Kinder Curriculum

In our Kinder setting, children learn in English for 80% of the day. Teaching and learning follows the International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) and the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). Especially designed by Fieldwork Education to meet the needs of our young learners, the IEYC and IPC use international best practices, holistic enquiry and play-based approaches that cover all curriculum areas including personal goals.

Children learn through creative, thematic units that relate to their lives and capture their natural curiosity. Learning is active, engaging and fun. Children are supported to learn and develop knowledge and skills at their own unique pace. They are provided with opportunities to explore and express their ideas in multiple ways including play.

The Winpenny Kinder Route Planner shows the units that children are learning about this year.

In Kinder 2, our students use a programme from the UK called Jolly Phonics to begin to learn how to read and write in English. Teaching is multi-sensory; visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. The fun actions, stories, and songs help children to make quick progress in early reading and writing skills.

In Kinder 3 children consolidate their early reading and writing skills from Kinder 2. Using Jolly Phonics, children learn the first 42 letter sounds in English. The approach is multi-sensory, so each letter sound is learned with actions, songs and stories. Children learn correct letter formation, how to blend sounds together and segment words to read and write new words. They also learn how to read and spell ‘tricky words’, common English words that do not follow phonics rules.

Social &
Emotional
Learning

In the Early Years at Winpenny, we want to prepare our children to transition to Kinder 3 and beyond. This is not just about learning letters and numbers. It is also about knowing how to learn and get along with others.

Our Social and Emotional Learning Programme for Early Years, teaches skills in the following areas: skills for learning, empathy, emotion management, friendship skills and problem-solving.

  • Skills for Learning: Children gain skills to help them be better learners, including how to focus their attention, listen carefully, and ask for help.
  • Empathy: Children learn to identify and understand their own and others’ feelings. Children also learn how to show care for others.
  • Emotion Management: Children learn how to calm down when they have strong feelings such as worry or frustration.
  • Friendship Skills and Problem Solving: Children learn how to make and keep friends and to solve problems with others in a positive way.

The School Day

The school day for Kinder 1 and Kinder 2 begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 1:30 p.m. Kinder 3 starts at 7:30 a.m. and finishes at 1:30 p.m. There are two breaks during the day; a 15 minute snack with outside playtime in the morning, as well as a 30 minute lunch break later on. A day in Kinder always begins with circle time, singing and dancing together, and ends with a story. The children enjoy at least one lesson each day with a specialist teacher. This may be Spanish, physical education, music, or playing with sand.

Uniform

Our Kinder children wear a uniform every day. To distinguish our young children from the rest of the school, they wear red sweaters.
Three times a week they wear their Winpenny tracksuit for physical education. They also have an art smock for art activities and warm clothing for the winter months.

Kinder Curriculum

In our Kinder setting, children learn in English for 80% of the day. Teaching and learning follows the International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) and the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). Especially designed by Fieldwork Education to meet the needs of our young learners, the IEYC and IPC use international best practices, holistic enquiry and play-based approaches that cover all curriculum areas including personal goals.

Children learn through creative, thematic units that relate to their lives and capture their natural curiosity. Learning is active, engaging and fun. Children are supported to learn and develop knowledge and skills at their own unique pace. They are provided with opportunities to explore and express their ideas in multiple ways including play.

The Winpenny Kinder Route Planner shows the units that children are learning about this year.

In Kinder 2, our students use a programme from the UK called Jolly Phonics to begin to learn how to read and write in English. Teaching is multi-sensory; visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. The fun actions, stories, and songs help children to make quick progress in early reading and writing skills.

In Kinder 3 children consolidate their early reading and writing skills from Kinder 2. Using Jolly Phonics, children learn the first 42 letter sounds in English. The approach is multi-sensory, so each letter sound is learned with actions, songs and stories. Children learn correct letter formation, how to blend sounds together and segment words to read and write new words. They also learn how to read and spell ‘tricky words’, common English words that do not follow phonics rules.

Social &
Emotional
Learning

In the Early Years at Winpenny we want to prepare our children to transition to K3 and beyond. This is not just about learning letters and numbers. It is also about knowing how to learn and get along with others.

Our Social and Emotional Learning Programme for Early Years, teaches skills in the following areas: skills for learning, empathy, emotion management, friendship skills and problem-solving.

  • Skills for Learning: Children gain skills to help them be better learners, including how to focus their attention, listen carefully, and ask for help.
  • Empathy: Children learn to identify and understand their own and others’ feelings. Children also learn how to show care for others.
  • Emotion Management: Children learn how to calm down when they have strong feelings such as worry or frustration.
  • Friendship Skills and Problem Solving: Children learn how to make and keep friends and to solve problems with others in a positive way.

The School Day

The school day for Kinder 1 and Kinder 2 begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 1:30 p.m. Kinder 3 starts at 7:30 a.m. and finishes at 1:30 p.m. There are two breaks during the day; a 15 minute snack with outside playtime in the morning, as well as a 30 minute lunch break later on. A day in Kinder always begins with circle time, singing and dancing together, and ends with a story. The children enjoy at least one lesson each day with a specialist teacher. This may be Spanish, physical education, music, or playing with sand.

Uniform

Our Kinder children wear a uniform every day. To distinguish our young children from the rest of the school, they wear red sweaters.
Three times a week they wear their Winpenny tracksuit for physical education. They also have an art smock for art activities and warm clothing for the winter months.