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“I am the Good Shepherd; I know my own and my own know me”. John 10:14"
At The Good Shepherd, we believe that children learn through imaginative and purposeful play and high-quality adult interaction during play results in deep learning experiences.
Driven by our school mission statement: ‘Love one another as I have loved you. With love at the core of all we do, at The Good Shepherd we love to learn together and learn to love together,’ we strive at all times to offer an outstanding, holistic, Catholic education, in which not only religion is viewed as the ‘core of the core’, but where our faith is embedded in all areas of the curriculum, and of school-life in general. In the Gospel of John 10:10 Christ encapsulates perfectly the mission to which we have been called:
"I have come that they may have life, and that they have it more abundantly."
The translation of the Greek word for abundantly - over and above; exceeding expectation; immensely blessed, is at the root of our curriculum. Our vision in the EYFS is to prepare children at The Good Shepherd to be lifelong learners, growing into emotionally confident individuals, skilled at expressing themselves. Plentiful opportunities are provided for children to develop their own play and independent exploration and we aim to make it as enjoyable and motivating as we can. The adults in the setting ‘scaffold’ children's learning by giving them just enough help to achieve something they could not do independently. Helping children to think, discuss and plan ahead is important, like gathering the materials they need to make a den before they start building. These are ways we help children to develop the characteristics of effective learning.
When children are at earlier stages of development than expected, we notice what they enjoy doing and also find out where their difficulties lie. We give them extra help so that they become secure in the earlier stages of development. It is not helpful to wait for them to become ‘ready’. For example, children who are not speaking in sentences are not going to be able to write in sentences. We provide them with lots of stimulating experiences to help them develop their communication. We spend time listening to them and having conversations with them.
We strive to give every child the best start in their early years. We give them what they need today and set them up with every chance of success tomorrow.