Karen Kilkenny, Head of Chapter House and Queen’s Kindergarten shares how natural spaces and child-led authentic learning makes their EYFS provision so special.
If you step into our Early Years setting, you will see happy children who are curious about the world and who love coming to school. Children learn best through an inquisitive and explorative approach. For our youngest learners, play is powerful and it is serious work. We delight in seeing them challenge themselves and in working, communicating, leading, following, negotiating, and laughing together.
Our EYFS teachers and practitioners share a passion for Early Childhood and recognise that a child’s early years fundamentally shape the rest of their lives. Positive relationships are at the heart of our school setting, and we continually set the scene for meaningful learning and connection to take place. We have been inspired by many approaches, particularly the Reggio Emilia method, which views the child as infinitely capable and has helped our current children to surpass the personal, emotional and social development of previous cohorts.
Through research and trial, we have discovered so much about the significance of early brain development, healthy attachment, the dependencies, crossovers and influences within developmental areas, and the importance of authentic learning. We are always auditing our play spaces to provide safe learning environments that encourage independent, open-ended and natural learning. Our setting for babies to Reception is an established ‘planning in the moment’ environment because when children can select where, with what, and how to play, they become deeply involved in their play and thus make significant progress. For example, in our Reggio-inspired ‘Atelier’ arts and crafts area, children are not creating based on a chosen topic. Instead, they are provided with a woodwork bench, painting wall, textiles table, observational drawing set up, clay, and junk modelling materials, to provoke their own creativity and discovery.
Our indoor spaces are noticeably different to other EYFS settings. Long gone are the buckets of plastic toys, the pre-made pots of dough, and the wipeable furniture and in its place is a calming and nurturing haven of soft, warm fairy lights, natural ‘found materials’, wooden furniture, soft neutral furnishings, a faux fireplace and natural loose parts that are built for experimentation and imagination. The beautiful spaces act as a ‘third teacher’, creating a homely place of magic and wonder that facilitates exploration and learning.
We foster the core EYFS skills of communication and language, literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, and personal, social and emotional development, with multiple opportunities to repeat experiences, master skills and consolidate knowledge. Our accessible areas support independence, allowing children the confidence to take charge of their learning and initiate their own ideas. Ambiguous resources, with no pre-determined use or outcome, let children interpret and handle their experiences in a way that is meaningful to them, and by providing the ingredients of play, our children learn more about processes, like when they use flour and salt to create dough, before they cut, shape and roll it.
Our busy timetable has been carefully considered. Children have plenty of time to become engrossed and invested in their play; leading to high levels of engagement and learning, with our swimming, music, physical education, library time and ‘Movement for Learning’ sessions spaced throughout the week at the beginning or the end of the day.
Outdoor learning is incredibly important to us, and we help children fall in love with the natural world. Research suggests that “all of us, particularly children, are spending more time indoors, which makes us feel alienated from nature and perhaps more vulnerable to negative moods or reduced attention span,” (Louv, 2005). At Chapter House, we believe that a happy childhood begins in the great outdoors and see our environment as one big play space where children can free flow between the inside and the outside. The afternoons spent in our fabulous onsite forest are the highlight of our week, with children following their own interests: searching for minibeasts, climbing trees, hiding from The Gruffalo and making dens.
Chapter House School for ages 3 months to Year 5 is part of Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate and is known for its state-of-the-art facilities, extra-curricular programme, and lovely family feel. Rated as ‘Outstanding’ across all EYFS areas in 2023, the inspection report praised the 'excellent care and learning experiences that the setting provides’. In 2024, Queen’s Kindergarten was once again recognised as a Day Nurseries Top 20 nursery throughout Yorkshire and the Humber.
To learn more, visit www.qe.org/chapter-house, email admissions@qe.org to book a tour or join our Saturday 25th January Open Morning.
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