The International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) is an innovative enquiry-based curriculum, recognizing global best practice and the developmental needs of 2-5 year old’s. The IEYC uses international best practices, holistic enquiry and play-based approaches that cover all curriculum areas including personal, social and emotional development. Informed by new research, and feedback from schools around the world, the IEYC was developed to meet the needs of children at this crucial stage of their development.

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Eight Learning Principles

The IEYC has eight Learning Principles, each conveying a belief considered essential to students’ learning and development. The Learning Principles form the foundation of all Hamilton IEYC policies and practices.

• The earliest years of life are important in their own right.
• Students should be supported to learn and develop at their own unique pace.
• Play is an essential aspect of all students’ learning and development.
• Learning happens when developmentally appropriate, teacher-scaffolded and child- initiated experiences harness students’ natural curiosity in an enabling environment.
• Independent and interdependent learning experiences create a context for personal development and are the foundation of international mindedness.
• Knowledge and skills development lead to an increasing sense of understanding when students are provided with opportunities to explore and express their ideas in multiple ways.
• Ongoing assessment, in the form of evaluation and reflection, is effective when it involves a learning-link with the home.
• Learning should be motivating, engaging and fun, opening a world of wonder for students where personal interests can flourish.

At Hamilton, the eight Learning Principles are intrinsically linked to a unique IEYC Process of Learning which is underpinned by a set of four Learning Strands. Each Learning Strand provides descriptions of what students will experience and learn about through purposeful, contextualized activities woven into IEYC units of learning. The units of learning are carefully designed around a central theme, holistically linking all four Learning Strands to relevant and engaging learning challenges that can be adapted and extended to meet individual needs. The units are based around exciting themes aimed at capturing students’ natural curiosity. The IEYC at Hamilton is complimented by exciting specialist subjects: music, ICT, physical education and swimming, and opportunities for learning Arabic, French and Spanish.

Delivery of the IEYC entails careful consideration of a balance between child-led and adult-led learning. At Hamilton, we celebrate learning through a process of Getting Better! In Early Years, children are provided with learning challenges through which we celebrate their success and encourage them to Keep On Trying! when things are tricky! Activities often involve a whole class or small group input, during which the children are brought together and introduced to learning challenges. The children are then invited to explore the learning challenge through the environment and adult-planned activities. Adults in the classroom extend children’s learning by scaffolding play, introducing resources and through conversations and questions. At Hamilton, we value the voices of children and have introduced Helicopter Stories as a platform through which children can share their passions, elements of their imagination and develop their communication and social skills.

Each of our Early Years classrooms are filled with play-based, purposeful learning provision including small world, creative, role play, construction, fine motor, mark-making, and number resources. Our passionate teachers use engaging resources to invite children into learning experiences in both the inside and outside classrooms. The children in Early Years also have access to an Adventure Playground, where they can develop their gross motor skills; the Sensory Room, where they can explore their senses in a safe and fun environment and Shared Learning Areas which act as an extension to the classroom and are developed alongside the children’s interests, learning needs and the unit of learning.

At Hamilton, we understand that working in partnership with parents is crucial to ensure that each individual child reaches their potential. In the Early Years, we have an open-door policy at drop-off and pick-up times to ensure that parents are able to communicate with teachers about the changing needs of their children. Communication with parents is supported through thewhole school Class Dojo, through which parents can send messages directly to their child’s class teacher. Alongside direct messages, the teacher is able to post group photographs and whole-class information on the Class Dojo ‘story.’ Additionally, in the Early Years, teachers use the Online Learning Journal, Tapestry to share observations of Amazing Learning with parents. Equally, we encourage parents to share learning experiences from home as this helps us to better understand your child and how we can best build on their learning. Each half-term, parents are invited to a Focus Meeting during which the teacher and parent discuss progress and next steps for the child’s learning and development.