Wealden Times | WT265 | June 2024 | Education Supplement inside

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Creating the right environment for young children to
thrive is a fine art – Head of Pre Prep and Early Years at
Hilden Grange, Sheena Sowerby – shares how it’s done
Young children need a safe,
nurturing environment where
they feel happy and safe in
order to reach their full potential and
gain a true love of learning to carry
forward through education and beyond.
Here at Hilden Grange we combine
high expectations with excellent pastoral
care to create the best possible start to
school life. We don’t underestimate
what young children are capable of
and how much they can absorb. Our
children benefit greatly from our policy
of using specialist teachers. This starts
with drama, music and PE and it’s all
part of providing them with the right
conditions to achieve their full potential.
Scandinavian hygge has had a great
influence on us – our classrooms are a
home away from home. The children
wear their slippers indoors to make
them feel really comfortable and our
learning environment is really beautiful
– the wooden furniture is at child
height and we have lovely soft lighting
and a muted colour palette.
We’re also inspired by the Curiosity
Approach, which encourages children to
take risks and nurtures an enthusiasm
for knowledge and experience, using
real-world materials As a result, in our
home corner, for example, we have
china teapots, rather than plastic ones.
You’ll often find us hunting round
charity shops for fun things for the
children to play with. We have a record
player, binoculars, old cameras and all
sorts of interesting things for them to
experiment with around the classroom.
Outdoors we have a gorgeous space for
creative play and the development of
gross motor skills – including a lovely
hobbit house, a mud kitchen and a
huge sandpit where the children dig for
Australia!
It’s vital to find the hook to engage
youngsters’ curiosity and desire to learn.
We use a wide range of high quality
reading books to fire their imaginations.
Alongside the classics we have a brilliant
range of diverse authors from different
countries collated to add diversity and
broaden horizons. I highly recommend
Kathryn Otoshi. Her books are
beautiful and convey so much, using
very little wording. You can also always
rely on the good old favourites like
dinosaurs and pirates too, it’s important
to cater to all tastes.
We’re fortunate to have a fantastic
school community here, which is a vital
part of creating that happy atmosphere.
The size of the school really helps – it’s
not too big and not too small. Our everactive
parents’ group, Hilden Grange
Association, host events and help to
ensure new families feel welcome. Plus
our frequent open mornings provide a
fantastic opportunity to see the school
in action and meet key members of
staff.
Most of all it’s important to have fun
with the children, a sense of humour
is an integral part of working in Early
Years. I was delighted when a child
recently referred to my office days as the
days that I ‘go to work’ – they see my
teaching days as time that we all have
fun together.
Find out more about Hilden Grange
and their open days at hildengrange.co.uk
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