Fairchild Junior Academy

[EduCativ]

Fairchild Junior Academy is an inquiry-based early learning center where the development of the whole child in a play-focused environment is central to everything we do. Our teaching and learning are based on the British Columbia and Ontario, Canada, Early Learning Frameworks, as well as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) from the UK. Our teachers base their methods on the Reggio Emilia approach to facilitating learning.

Our mission is to cultivate curiosity, creativity, and confidence in each child through an inquiry-based approach to learning. Our vision is for Fairchild Junior Academy to be a place where:

• The ‘smile index’ is high within an atmosphere of happiness.
• Children love to come to school every day and know they are valued.
• Play is integral to learning as well as social, physical and emotional growth.
• Children build confidence but remain humble.
• Risk-taking and unfamiliar challenges are welcome.
• Children are inspired to be creative, curious, adventurous, and inquisitive.
• The staff is passionate about children and loves to be around them.
• Staff and parents support children through an inquiry-based, hands-on, and engaging approach to facilitate learning.
• The environment is the third teacher after the parents and teachers.
• Children will be fully prepared to enter the best local and international school programs in Hong Kong.

Fairchild Junior Academy has been inspired by the fundamental principles of the Reggio Emilia approach and is committed to interpreting these ideas.

• The child as the knowledge maker, collaborator, and communicator
• The teacher as partner, nurturer, guide, and researcher
• Cooperation as the foundation of the educational system
• The classroom environment as the “third teacher”
• The parents as our partner in their child’s learning journey

Children have a lifetime to be adults we encourage them to enjoy their childhood with playful, interesting, and developmentally appropriate activities. We create opportunities for exploration, creativity, and use of imagination. Growth and development are unique to the individual and are sensitive to each child’s time clock. We believe life is a journey and not a race.

A natural drive to play is universal across all young mammals, from lion cubs playfully wrestling and baby monkeys jostling to kittens rolling a ball of yarn. These young ones are exploring their world through play like humans.

Play is a crucial vehicle for exploring and learning, developing new skills, building relationships, and connecting with others.

The play has key neurological, cognitive, socio-emotional, and physiological benefits for children’s health. Pretend play has been linked to creativity and creative problem-solving. The play has been described as practice in divergent thinking because, in play, children are constantly coming up with new ideas and recombining them to create novel scenarios. Most importantly, play is how children form loving, trusting relationships. There is a close link between play and healthy cognitive growth.

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