We recently hosted our Early Years Exhibition – a joyful celebration of our youngest learners’ interests, passions, and inquiries. This year, we saw everything from a student‑designed “pillow shop” exploring comfort, to carefully crafted habitats that sparked conversations about ecosystems and care for living things. There were original games that wove together rules, fairness, and number, as well as thoughtfully designed spaces for communing with nature or calming down and focusing. Behind every display was a child’s question, wonder, or line of inquiry.

The Early Years programme at NIS is grounded in the Reggio Emilia tradition and the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP). Both emphasise young children as capable, curious thinkers whose ideas are worthy of time and attention.

“A pedagogy of listening sits at the heart of this work,” explains Ms. Jacqui Patrick, Primary Principal. “Teachers listen closely to children’s words, observe their play, and notice the many ‘hundred languages’ they use to communicate – drawing, building, storytelling, movement, and sound. By documenting these expressions and posing thoughtful provocations, teachers extend thinking, make learning visible, and co‑construct next steps with the children.”

Within the PYP, inquiry is transdisciplinary. Rather than learning in isolated subjects, our youngest students connect concepts across language, mathematics, the arts, and personal, social, and physical education. In this way, classrooms become studios and laboratories where questions are tested, theories revised, and understandings developed.

These experiences intentionally cultivate Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills. Children practise communication as they narrate their ideas to peers and adults – collaboration as they negotiate turn‑taking, roles, and shared plans; thinking skills as they hypothesise, classify, and evaluate; research skills as they observe, record, and revisit documentation; and self‑management as they plan, tidy, persist, and regulate emotions.

Agency grows alongside these skills. In practical terms, agency means children have voice, choice, and ownership in their learning: they select materials, frame questions, set goals, and decide how to share their understanding. Teachers guide and scaffold, but do not predetermine every step – creating space for initiative, decision‑making, and reflection.

“When children experience their ideas being taken seriously, they develop confidence and a sense of self-efficacy,” says Ms. Patrick. “They believe ‘My thinking matters, I can try, I can improve.’”

We are proud of our youngest learners and their insatiable curiosity!