with our families. Parents are their child’s primary educators and are highly experienced in the care that their child requires. A parent’s knowledge of their own child and the things that make them unique help us to do the best for each child.
We plan in the moment with the children, because children’s interests and motivations are always developing. We will send out parent contribution forms periodically so that we can stay up to date on what’s most relevant and important in your child’s life at any time. We have regular parents’ evenings and encourage open conversation at handovers to make sure that the communication between you and your child’s key person is strong.
The EYFS states, “Good parenting and high-quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.” That’s why the partnership between nursery and home is so essential.
We value the individuality and diversity of our families and welcome any contributions from parents so that we can share, embrace and celebrate our rich community.
Teaching in the Moment
Play is often free of adult intervention and a degree of learning happens quite naturally. Sensitive adults who have an understanding of the individual child can also play an important role, guiding and building upon the child’s current skills and knowledge within the process of their play.
Teaching at Kreative Learning is not formal. It is centred around the child in response to their interests and developmental stage. Through careful observation and intervention, we can capture the ‘teachable moment’ and make a difference to the child’s progression at that very point when they are most motivated and involved. This moment may be during play, but could also occur through conversational interactions, or an adult led activity.
Teaching and planning in the moment is not new. It is exactly what responsive parents are doing with their children every day. Every time our practitioners are looking at and listening to our children they are assessing and planning how best to respond and teach, to meet the child’s next steps in the moment. The teaching is in the moment and is uniquely suited to the child, seizing the opportunity to extend their learning when they are already engaged, involved and motivated.
Wellbeing and Theraplay
One of our main principles at Kreative Learning Childcare is to help children to develop life skills. To be resilient, expressive, curious, demanding, compassionate, kind and to have fun. We want them to feel happy, confident and build the abilities to make relationships and form secure attachments.
At Kreative Learning Childcare we use Kreative Circles to help achieve this; supporting children to develop personally, socially and emotionally underpins and impacts everything else we do.
Kreative Circles sessions are embedded in our practice and our wonderful practitioners receive tailored training to enable them to support their key children’s wellbeing. Through short games and the “check-in”, we make sure that our children are building all the skills they need to be ready to learn and to enjoy the next steps in their learning. The Kreative Circles sessions tune in to all the basic needs of each individual child and allow us to build their self-esteem and celebrate what makes them unique
