How 22 Street Lane Facilitates Child Development
We love our nursery. We have worked very hard to create an environment that is spacious, clean and fully kitted out, down to the uniforms. We’ve won awards for our branding and design work on the building, which we completely transformed from the delipidated state it was once in. More important than anything though, we are immensely proud of our ability to deliver enriching childcare that offers the youngsters in our care the best possible start in life.
You don’t have to be a psychologist to know how crucial the first five years of a person’s life are, and the experiences had during this time shapes the long-term development of their personality, of their intelligence, and their ability to cope with stress. More than ever, professionals from a diverse range of fields are moving towards the constructivist model of child development, made famous by Lev Vygotsky and Jean Piaget.
In simple terms constructivism is an empowering stance on the child’s mind: believing them to be naturally curious, who learn through play and exploration, and scaffold their understanding with the support of more experienced others, i.e. grownups. The great thing about this school of thought is that it moves away from ‘nature’ perspective that errs more towards children’s developmental outcomes being the result of their genetic make-up including sex, ethnicity and gross size. This is now understood to be a very restrictive theory and there is very little empirical evidence supporting the belief that a successful upbringing is purely dependent upon biology alone.
22 Street Lane Nursery puts this approach into practice, having adopted the Reggio Emilia model of pedagogy. This involves facilitating our children’s inquisitiveness by providing plentiful and diverse resources in an environment that is safe, warm and appeals to their sensory development with light and colour. Moreover, all of our qualified practitioners act as the more experienced elders that guide learning by encouraging play and open communication.
In addition to this however, a strong bond of trust and mutual respect must also be established with every child: this ensures secure attachment which is crucial for developing self-esteem, and ability to form and maintain new relationships. As such, we have made certain that there is a low grownup-to-child ratio, and everyone has an assigned key worker who has a comprehensive understanding of their individual needs and monitor their developmental progress.
Ensuring cohesive and consistent childcare provision goes beyond the nursery environment and the relationship the children have with our practitioners, the parents are important too! We at 22 Street Lane Nursery strongly believe that it is just as important to empower parents by encouraging feedback and maintaining great relationships with them, not just for their benefit but also to better enable a seamless transition from home to nursery to home again.
After all, the children don’t stop learning once they’ve left nursery for the day, and so if everyone is on the same page regarding what is important for a child’s development then they’re far more likely to grow with confidence and a curiosity that will see them through their whole lives.