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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. View full school

Our vision for the school is to produce responsible young people of whom we can all be proud, who have achieved more than they ever believed possible, and who are prepared to contribute to their local, national, and global communities. We firmly believe that learning never stops. The school motto “Make it Happen Together” states the vision for a safe, purposeful, and aspirational environment at Thomas Fairchild. We strongly believe that it is important for our whole school community to treat each other with respect and to inspire each other to succeed. We are working to secure good outcomes for all of our children and believe they should have the chance to learn, achieve, enjoy and understand their role within the local school community. Children can join our nursery a term after they become three years old. You can register your child to attend our nursery at any time, our waiting list is not based on a first come first served policy. We manage the list based on the guidance from The Hackney Learning Trust regarding Nursery admissions. Like all state-funded primary schools, we follow the national curriculum, ensuring that we are meeting or exceeding national standards wherever possible. This isn’t just about reading, writing, and maths – it includes a wide range of subjects, and knowing about what your child is studying at school can help you support their learning at home. These subjects form an integral role in our Creative Curriculum. Our curriculum is planned in consultation with all members of staff. A Curriculum Working Party, which consists of teaching staff and members of the senior leadership team, then collate information gathered. This is then given to staff, to be used to inform planning. Teachers plan to learn experiences that promote a cross-curricular approach. Literacy and communication skills lie at the heart of our curriculum. At the start of each new curriculum theme all children are given a novel to read for enjoyment during holidays and as a basis for their learning in the forthcoming term. We want every child at Thomas Fairchild to start the day with everything they need to learn effectively a fundamental element of this is a healthy, filling breakfast. The chance to socialize with peers & adults, to keep fit & play also play an important role in readying children for the day ahead. A great way to start the day. The breakfast club benefits from supplies from Greggs the bakery that is sponsored by UBS. Family pottery is a 5-week course for parents and children to learn and create something using pottery techniques with a professional tutor and potter called Tunde. A total of 10 families participated and it was mainly offered to Year 6 children and their parents/carers as it would be their last term working together in a primary school environment. Each term communal displays reflect an area of the taught curriculum. Links are made with the whole school theme. Each year group creates a display to reflect the term’s learning. There is also an informative curriculum display that reflects what the terms theme is and the thematic focus for each year group. The STAR Writer display is a celebration of children’s writing. This display is changed every two weeks and STAR writers are announced in the newsletter and in the Celebration Assembly, where the children receive a certificate in recognition of their writing. Additional curriculum displays include a dedicated maths display and an assessment for learning display. We aim for the children’s computing learning to fit within Thomas Fairchild’s wider thematic curriculum. We want the children to use a blend of logical thinking and creativity to solve problems that are real and relevant. We use resources from the Switched On Computing program of study that gives the children an experience of technology’s real-world applications, for example in Game Development, Architecture, and Cryptography. There is an emphasis on practical experience of writing computer programs. Our aim in teaching mathematics at Thomas Fairchild is to develop in children a love of number, pattern, and shape that also equips them for later life whether they use maths in their career or everyday life. Where possible, we teach maths in a cross-curricular way, for example through science, IT, and design technology. Mathematics is a fascinating subject in itself in addition to being an important skill for most careers. We hope the mathematical skills children learn in Thomas Fairchild provide a solid foundation for later life and inspire in them a love of this subject. View full school