Under the supervision of teachers who are dedicated to fostering confidence and skills, children will make the adjustments from home-life to school.

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework in our Nursery and Kindergarten classes. This pre-school curriculum is full of real-life, concrete experiences.

Children will learn skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.

These prime areas are those most essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning.

All 7 areas of learning are used to plan the children’s learning and activities. Teachers at GICLM will make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside. It is very important that they develop social skills, such as turn-taking, sharing and independence, which help them greatly in the next stages of their learning. The guiding principles that shape our practice in the Early Years are that children are born ready, able and eager to learn. They actively reach out to interact with other people, and in the world around them. Development is not an automatic process, however. It depends on each unique child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and enabling environments.

Our children are given freedom to make choices and decisions within an interactive day and are encouraged to use and share their learning environment. Our Foundation Stage classrooms are organized into separate areas where the children can learn independently or with the input of an adult. To support and extend this learning, we make use of our whole school, both indoors and out.

Children work and play independently, with a strong emphasis on choice and being able to sustain concentration on projects, as well as joining a variety of nursery nurse and teacher-led activities. We encourage a partnership with parents so they are actively involved in their children's learning.

Assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and teachers to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs, and to plan activities and support. Ongoing assessment is an integral part of the learning and development process. It involves teachers observing children to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles, and to then shape learning experiences for each child reflecting those observations.

In their daily interactions with children, teachers make systematic observations and assessments of each child's achievements, interests and learning styles. These observations and assessments are then used to identify learning priorities and plan relevant and motivating learning experiences for each child.

At GICLM, we have introduced Tapestry, an on-line journal that can record all the learning and fun of children’s early years’ education. Through photographs and videos, teachers are able to capture children’s experiences as well as monitor development and learning. This unique journal is shared on-line with parents, who are not only able to see special moments, but can view their child’s progress whenever they want.