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Early Years Education

Learn in a safe, secure, healthy and stimulating environment

By the time children are ready to attend preschool, they have already had a variety of experiences and have developed in a number of ways.

In order to use and build upon the learning that has already taken place in the home and its immediate environment, children should be provided with a rich variety of play activities and other experiences in a stimulating and challenging environment.

Children should be allowed to learn without experiencing a sense of failure.

Young children require

  • a safe; secure; healthy; and stimulating environment where there is adequate supervision
  • opportunities to investigate; satisfy their curiosity; explore the environment inside and outside the playroom; extend their sense of wonder; experience success; and develop a positive attitude towards learning
  • appropriate periods of time for learning through sustained involvement in play
  • interaction with sensitive and understanding adults.  It is important that children feel secure in their relationships with adults and that they know that the adults are there to support them
  • adults who will treat them as individuals and sensitively participate in their play

Given these needs it follows that young children require a curriculum which

  • meets their physical, social, emotional and cognitive needs at their particular stage of development
  • motivates, challenges and stimulates them
  • is broad and balanced

The curriculum should allow children to make choices and provide them with opportunities, through play and other experiences, to develop the learning associated with -

  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development;
  • Physical Development;
  • Creative/Aesthetic Development;
  • Language Development;
  • Early Mathematical Experiences;
  • Early Experiences in Science and Technology;
  • Knowledge and Appreciation of the Environment.

CCEA