Philosophy Statement
At Beginnings, we believe that children encounter our school with a unique set of experiences, competencies, and possibilities. Our challenge is to offer children opportunities to build on these strong foundations, within an environment that supports and responds to each child as a competent learner.
As a dynamic faith, progressive Judaism embraces the challenges of the modern world. It highly values the education of young children, sharing the heritage of the faith and imbibing a sense of respect for self and others. We believe that all families, teachers and children have an equal contribution to make within the Beginnings community of learners. There is a shared sense of participation in the educational project of the centre. Individuals are empowered with opportunities to engage in reciprocal relationships, which are built and maintained, throughout the daily life of the school.
The essential element of our curriculum is learning through play, underpinned by the Foundation Stage of the National Curriculum. Using this medium, children and adults work in collaboration, constructing knowledge about the world around them. Play offers opportunities for learning and discovery using the expressive languages and literacies of the arts, sciences, technologies, and humanities. Time, space and materials are organised in a way that value and foster children's expression of ideas, theories and views, where possibilities and alternatives can be explored and extended. With listening and reciprocality as our pedagogical beliefs, adults and children are seen as learning partners and provocateurs for thinking.
We approach our educational project with great sensitivity and respect for the rights and potentials of all children at Beginnings. Friendship and a sense of community, authentic responses and the valuing of ideas by adults and peers, freedom of expression and the opportunity to use multiple literacies, are viewed as critical components for the growth and development of young children. It is crucial that connections are made with the real world, and that positive individual and democratic group identities are established, in order for our children to embrace the challenges of global citizenry in the future.