(P) International School of Bucharest: Extended Programme for Early Years at Very Competitive Fees

“Children are born ready, able and eager to learn. They actively reach out to interact with other people, and 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.” (Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), Early Education, 2012) Choosing the right school or kindergarten for your young child is one of the most important decisions you will make for them. Here at ISB we pride ourselves on providing high-quality Early Childhood education, we have a strong team of extremely experienced staff that is dedicated to ensuring your child has the best possible start to their education. The point at which children enter school at 2, 3, 4 or 5 years old is called the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’, this is the start of your child’s school learning journey. Children develop at a rapid rate in the first 5 years of their lives and it is during this time that they will be exposed to a number of different experiences. Children build upon the foundation stage to become successful individuals. Therefore, it is vital that children do not miss out on this important stage of their schooling. It is during the Early Years of a child’s life that they will form their opinions on learning, begin to interact with others, learn to read and be exposed to a multitude of other skills that will have a great impact on their future learning. It is vital that Early Years teachers and parents work together to get it right. Here at ISB, we feel it is important to provide children with a safe secure environment in which they can explore and thrive. We strive to build positive relationships with both the children and their parents. The positive relationships developed between staff and parents is key to ensuring children are happy and confident to start school. During the foundation stage children are able to explore boundaries and different relationships, they are able to discover how their actions affect others and how to resolve conflict in an appropriate way. These skills are crucial to being successful in society, it is also essential these skills are mastered before academic learning can be completely effective. Alongside giving children a firm foundation in their social interactions and independence it is in the Foundation stage that children are introduced to numbers and simple Maths concepts, letters shapes and their phonic sounds. By the end of the Foundation stage we expect all children to be confident working with numbers to 20, being able to identify them, order them, and count objects to match the numeral. We also expect children to be able to complete simple addition and subtraction number sentences. During Phonics lessons children are exposed to letters and their sounds, we expect children to be able to segment and blend sounds they have learned in words to read them and to begin to write simple sentences independently. Of course, all children develop at different rates and have different educational and social needs, therefore, the learning opportunities are tailored to ensure all children can access learning opportunities at their individual level. Ensuring children can confidently use mark making tools and have the correct pencil grip and letter formation is essential to their future success as these skills are very important going into Year 1 and beyond. If children are not confident with these areas before starting in the primary school this could hinder their ability to access the primary curriculum fully and slow down their learning. Starting with the academic year 2018/2019 which will start on Monday, 3