Our approach

At Little Stars our knowledgeable and experienced staff have shared, discussed, and evaluated a range of techniques used within the day-to-day running of Early Year settings and throughout our journey as a team to establish the most effective practise to do this.

We feel strongly that our current practise of in the moment planning alongside elements of the Curiosity Approach is highly effective in securing the development of confidence, curiosity, and independence in all our children.

In the moment planning puts a strong focus on child-led learning and valuable interactions. We take lead from our children’s current interests, experiences, and the world around us in the present moment. The practitioner’s role is to challenge children’s thinking and prompt their progression through ‘teachable moments’ so that the children are fully engaged in exploring their innate curiosity.

Little Stars Day Nursery is a Curiosity Approach accredited setting. This approach takes inspiration from theorists such Reggio Emilia, Steiner, Te Whariki and Montessori. Using The Curiosity Approach encourages our staff to be mindful of the resources they present to our children and how they are presented, with the focus being on encouraging awe and wonder, investigation, and valuable learning experiences. The approach encourages the use of loose parts alongside natural and authentic resources to create realistic open-ended experiences within the children’s play. This means that children have a multi-sensory experience and the freedom to explore everyday objects in a variety of ways.

Our staff encourage our children to explore fully with the focus being on the investigative process of an activity rather than the final product. Our activities and learning opportunities are presented through carefully thought through provocations and invitations to learn inspired by our children’s interests. Our staff scaffold and extend the children’s learning from this, through meaningful interactions.

We have found that our children are more engaged using curious resources and loose parts-based play. This has resulted in them developing confidence to share their ideas and interests with staff and peers and seek opportunities to further explore these.