Understanding the World

Understanding the World involves the children making sense of the world through their own observations and explorations. This area of learning is so open ended and lends itself to child-led learning which we love at HCJS.

We look at People & Communities, discussing our families’ traditions and sharing celebrations and helping the children to understand and value different customs, faiths and cultural backgrounds. We give the children a wide variety of different experiences so that they may draw observations, ask questions and discuss the similarities and differences of places, objects, materials and living things. This might mean trapping polar animal toys in ice, making jelly to talk about liquids and solids or making observations on aspects of the weather. We might have the International Space Station within our classroom or find ourselves building igloos outside with our construction kits!

The globe is at the centre of all our discussions, but importantly the children’s interests lead the direction of learning. Their enthusiasm and enjoyment is the key to effective learning.

This area of learning also incorporates technology which our Reception children experience daily through the use of interactive whiteboards, iPads and various software packages. 

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