Here at Caterpillars we deliver an outstanding and welcoming, homely environment where the Reggio Emilia approach is embedded, allowing children to use their own natural curiosity and energy to help guide their own development. We believe that this approach will ensure that children at Caterpillars have enough opportunities to develop their potential. We value each child as strong, capable and resilient; this allows our Nursery to adapt this philosophy to create the best environment for the children to learn and develop in. The Reggio Emilia philosophy states that there are a hundred different ways that children use to think, discover and learn new skills on a day to day basis. We aim to allow children to use their different ways of learning to make sure that each child has the chance to learn something new and develop their potential in a way that they find interesting.
The Reggio Emilia Approach is based on the principles below:
We value our children as competent unique individuals with their own unique knowledge, understanding and interests. This empowers them to have the ability to learn concepts far above those normally expected for their age.
Our children have guided control over the direction of their learning opportunities
Our stimulating environment acts as a ‘third teacher’
We develop a three way partnership ‘triangle’ between us (the teacher), child and parent enabling collaborative, trustworthy and reciprocal relationships
We respect our children by listening to them, allowing opportunities for self thought and reflection, whilst observing and documenting their dialogue and stages of development. The driven interests and curiosities of our children are used to develop and plan ‘next steps’ and future projects. Our children are an integral part of the decision making within our educational programmes
We value our children as competent unique individuals with their own unique knowledge, understanding and interests. This empowers them to have the ability to learn concepts far above those normally expected for their age.
Our staff observe our children and listen to their questions and stories to find out what interests each child. This information is then used by our early years practitioners as part of “In The Moment Planning” to provide children with provocations to explore their interests further, which makes learning more enjoyable for children. Children’s interests and needs shape and change the environment around them – as practitioners implement and follow up children’s interests