CURRICULUM
POLICY
The MCPP motto, “Happy toddlers geared for tomorrow…”,
was chosen after careful thought. A HAPPY toddler is critically important because:
“…Stress and threat impact the brain in many ways. They reduce capacity for understanding, meaning and memory. They reduce higher order thinking skills… “
“…Emotions run the brain. Bad ones flavour all attempts at learning. Good ones create an excitement and love of learning…11 {From: Beginnings and Beyond)
In a nursery school, stability and stimulation are some of the most important considerations for happy toddlers.
To ensure stability, only suitably qualified staff are appointed and there is an assistant in each class that are involved at aftercare to ensure continuity. Parents are involved in the school’s activities in various ways to promote co-operation between the school and home.
“Geared for tomorrow” is the second component of our motto. We follow an outcome based educational programme where discovery, experience and participation are emphasised. All planning is done around a central theme. The following quotes have been taken from Beginnings and Beyond:
“…The neocortex is strongly run by patterns not facts; we learn best with themes, patterns and whole experiences…”
“… We learn in a multipath, simultaneous style that is visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, conscious and non-conscious. We do most poorly learning: “piecemeal” learning into linear, sequential math facts and other out-of-context information lists…”
“…Our memory is very poor in rote, semantic situations. It is best in contextual, episodic, event-oriented situations…”
“…Our brains are stimulated by challenge, novelty and feedback in our learning environments. Creating more of these conditions is critical to brain growth…”
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FRIENDS OF THE SCHOOL
PROSPECTIVE PARENTS
Provide as many opportunities as possible for learning and exploration through our learning programmes:
LANGUAGE
MATHEMATICS
LIFE SKILL
The above are also included in our nine learning areas in and outside the classroom.
In Beginnings and Beyond, compiled by Ann Miles Gordon and Kathryn Williams Browne, it becomes clear that children learn best through play:
“…Early childhood educators continually search for ways to answer, ‘Don’t they do anything but play?’ In many settings, parental pressure and teacher uncertainty have led to curricula with more table tasks and less active play periods in the daily schedule…”
“…Play is the cornerstone of learning, the foundation from which children venture forth to investigate, to test out. Curriculum takes on expression through play; teachers plan curriculum using play as the medium for learning. As they mature, children integrate and assimilate their play experiences and what started out as play is transformed into learning experiences..,
- MCPP follow a Perceptual Development programme that support the South African National Curriculum Statements. These are the revised version of Curriculum 2005.
- According to this Curriculum, the method of teaching is through Outcomes Based Education (OBE). The basic principles in OBE are applied at MCPP.
- The Curriculum is offered through Themes and planned activities that develop skills through play, exploration and discovery. Children should not only gain knowledge (as in memorising) but also understand what they learn. Parallel to this, children need to attain the necessary skills, attitudes and values accompanying this knowledge.
- Children should become active (kinesthetic & concrete) participants in the learning process and expand their creativeness.
- Children are given the opportunity to work at their own pace and in various ways. Yet they work within time frames.
- Language of learning and teaching as well as different terms of language:
- Mother Tongue is the language acquired “at mother’s knee”.
- Home Language is regarded as the language being spoken at home and is not necessarily the mother tongue.
- The school makes provision for Afrikaans or English as language of instruction and children are placed in the corresponding class.
- We believe that that parents should be involved in the learning process of their children and therefore we have parents’ evenings to discuss the children’s progress and hand out progress reports twice a year.
To assist the children in broadening their horizons inhouse visits take place, excursions are regularly undertaken, while relevant information sessions also take place at the school. A specialised teacher takes care of remedial work, where required, daily, while our toddlers enthusiastically participate in community outreach projects so that they can, from an early age, learn to make a difference. We are also in regular contact with the Primary School to ensure that we are on the same page.
Every Friday a puppet -show is presented here while special days, such as “messy play” days, also take place here.
It is a privilege to be involved with MCPP – Midstream where our motto, “Happy Toddlers Geared For Tomorrow…”, drives us!
