At Little Hens we provide babies and young children inspirational opportunities to learn and develop through imaginative, creative, play based experiences. Children start learning from a very early age. They therefore need a stimulating and appropriate environment to explore and increase the knowledge of the world they live in. We give priority to inspire a culture of exploration in which learning through play helps developing essential skills to become blossomed life-long learners. Little Hens is a place where children build the very foundations for all their future learning.
The Early Years Foundations Stage
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage which focuses on the distinct needs of children from birth to 5 years of age. It is divided into 3 Prime Areas and 4 Specific areas as follows:
Prime area
Communication and language development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves, and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
Personal, social and emotional development involves helping children to develop 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 behaviour in groups and to have confidence in their own abilities.
Literacy development involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
Mathematics involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems and to describe shapes, spaces and measures.
Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
Expressive arts and design 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 and design and technology
Little Hens offers a wide range of extracurricular activities such as dance, drama and sport based on a seasonal schedule. These are taught by external teachers, expert in their fields, who specialise in teaching young children.
Little Hens organises trips to the Oceanarium and other such places annually.