• SHEPHERD HILL NURSERY PROSPECTUS

The goal of Shepherd Hill Nursery is to provide a Christian centred foundational education for children between the ages of 3 and 6 years of age.

Itemised below is a brief synopsis of our aims:

• Provide an environment that is stimulating and conducive to learning.
• Nurture their natural gifts and talents.
• Work with parents to help them learn.
• Give them the foundation they need to become upright citizens.
• Prepare them for Grade 1.

This prospectus (to be read in conjunction with our policies) is designed to give you better insight into our nursery which hopefully will answer many of your questions. Please note: the school runs on Private School Terms.

Policy

Copies of the school's policies are available to view at the Nursery school, please ask a member of staff.

Snacks and meals

All meals are provided by the school. Children are not encouraged to bring sweets or snack unless the child is on a special diet, upon which the Principal must then be duly informed.

Clothing

Physical activity is strongly encouraged and so we advise that you dress your child neatly but not in new clothes because they will get dirty.

Records of achievement

Progress Records will be available for parents twice a year, that is, end of June and end of November. However, you can make an appointment to see your child's teacher anytime during the term.

Toilets

We accept only children who are toilet trained, however we understand that accidents do happen and we handle this with compassion and understanding.

Curriculum

As we believe that education is more than academia, our curriculum has been developed to include the following programs to give a balanced foundation for a child:

a   Life Skills Development

b   Language and Literacy Development

c   Mathematical Development

d   Understanding and Appreciation of the world

e  Social graces and ethics

f   Arts and Culture

g   Bible Study

a.

Life Skills Development

Through various activities in this area, the child learns to be independent by using and coordinating his/her fine motor skills. Concrete materials will be used to teach Life Skills that will empower the child to look after himself/herself. Examples include, spooning, pouring, dressing, and taking care of the environment. Chromatic (colour), Tactile (touch), Thermic (temperature), Baric (weights), Olfactory (smell), Auditory (hearing), Visual (sight) and Gustatory (taste) activities will be applied to help develop and refine the use of his/her five senses.

b.

Language and Literacy Development

We introduce the child to the phonetic sounds of alphabets through concrete materials like the popular Sandpaper Letters. A gradual progression to reading and grammar is attained by allowing the child to develop at his/her own pace.

Ample use of Story Telling and Picture Reading will aid in developing the child's Pronunciation and Vocabulary respectively.

c.

Mathematical Development

It has been observed that children learn first by their 'senses'. Visual and Tactile senses play a major role in teaching mathematics and so we introduce the subject through concrete objects like the Sandpaper Numbers before advancing to the abstract techniques.

d.

Understanding and Appreciation of the World

The availability of technology in our homes has basically transformed our world into a global village. The child is made familiar with the global village through their introduction to:

a   Outer space: the planets, sun, moon, stars

b   People around the world: their homes, dressing, culture

c   Places: land and water formations, continents and countries

d   Eco-system: plants and animals .

Again we work from the concrete to abstract.

e.

Social Graces and Ethics

There is a gradual demise of manners in today's world, either through ignorance or apathy. We aim to correct this by instilling the necessary social graces in young children during their impressionable and formative years.

f.

Arts and Culture

The child is introduced to the Visual Arts through various mediums like: drawing, painting, use of charcoal, cutting and pasting, etc.

Introduction and appreciation of music from all parts of the world is taught through the concrete, for example musical instruments (tambourine, drums, shakers, etc .), and abstract methods for example listening forms.

Bible Study

As a Christian school, the study of the Bible through stories that: illustrate God's love and instructions for living, is a core feature of our curriculum. We teach this not only through reading of the Bible but also by example.

Personnel

The nursery school is run by Temi Oluwafemi a qualified Montessori Directress, with several years of experience teaching preschool in different countries. She has also been a Sunday School Teacher, a Qualified Youth Counselor and the head of various Youth Churches within the past ten years.