The program offered to the children in Kindergarten and Prep at The Peninsula School is based on a developmental approach to Early Childhood Education. The underlying philosophy of this approach trusts children and treats them as partners in the learning process. This curriculum reflects the interests of the children and builds on their prior knowledge in the daily learning activities. It recognizes the need for different types of activities to accommodate individual learning styles.

Our program recognizes the need for familiarity within the learning environment and so, if you were to visit the Prep and Kindergarten rooms, you would notice that the rooms are similar in presentation. Some of the equipment is the same so that when the children come in on their first day of Prep, they can locate equipment with which they are familiar – they know how it works and this helps them to feel comfortable.

This type of curriculum removes the need for all children to have a chair and a desk. Rather it concentrates on developing different learning areas within the classroom – an area for dramatic play, a sensory area, a collage/creative area, a writing/communication area, a reading area, a construction area. These areas are flexible and work to extend the needs and interests of the children. Children learn best when their learning is meaningful, purposeful and fun.

In practical terms this means longer periods of active engagement and short, developmentally appropriate teaching – with a strong emphasis on literacy and numeracy. A developmental curriculum allows children to develop at their own pace. It is not an unstructured learning environment. It is a program that bases itself on planned learning experiences which recognize the individual developmental levels of the children in the group. It is no less rigorous than other programs, it is simply a different way of engaging children.