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When it comes to setting the future of your children, through formal or informal education, no parents wish to make any mistakes. But this being said, some still question whether early childhood education programs play a big part in a child’s future.
Research has shown that the human brain can effectively learnearlier than we thought, even as early as pre kindergarten, the period when the brain undergoes a rapid development. This is a period when a child builds cognitive skills, character skills, social-emotional growth, motoric skills as well as impulse control to problem solving. So how can we maximize this to support our children’s future and set them on a trajectory of success?
Through various programs – designed to stimulate the children’s brain in various activities, both recreational and academic – children that underwent early childhood education have been proven to excel in academic achievements and better social adjustments than those who did not attend early childhood programs. One notable study, The HighScope Perry Preschool Study, conducted in the United States that began in 1962 showed that children that had a formal early education were likely to have higher earnings, hold a job and more likely to graduate from high school than those who did not have a formal early childhood education.
EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM AT BALI ISLAND SCHOOL
Bali Island School – formerly Bali International School – offers Early Childhood programs that are carefully designed to meet the specific developmental needs of the youngest learners. A team of teachers, teacher assistants and specialist teachers follow the Primary Years Program (PYP) Early Years philosophy to develop a safe, happy and engaging learning experience for each child:
Relationships
• Participation by the entire learning community, parents, teachers, students, is desired in the early years.
• BIS values the need to be open to children’s inquiries and create relationships in which they feel free to question and hold discussions while trusting that their perspectives are valued.
• BIS acknowledges the important role played by parents and other significant adults in the co-construction of meaning for students by supporting learning at home and by sharing their experiences, cultural backgrounds and home languages.
• BIS appreciates the complexity of children’s relationships and observes how these relationships contribute to their learning.
Environment
• The learning environment at BIS includes children’s relationships as well as indoor and outdoor spaces and materials.
• Effective learning environments enable children and teachers to build relationships and construct meaning together.
• In planning the learning environment, materials are carefully selected and the learning space is organized to promote independence, social interaction, motivation, discovery and inquiry.
• As a flexible curriculum framework, the PYP enables educators to respond to the students’ needs and continually enrich their environment to anchor and strengthen their learning.
Play
• Play is essential for children’s cognitive, social, emotional, physical and brain development.
• Through play, children construct meaning and define themselves as members of a learning community.
• Quality play takes time – time to plan for freedom of engagement and for the development or skills, attitudes and conceptual understanding.
• During play, children incorporate all their knowledge and skills as they interact with others and with their environment.
• At BIS, the role of the educator is to support children as they generate ideas and theories through play, and to challenge their thinking to lead them to deeper learning.
Four domains of learning are used to observe, support and assess early learners’ development:
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development: To nurture within each child a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behavior in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.
• Physical Development: To provide opportunities for each child to be active and interactive; to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement; to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food. To develop fine motor skills;skills that require the small muscles of the hand to work together to perform precise and refined movements such as writing and cutting.
• Cognitive Development:To facilitate experiences that allow for each child to process information, make meaning, construct new knowledge and come to new understandings. Cognitive skills are mental processes such as memory, logic, reasoning, problem solving, spatial reasoning, critical thinking, decision making, concentration, attention, perception, imagination and creativity. Children are also encouraged to think about thinking and learn about learning; how to ask questions and how to process information into understanding. All these skills lay the foundation for the ‘traditional’ subjects of Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies.
• Creative Development: Involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, design and technology.
Bali Island School (BIS) celebrates its 30-year anniversary this year: Bali International School opened in September 1985 and was renamed in accordance with the Ministerial Decree on Education in 2014.
BIS engages and empowers globally-minded, confident learners to reach their utmost potential in an active, creative, and respectful learning community. BIS is the oldest school in Bali and is the only school on the island authorized to offer the full International Baccalaureate Programme continuum from Preschool to Grade 12 (www.ibo.org: Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma Programmes).