Early Childhood Center (ECC)

Welcome,

Our ECC is a very special and fun place where children, parents, and teachers come together to build amazing communities and life-long friends. Here at ISW, your children are encouraged, inspired and nurtured to discover, experience and learn about the world around them. The indoor and outdoor areas of our Center are uniquely designed, furnished, and resourced for very young children to be mentally and socially active and engaged, building meaningful connections with their environment and community. During your child's early childhood education, the students will develop important life skills and early language and math skills to prepare them for school and help them to transition successfully. Students also have the opportunity to engage in music, art and PE classes, taught by specialist teachers. Our fantastic team are all qualified teachers, and passionate about children’s learning. We offer high quality learning programs aimed to give children a love of lifelong learning.

Your fellow educator,
Dr. Phil Williams
ECC Director

This document provides parents and students will all the information they need about our ECC program, expectations and procedures.

CURRICULUM

The ISW curriculum provides a holistic program that balances the development of concepts, skills and character. Our approach focuses on the total growth of the developing child addressing social, physical, emotional and cultural needs in addition to academic welfare.

Our program focuses on guided inquiry, collaboration and communication as approaches to teaching and learning to provide an environment that fosters the development of problem solving and critical thinking as well as subject competencies.

We guide them on this road to discovery with our research-based standards and assessments along six developmental domains:

LANGUAGE AND LITERACY DEVELOPMENT

Involves children’s abilities to convey their ideas, thoughts, and feelings through speaking and writing, and their ability to demonstrate early reading skills.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION

Focuses on the development of skills necessary for learning, such as self-regulation, attention, and persistence.

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Supports your child’s ability to express and regulate feelings and develop relations with others.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT AND WELLNESS

Gives your child opportunities to build large- and small-muscle skills, strength, stamina, and knowledge needed to live a healthy lifestyle.

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Supports the mental processes needed to think, make sense of the world, and understand knowledge across different subjects, including mathematics, science, and social studies.

CREATIVE EXPRESSION

Helps your child creatively explore the arts, movement, drama, and music.

SUPPORT

At ISW we understand all too well that living abroad and going to school away from home and old friends can be challenging for children of all ages. The difficulties they struggle with are not always visible or clearly expressed. If not addressed, this can affect their behavior as well as their academic performance.

COUNSELING

Our school counselor, Ms. Lianne Ong, meets with students who may be having emotional or social difficulties and help determine the best courses of action, which may include a recommendation of counseling. Conversations are confidential. Counselors are available on campus to individuals or groups of students for discussion of problems relating to emotional growth, social adjustment, academic achievement or any other issue.
Appointments may be made by emailing or visiting Ms. Ong.

School Counselor

MS. LIANNE ONG
lianne.ong@iswuxi.com

Co-Curricular Activities

The best learning is active and engaged. It can be found in ordinary places.These activities energize students and help them to see the holistic connections between mind, body, and spirit. Activities outside the classroom are not merely add-ons to the core curriculum. They are a continuous enrichment, a way to sustain and deepen learning.

At ISW we believe that co-curricular activities are an important part of education that extends beyond the classroom. Co-curricular activities provides motivation for learning, character building, physical growth ad creativity while developing confidence and educating the whole child. Students are encouraged to participate and explore all opportunities that interest them. Students who are involved in Co-curricular opportunities become more invested in the school experience, therefore increasing the opportunity for higher academic performance and social well-being.

VISUAL ARTS

ECC students use paint, clay, collage, sculptural and digital media to explore artistic expression in a structured and supportive environment. One of the main goals of the art program is to familiarize students with an art studio setting and teach them to navigate safely and confidently through this space. In addition, they learn about artists, art movements and how to move from concept to creation. Students learn the vernacular of art and build a vocabulary that grows with them as they progress from grades K-5.

PERFORMING ARTS

Movement, singing, and playing are second nature to children. Our ECC school performing arts curriculum uses the Kodaly approach to music education, which takes full advantage of these innate skills. Spoken word with rhymes, games, songs, and dances become learning tools as students are encouraged to improvise, compose, and interact musically as a group.

LIBRARY TIME

The ability to read starts way before a students can identify letters and their sounds. It starts with children watching others read to them and individually looking at the pictures within a book ti imagine the story. Our ECC students have an opportunity once a week to spend time listening to engergetic readers and checking out books that they can take home and read with their parents.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Physical education helps children develop physical as well as social-emotional skills to become healthier young people through different sports and games. Sportsmanship, work ethic, communication, and inclusion are daily lessons woven into each activity. Classes use a number of facilities including our gymnasium, climbing wall, synthetic turf soccer field, and exercise room. The end goal is building confidence, self-worth, and problem solving through a physically active lifestyle.

ECC Assembly

Every afternoon, the entire ECC division gets together to sing sings, play games, enjoy nature and read with older students. This is a purposeful time for building positive relationships and community withing our entire ECC division.

Ready to check us out?

We would love to have you come for a visit to our school.