Early Years

The Early Years programme at ICS Milan is dedicated to children between the age from one to five years and is divided between the Nursery and the Kindergarten.

The pedagogic program that we follow at ICS Milan is the UK Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (EYFS). This framework is based on 4 underpinning principles:

• UNIQUE CHILD
  Every child is seen as a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;
   
• ENABLING ENVIRONMENTS
  The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning;
   
• POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
  Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a Key Person;
   
• LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
  Children learn and develop in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development are equally important and interconnected.

Within the EYFS learning is broken down into seven key areas:

PRIME AREAS OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT:	SPECIFIC AREAS OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT:
Social and Emotional Development Physical Development Communication and Language	Maths Literacy Understanding the World  Expressive Arts and Design

In ICS Milan there is a strong focus on the social and emotional aspects of learning. Experiences and learning opportunities are presented to the children in a context of meaningful play, balanced with child-initiated activities, to ensure that children can learn in an environment that is active and engaging. This allows them to be creative, to think critically and to take risks in order to achieve more. Through close observation, each practitioner ensures that she can provide effectively for the needs of every child in her key group.