Long Term Curriculum

 

At Pugwash Bay we believe that learning should be fun, and that learning experiences which come from the children’s interests are an effective way to help build learning opportunities into a play based curriculum. This combined with our renowned caring approach, that ensures a warm loving “home from home” environment, WHERE EACH CHILD IS TREATED WITH RESPECT AND IS VALUED AS AN INDIVIDUAL.

Our team believes that our curriculum should be filled with opportunities to provide love and support and that the only way to really know a child is through solid relationships. We use the key worker system to support this. The team believes that the child’s personality should be respected and incorporated and that the curriculum should help create confident and happy children. Each child will be viewed as a competent participant and their dispositions will be recognised and acknowledged within the planning process. An emphasis will be placed on developing social skills that will allow the child to exert their independence.

Our Aistear guided curriculum is play based and developed from the children’s interests and led by their curiosity and willingness to learn. It is called the ‘Best Beginnings Curriculum’. The name reflects our wish that the curriculum will be a solid beginning to your child’s lifelong journey of learning and development. Work on this is ongoing and this will always be the case as any good curriculum will evolve and be shaped by the needs and interests of the children in our care.

Aistear is guided by four main themes which each have aims and learning goals that we use in the planning and development of the curriculum and of the learning experiences which are provided for the children. The themes are:

In our ECCE rooms we incorporate elements of the Montessori method. We believe in the main idea in that every child is treated with respect, given freedom within the environment, and allowed to develop naturally at their own pace. The children learn everyday life skills such as dressing themselves, washing themselves etc. social graces and manners and also cover a wide range of subjects including Mathematics, Reading and Writing, Science, Music, Irish, Art, and Drama. The Montessori approach is focused on giving support to the natural development of the human being. This is done with the understanding that the fully developed human being is then better disposed to learning the things that he needs to become an integrated and contributing member of society.

Medium Term Curriculum

 

We use monthly themes to incorporate celebrations and include a fun element for the children. The medium term curriculum highlights some suggested learning experiences that can be incorporated into each rooms short term planning (weekly). However, it is meant as a guide only and priority should be given to children’s interests.