The Characteristics of Effective Learning

The ways in which young children interact effectively and successfully with the world around them is via the Characteristics of Effective Learning. We therefore actively foster these in our setting, in order to support young children’s abilities to learn, and to think for themselves. The three aspects of the Characteristics of Effective Learning are:

• Playing and Exploring
• Active Learning
• Creating and Thinking Critically

At Shrewsbury International School Phnom Penh, we recognise that self-initiated, play-based activities are the ideal opportunities for building and developing the vital Characteristics of Effective Learning in our children. The children are facilitated to try new experiences and tasks, and to work with new resources; to investigate and experiment; to be persistent and resilient even in the face of new challenges or difficulties; to develop their own ideas and original, creative thought; to make links between ideas; to develop their own strategies for doing things and solving problems; and to enjoy their resultant achievements.

The Prime Areas of Learning

The three Prime Areas describe universal core aspects of early child development and lay the foundations for all future learning. They are time sensitive because of biological factors that enable rapid brain connections, particularly in the first three years of life, but continuing throughout early childhood. Developmental steps missed at this early crucial stage are much harder to address later on, so it is of vital importance that children’s interactions and experiences in the first few years support development in these fundamental areas. The three Prime Areas of Learning are:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development

The Specific Areas of Learning

The Specific Areas of learning and development provide children with further, specific knowledge and skills to enable them to flourish in society. The four Specific Areas of Learning are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

As the adults in the Early Years setting gradually support children to know about and use these Specific Areas, they give children access to a wide scope of shared cultural and intellectual life in modern society, and the skills and knowledge needed to support them in all of their future learning.

Specialist Teaching in the Early Years

To further supplement the curriculum provided by the class teachers and our teaching assistants, we also have Specialist Teachers for the following subjects:

• Physical Education
• Swimming
• Music
• Mandarin
• Khmer

Our Specialist teachers further enhance the curriculum offered to our youngest learners. Via both discrete teacher-led lessons and via quality interactions during play throughout our Early Years environment, our children learn specialised skills, knowledge and techniques from our subject experts.

---