The Early Years Programme at EtonHouse Malaysia is a happy and exciting experience for children, designed to build a positive attitude toward learning. Within the context of inquiry-based learning, we provide a wealth of experiences in a safe and relaxed environment, led by a team of highly experienced Early Childhood specialists.

Children’s learning is identified in five principal areas in the EtonHouse Early Childhood Curriculum. This organizational framework defines a structure around which all planning and evaluation is developed, providing a rich and productive educational experience for children. These areas reflect the ‘whole child’, and support teachers in planning the child’s learning environment and learning experiences. They relate to all children, regardless of gender, background or culture.

• The Child as a Social/ Cultural Being: Understanding Self and Others
• The Child as a Communicator: Speech and Language including Multiple Literacies and Symbolic Languages
• The Thinking Child: Understanding of the World; Critical, Creative and Logical Thinking; Mathematical, Scientific and Technological Understandings
• The Physical Child: Health, Safety and Physical Understandings
• The Child of the 21st Century: Environmental Understandings

EHM’s Early Years programme follows the EtonHouse Inquire, Think, Learn Curriculum Framework. This sets the foundations for the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP). The philosophy of Reggio Emilia underpins our program as we facilitate an experience that is child-led, in a child- centred environment.

The EtonHouse Malaysia physical environment and overall atmosphere support and enhance each child’s learning, through enabling positive relationships and effective communication. The outdoor garden space plays a primary role in facilitating the development of relationships and a strong sense of community. Our garden features a water garden, sound garden, natural tunnels, grassy hills, adaptable creative play space, a bike trace, an abundance of trees, and quiet areas, to build minds and bodies while connecting with nature. The space is carefully planned, and flexible so we can accommodate children’s changing interests, needs, skills and abilities.

Literacy

Communication, language and literacy is placed at the center the Early Years curriculum. The purposefully planned learning environment provides excellent opportunities for children to develop their literacy skills.  At EtonHouse, the children fine tune their listening skills outside and develop confidence in projecting their voice. There are opportunities to experiment and be messy with the mud and sand, a great way to practice mark-making and emergent writing. The changing nature of the outdoor environment gives a rich context for exploration and developing vocabulary, through discovering wildlife and mini-beasts, weather, changing seasons, and the elements of earth, water, air and growing things. Since children learn best through activities and experiences that engage all senses, the environment at EtonHouse provides freedom and space to engage in creative activities, including music, dance, rhymes and songs that supports language development.

Mathematics and Science

Children develop mathematical and scientific ways of thinking through trying things out and playing with ideas. The environment is an ideal arena for mathematics and science; children build their sense of number by talking together, collecting natural objects, playing games, and exploring size, shape and space. They learn about capacity by digging holes in sand pits and filling buckets with waters. The outdoor space allows the children to encounter large scale mathematical problem, such as how many people do we need to carry a log or dig a big hole. The children discuss and test mathematical and scientific ideas by extending and challenging one another’s ideas. They learn to calculate, measure, estimate, analyze, hypothesize and test theories. The learning environment promotes active social learning, essential for acquiring early mathematical skills and developing an understanding of mathematical concepts.

At EtonHouse, we practice transdisciplinary teaching and learning. Teachers build opportunities in the Early Years for children to interact with their environment, making intellectual, physical and social responses as part of their inquiry. Children develop a strong sense of identity, feel connected to their world, have a strong sense of well-being and become confident and effective communicators. We believe that learning needs to focus on the whole child and development across multiple domains. Over time, students are equipped with skills and values to participate fully and effectively, as active citizens in a multicultural society.