Bright Minds Academy & Preschool

onment, to believe in their own abilities and to develop the competencies they will need to facilitate their transition to school. Children come with experiences that vary according to their personal characteristics, family background and sociocultural background. It is therefore important to take each child's specific situation into account and build on the strengths encountered in each area of development. It provides avenues through which to observe the children to offer challenges adapted to their interests, needs and abilities, enriching their experiences and providing an environment and activities that will help them develop their full potential. With the intention of promoting success, our mission is as follows:

To foster the global development of all children:
Provide a reassuring, welcoming and inclusive environment
Cultivate enjoyment through exploration, discovery and learning
Lay the foundations for future schooling
To take preventative action:
Provide universal prevention activities
Provide targeted prevention activities

Three orientations are being used to pursue our main objectives , which are to foster the global development of all children and to take preventive action to meet their needs. These three orientations are: play, observation of the child's progress and classroom organization. Child led and learning through play:

Children have different strategies they can apply in order to learn, including imitating, observing, experimenting and questioning. However, play is the ideal way for children to learn and develop their full potential. A rich environment where children initiate play, especially symbolic play, with support from an adult, will allow them to explore, create, improvise, portray a role, manipulate and so on. Through play, children activate a sensorimotor and affective memory, acquire knowledge and concepts, structure their thoughts and expand their understanding of the world around them. When playing, they learn to develop their autonomy and their relationships with others. They make choices, decisions and discoveries, have ideas, develop scenarios and learn to concentrate and not get distracted. They make themselves understood, often act as conciliators or mediators, and find solutions to problems. Play is also a means of communication, expression and action, and it encourages children to be open to the world. Sufficient time and space should be set aside for each child to be actively engaged in play. When children know they have enough time to play, they are more likely to become fully invested. On the other hand, when they are not given enough time, the activity will remain superficial. Therefore, children should have two periods of between 45 and 60 minutes of free play every day and should be permitted to choose with whom and what they will play. In addition, they should have daily access to a range of quality outdoor play structures and materials that are age appropriate. The enjoyment and satisfaction that children derive from self-initiated play will motivate them to become fully engaged and to persevere. Play also helps with the development of mathematics, oral and written language, self-regulation, concentration and executive functions. With support from the adults, children are able to engage in learning situations based on a combination of play and real-life experiences, and hence begin to assume their role as active students. The importance of play is recognized as a key contributing factor in the global development of all preschoolers, whatever their needs and characteristics may be. Observation of the child's progress:

Observing children's progress requires paying attention to what is happening and what the children's words and actions reveal. Observation helps teachers identify the children's skills, knowledge, learning, interests, questions, attitudes, behaviours, processes, strategies and needs. Free play provides favourable opportunities to observe children and their interactions in a natural context. Observations made while children are carrying out activities in their zone of proximal development can help adults determine whether a child needs additional support and to provide the tools to foster development. From the perspective of taking early action, observing the child is important and presents opportunities to better target the interventions to be put in place. Teachers interpret their observations using their knowledge of global child development,3 the program and their professional judgment. They may also talk to others who work with the children to obtain additional information on progress outside the classroom. They can then use this information to make the children aware of what they have learned, adapt their interventions to the children's strengths and needs, and help them to progress. Classroom organization:

The classroom must be physically adapted to the needs of 3- to 6-year-old children and be both safe and easily accessible. It should be organized in such a way as to foster the children's participation and encourage them to explore different types of play (e.g. games that involve motor skills, manipulation of objects; symbolic play; construction games; board games). The materials and technological devices (e.g. puppets, books, musical instruments, digital games) made available to the children are tools for learning. Children should find a wide range of stimulating, diversified and adaptable materials, available in sufficient quantities, which they can use alone, in pairs, in small groups or as a class. The classroom, the gym, the schoolyard and the outdoor environment are all places where children can observe, explore, manipulate objects, reflect, use their imagination, exercise their memory, plan projects, test their abilities and develop their motor, emotional, social, language and cognitive skills. In order to provide a positive climate where children feel confident and safe, instructions should be clear, precise, consistent and coherent. Conflicts often arise between preschool-age children and provide authentic opportunities for learning. Children need to be guided through the process of conflict resolution so that they can gradually become able to resolve conflicts on their own. They should always feel that a respectful attitude is both encouraged and supported. School-family-community collaboration

The childcare and preschool team, the family and the community share the responsibility of working together on behalf of the child. In other words, preschool accommodates not only children, but their families too. This requires an inclusive stance that is sensitive to the families' needs. All parents want their children to develop their full potential and succeed. A close relationship between the family and the school is important in ensuring that children develop a positive image of school, so that they are able to settle in and feel confident learning. Families must therefore be recognized as indispensable allies in their children's educational success. The school team is familiar with the Weston community and educational childcare resources. School-community collaboration refers lo partnerships that can be established with community resources that work together (e.g. during transition activities) and ensure that they address the needs of children and families. It is important for this collaboration to continue throughout the child's journey at school. Recognition of the cultural dimension

Each family has their own culture. Culture provides an ideal context for contact with others. It is through contact with others that children expand and enrich their understanding of themselves and the world around them. Mutual understanding and discovery of others both play a role in bringing cultures closer together. It is important to highlight the richness of cultures, in order to appreciate their contribution to society. Our teachers pay particular attention to each child's mother tongue to ensure that diversity is welcomed and respected in the classroom. As vital communication tools for human activities, languages are a means of expression and an important element of cultural heritage. Where possible, connections should be made between the language of instruction and the child's mother tongue in order to facilitate communication and a sense of belonging. The children's cultural understanding can be fuelled through dialogue, experiences, play, stories, fairy tales, rhymes, literature, music, songs and the different subject areas (languages, mathematics, arts education, social sciences, science and technology, personal development). Children are introduced to practices from their own and other cultures through their social environment. Visits to cultural venues can also provide multiple opportunities to bring children into contact with authors, museum scientists and artists.