Community
Our community is central to who we are and our children are a key part of that. We want to help our children share the joy of our outward-facing ethos and our appreciation of different cultures and languages. Here are some of the ways we work together with those around us.
Parent Partnership.
Working in partnership with parents and/or carers is fundamental to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).
Consulting you about your child’s early experiences helps us plan for effective learning at the setting and helps us support you in continuing your child’s learning and development at home.
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​At Woodland Wanderers, we believe a strong parent partnership is the best foundation for a child's development during their time with us. We welcome the opportunity to work with parents and carers to monitor individual learning and development.
My Montessori Child
Our interactive Montessori learning platform (My Montessori Child) shares information between home and setting and each child has their own profile which grows with them over time. Here, our team also share ‘WOW’ moments and information relevant to each specific child. And look out for our weekly bright and colourful newsletters which give parents a snapshot of our busy and fun weeks!
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Parents can attend three parent-teacher meetings about their child’s progress each term, as well as receiving a written termly report.
And we love inviting parents to our workshops – a fantastic way to give our mums and dads the tools needed to support learning at home.
Charity.
(simply helping someone in need)
We aim to lead by example when raising responsible citizens of the world, by caring for humanity and society. Each year we partner with a different charity which aligns with our values and make this a class project. We use this as an opportunity to develop the children’s understanding of the world around them, demonstrating how actions - no matter how small - can have a positive impact. From fundraising to discussing community issues with parents and children, these exercises all raise awareness of the world around us. We want to help children realise that positive actions can have a knock-on effect and embrace the art of generosity.
Alongside this, we integrate charity into the day-to-day of our curriculum through being active participants in our local community, from litter-picking to recycling our own waste. The best way to make a meaningful impact is to be actively involved in the cause.
Here are some great ideas for discussing charity with children (source: givingtuesday.org.uk):
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Show them that they already do it.
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Let them choose their own causes.
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Make it a community affair.
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Time can be a valuable act of charity.
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Celebrate.
We encourage gratitude. In addition to kindness and compassion, gratitude is another everyday feature of our learning.
A general sense of gratitude encourages compassion and fuels the desire to give back.
Through our curriculum we explore random acts of kindness and paying it forward: Ask your children to do something nice for three other people each time someone does something nice for them, to teach them to share the joy of receiving. It’s cool to be kind.