At Alice Smith, we know that the environment is an important learning tool. Interesting and inviting spaces promote curiosity, encourage higher-order thinking and allow for rich exploratory play. In Early Years, your child will learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outdoors.
Our classrooms are designed in a free flow style so your child can easily move around the space both inside and outside discovering carefully planned activities that stimulate their interests and engage them while providing learning opportunities.
Every detail in their construction, function and aesthetics is designed to support learning. Inside or outside, there are opportunities to connect with the natural world and have first hand experiences of life and growth.
When we toured the campus for the first time, it was great to see the different tools and materials the children were using in the classroom. It just looked like a really fun learning environment and most importantly, the children looked so happy and extremely comfortable.” ~ Rizwana, parent.
The importance of outdoor exploratory play is something we are deeply aware of at Alice Smith. Our spacious and stimulating outdoor areas provide children the opportunity to connect with the natural world and have first hand experiences of life and growth. Our outdoor space is viewed as an extension of our classrooms where children explore, risk take, develop physically and absorb vast amounts of physical knowledge.
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Through play and opportunities for student collaboration, students learn to communicate their opinions and ideas with many different people within a variety of contexts. They learn how to use and share resources and how to negotiate and regulate their emotions when things do not go their way. A child-centred, friendly and safe environment helps to create a sense of belonging, building self-esteem and confidence in each learner.
Through the use of interesting displays, art installations and thoughtful provocations, students are motivated to use all of their senses to explore, ask questions, create stories and take part in imaginative role play.
Students are able to do so much more for themselves than adults often give them credit for. They are able to construct meaning through experimentation and follow their own avenues of enquiry for sustained periods, often developing several subject skills at once. A well-planned, safe learning environment provides students with an opportunity to do this. During this type of learning, the brain is at its most active and engaged - body, mind, heart and soul.
During planned independent activities, teachers are able to identify each student’s strengths and areas for development and assess how much they have progressed with their learning.
It is vitally important that students develop a rich and extensive vocabulary. Language is linked closely to curiosity and students love to learn the names of unusual objects, listen to the interesting stories of others and share their own thoughts and feelings. It is during play experiences that students use the most varied language and sentence structure.
Alice Smith teachers provide a ‘literacy rich’ environment where children regularly engage with beautiful books, print and have many authentic reasons to write.
