Early Years

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Shrewsbury Hong Kong> Academic> Early Years

Learning at Shrewsbury International School Hong Kong is closely aligned with the English National Curriculum and the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework, an integrated programme of learning and care arranged over two years.

Children enter Nursery classes at the age of 3, they are able to attend for either half or full days in mixed groups of up to 19 students. Half day Nursery classes run between 08:00 and 11:30 - full day Nursery classes run between 08:00 and 15:00 (download timetable). During this phase of their learning they will develop their relationship building skills and broaden their interests.

Children enter Reception classes at the age of 4 - classes contain a maximum number of 19 students and run between 08:00 and 15:00 (download timetable).During this phase of their learning students develop their literacy and numeracy skills, while demonstrating a growing focus during work and play.

EARLY YEARS		KEY STAGE 1		KEY STAGE 2
Nursery	Reception	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
3 to 4	4 to 5	5 to 6	6 to 7	7 to 8	8 to 9	9 to 10	10 to 11

CORE CURRICULUM

There are seven areas of learning and development in the Early Years and Foundation Stage curriculum. They are all important and connected, but three are particularly crucial for building children’s capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.

PRIME AREAS

Prime Areas of learning play a significant role in developing healthy relationships, curiosity and enthusiasm for learning.

● Communication and Language:
Speaking - listening - attention - fluency

● Personal, Social & Emotional Development:
Confidence - friendship - sharing - managing feelings

● Physical Development:
Coordination - control - manipulation - movement

SPECIFIC AREAS

The Specific Areas of learning help children to strengthen and apply their knowledge, understanding and skills - they dovetail neatly into the more formalised arrangement of subjects in Key Stage 1.

● Literacy:
Letter sounds - emergent writing - early reading

● Mathematics:
Matching - counting - sorting - patterns

● Understanding of the World:
Exploring - comparing - empathising

● Expressive Art & Design
Creating - role play - imagining

In order to encourage interconnected thinking, the curriculum at Shrewsbury has been arranged thematically. This means that Prime and Specific areas of learning are often interwoven within units of study lasting approximately six weeks. Themes have been selected to ensure that our talented, multilingual student body learn immersively and at depth.

The majority of lessons taught to students in Early Years are delivered by an assigned Class Teacher who plans carefully to maximise potential and secure continuous progress for every child.

	TERM 1.1	TERM 1.2	TERM 2.1	TERM 2.2	TERM 3.1	TERM 3.2
Nursery	All about Me	Rhyme Time	Let's Explore	Springtime	Under the Sea	People Who Help Us
Reception	Friends	Whatever the Weather	It's a Small World	Tell Me a Story	Roar	Let's Celebrate

SPECIALIST PROVISION

All Shrewsbury Students benefit from an engrained commitment to specialist study. While connected to the thematic programme, lessons on Chinese language, Music, Performing Arts, Physical Education and Aquatics are all supported by specialist teaching staff.

Students in Early Years enjoy three Music lessons, to include a large group choral session, and two Physical Education lessons, to include an Aquatics session, each week.

Chinese language lessons are delivered every day. Children are introduced to simplified characters and are immersed through engagement in Mandarin (Putonghua).

To find out more about lessons delivered by specialist teaching staff, click here.

WHAT OUR PARENTS SAY

Mike, NURSERY PARENT

My son enjoys life at Shrewsbury very much - the staff are incredibly welcoming and he quickly made lots of new friends. He looks forward to going back to school every single day.

NANCY, RECEPTION PARENT

Shrewsbury teachers are kind and supportive, and there is a great sense of enthusiasm for learning throughout the school.

MS SHING, RECEPTION PARENT

My daughter is so proud of her place at Shrewsbury - she tells me she is at the best school in the world!

Find out more about the Shrewsbury Sparkle here.