Wellbeing at the heart of our new Early Years at Wellington College International Pune

 Conrad Botha, Head of Early Years explains how wellbeing and involvement are considered the key elements of all aspects of this founding team.

“At Wellington College International Pune we believe that a happy, involved child is one who can experience the world at its fullest, and high levels of involvement coupled with high levels of wellbeing is the perfect recipe for deep learning and development.” WCIP EY Curriculum, 2023

For us, play is seen as the perfect state for children to exhibit the Characteristics of Effective Learning, as it is often during play that children have their highest levels of Wellbeing and Involvement, or what is sometimes referred to as the ‘flow state’; the feeling of being intensely focussed and almost losing the sense of time passing by because they are so absorbed in what they are doing. In recent months we have seen the development and implementation of the NCF (National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage, 2022) across early years settings in India, making available evidence from global best practices placing play at the core of curricula, pedagogy, time and content rhythms, and the overall experience of the child.

The characteristics of effective teaching and learning

In planning and guiding what children learn, practitioners must reflect on the different rates at which children are developing and adjust their practice appropriately. Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:

playing and exploring

children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’

active learning

children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements

creating and thinking critically

children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

Statutory framework for the EYFS, 2021

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