Early Childhood
Given room to grow and explore the many facets of their personalities, students are here to absorb, to seek, to develop, to become; and to teach.
Shaneawaz Ahmed
Principal
"Shan" comes to AISL with more than 15 years of educational experience in schools from the UK, South America, East Asia and the Middle East. Young at heart, Shan leads our Early Childhood and Elementary School teams in delivering an engaging learning experience to our younger students.
Welcome to our Early Childhood Program
Our Early Childhood program is a place where we aim for each child to blossom. Our multi-age program with children aged between three to five encourages opportunities for creativity, individuality, and a passion for learning in a safe environment where each child is nurtured and developed. We value who they are and support their learning journey. These pivotal ages build on their curiosity and encourage a love for learning which is foundational to education, with children understanding their experiences with others and the world through exploration and play with a variety of materials.
Within the Early Childhood at AISL, our staff is dedicated to our Mission, Vision and Core Values, supporting the needs of our students by immersing them in an atmosphere of wonder, care, exploration and growth, where they learn through encounters with the world. Our focus is on emphasizing developmentally appropriate learning opportunities, nurturing child-initiated inquiry, wondering and questioning, emphasizing oral language as the foundation of literacy development and empowering children to make supported and independent decisions within a multi-age environment.
Our focus on our Learning Principles ensure the education offered is at the correct level to challenge, engage and be purposeful for each child. In turn, we support them to achieve success through hard work, effort, and perseverance, celebrating their success on this journey in a structure which looks at not just through the narrow lens of a classroom, but at a wider scope that encompasses outside of the classroom walls. These day to day experiences are curated in a way to support our Global Competencies, which are a reflection of our commitment to prepare future ready students for life, work, and citizenship in a global society.
We look forward to having you learn more about life in the Early Childhood at AISL and hope you are excited at having your child join us as much as we are excited at having them join and become an AISL Eaglet.
Voices from our Early Childhood
Play-Based Learning
Play-based learning is the foundation of AISL’s Early Childhood program. Teachers use an appropriate balance of teacher designed structured play and child-initiated play to build emerging language and numeracy skills. Throughout the day, students engage in the following types of play.
Types of Play
Additional Elements of Early Childhood @ AISL
In addition to Play-based Learning, other essential features of AISL’s highly engaging Early Childhood program are as follows:
Self-directed inquiry and learning - Children are provided with the tools and guidance to observe and experiment and to ask questions to clarify understanding. When children discover that they are able to direct and guide their own learning, they are more likely to take responsibility for their continued education year after year as an independent and successful learner.
Dynamic groupings for learning - Students build relationships and social skills while learning and exploring in larger class groups, small groups, or in pairs.
Apply and transfer learning through authentic engagement - The design of the various program components ensures that our children are genuinely involved and interested in the day-to-day, authentic learning experiences where they collaborate with others, apply a new skill to a project, make decisions based on interest, and engage in dialogue where their voice is honored and encouraged.
On-going observation - Teachers and instructional assistants continually observe the children as they engage in diverse learning experiences, documenting the children's daily experiences and monitoring the way the children respond to their learning environment and the presentation of their thinking.
Specialist Classes
Although our early learners spend most of their time with their homeroom teacher, they also attend the following classes taught by qualified specialist teachers.
Performing Arts
Students develop their innate abilities to use their body, voice, locomotive and affective skills and begin to discover their talents.
Physical Education
Students engage in purposeful movement to develop hand-eye and foot-eye coordination e.g. throwing and catching, bouncing, dribbling, kicking, striking, and rolling. They also participate in aquatic activities.
Library
Students spend time in the library listening to stories, viewing picture books, exploring digital platforms, and discussing what they see and hear. They also begin to learn about library etiquette and procedures.
Mindfulness and Child Protection
Working with the school counselor, students learn to care for self and others through movement, breathing, and self reflection. Through child protection lessons, students also develop understanding and skills in personal safety and assertiveness and learn to recognize, refuse, and report unsafe situations.