Psychosocial and Emotional Environment
A child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support.
~ Kate Middleton
Our core focus is supporting all children to reach their fullest potential. To form a strong learning foundation during the early years of education, we support fundamental developmental areas influencing children's learning, such as their emotions and social well-being.
Children's social and emotional needs must be met before achieving the fulfilment of their talents and potential; this is especially important during early childhood. At BISS Preschool, we encourage children to engage in sociodramatic play, where they learn how to cope with feelings, explore roles, share, take turns and cooperate.
As children learn through purposeful, quality play experiences, they build critical thinking skills for cognitive development and academic achievement. These include verbalisation, language comprehension, vocabulary, imagination, questioning, problem-solving, observation, empathy, cooperation skills, and the perspectives of others.
In our preschool, we value flexible routines so the children experience predictability, which creates a feeling of safety in the learning environment. We have circle time every day, where we do the attendance, sing songs, talk about the weather, and express our thoughts, ideas, wonderings, and feelings. We read books that reinforce the capabilities and attributes embedded in the BISS Preschool Core Values we aspire for our students to aim to embody.
At the beginning of the year, we make a classroom agreement with the children, where they voice their views and ideas about the expected behaviours in preschool. By having the children help write the code of behaviours, they feel empowered and are more motivated to respect each other and their learning environments. Consistency is integral to creating a feeling of safety for the children while providing them with the guidance and boundaries to interact respectfully with each other, their teachers, and their environment.
When a new child starts at BISS Preschool, all the children are encouraged to show empathy by reminding them how to accept and care for new friends. We use this opportunity to work with themes like friendship, sharing, self-identity, and building confidence.
