Early Years

Welcome to TKS Early Years

Tiffany Hill

Early Years Principal

In Kindergarten, we use the PYP Early Years framework to guide our curriculum. It provides an inquiry-driven, play-based program where children are empowered to be active participants in their own learning. Through play, our children inquire, question, wonder and theorize about themselves, others and the world around them.

With 430 students from 75 different nationalities in Kindergarten, we’re proud of our diverse and inclusive school community. Our Early Childhood program serves students in Grades K1 (age 3) - to K3 (age 5), and is on a dedicated developmentally appropriate campus.

We focus on enhancing children's natural curiosity about the world around them. We value the uniqueness of each child as a learner and the need to create an environment that is safe and secure. Establishing positive relationships is vital to success for our children and their families, who entrust us to provide a setting that values fostering a strong home-school connection.

As early childhood educators, we are open-minded and culturally sensitive. We individualize learning outcomes which include a differentiated approach to the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes as each child builds on their working theories of the world they inhabit. We use their prior knowledge and previous experiences as a basis for further learning, as together we engage in authentic instructional experiences. Finding a balance between the academic, physical, social, and emotional development within our play-based environment is an integral part of early childhood education.

These important links are our Kindergarten Philosophy Statement and our TKS Mission Vision and Value Statements. These guiding statements help to focus our work in the kindergarten.

I am sure your connection with TKS Kindergarten will be a positive one and we look forward to working in partnership with you.

Early Years (EY) Overview

In Early years we use the PYP framework to guide our curriculum. These Guiding Statements underpin our daily practice:

Our children are encouraged to be active and take thoughtful risks, to recognize their own accomplishments, to take responsibility for their actions and to develop resilience and positive self-esteem. Our teachers are co-learners, collaborators, researchers, and facilitators of learning.

We follow the IB Primary Years Program (PYP) curriculum and are inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, ‘an educational philosophy based on the image of a child with strong potentialities for development and a subject with rights, who learns through the hundred languages belonging to all human beings, and grows in relations with others.’ This combination provides us with a child-centered, play-based approach in which teachers work closely with children as they construct their ever-broadening understanding of the world as well as themselves.

Our Early Years is made up of three grade levels with an age range of 4 -7 years - K2, K3 and G1