Educational project in Pre-school

• They learn by playing through experiments, projects, scenarios and cooperative work.
• Public Speaking Programme:
• • Show and Tell
  • Drama Performances.
  • Child of the week.
  • Seasonal festivals and special events.

• Logical-mathematical thinking through manipulative mathematics.
• Use of technology as a resource for learning.
• Development of motor and cognitive skills.
• Language and musical expression.
• Artistic expression.
• Catholic Formation:
  • • We introduce our Infant pupils to friendship with Jesus and the Virgin Mary.
    • They are part of the activities that promote cooperation and generosity.
• Living the virtues.

To do this, we use various pedagogical approaches:

• Early Stimulation – Neuromotor Basic Development Programme (Early Basic Program). Within the early learning of the child, neuromotor development occupies a privileged space from birth to 7 years of age, as it is the root of the child’s intellectual development. Our programme, which starts from the age of 1 year, aims to achieve a correct neurological organisation through exercises and routines that help the nervous system to mature, form and consolidate neuronal circuits that will allow the assimilation of increasingly complex learning. The aim is to improve the development of laterality, bimanual function, favour hand-eye coordination and ocular convergence, detect possible future learning problems and stimulate the two hemispheres of the brain for later learning to read and write.

In addition to the psychomotor skills sessions, the programme includes a weekly swimming session for 2 and 3 year olds.

• Technological project – robotics and programming: from this stage they are introduced to educational robotics and computer programming using reprogramming codes to set a robot or Bee-bot in motion, which favours the development of spatial perception, the order of actions, anticipation and the development of hypotheses.
• Chess: the aim is to turn the classroom into a mental gymnasium to develop thinking and encourage values and social skills.
• Emotional education: through the Botín Foundation’s Responsible Education Programme and the Learning to Live Together project, pupils are taught to recognise and express their emotions. These activities favour the physical, emotional, intellectual and social growth of people, promote communication and improve coexistence in schools.
• Project-based learning: learning through projects is eminently experiential learning, as students learn to investigate, to do and to reflect on what they do in contexts of situated and authentic practices.

Catholic Formation

We want everyone in the school to live the experience of feeling loved by Jesus Christ and to live the faith in a natural way in their daily lives.

Our pupils discover their faith through the experiences offered by the liturgical cycle of the church: the month of the rosary, Advent, Christmas, Holy Week procession, the month of the Virgin Mary and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus among other experiences.

Family Activities

Aware that parents are the first and foremost educators of their children, we are committed to collaborating with them in their task. That is why Higlands School considers that families are also protagonists and therefore we encourage their presence and participation in Parents’ Schools, couples’ meetings and other diverse activities. In addition, we have a special day dedicated to grandparents and numerous family activities such as the Verbena, Pubic Classes, etc.

Communication channels:

• Alexia: our digital platform offers the possibility of sending and receiving messages from teachers/tutors/coordinators, consulting timetables, circulars and educational notices, homework, grades, receipts, etc. So that every family is duly informed of all the school’s activities and in school-family communication.
• Digital diary.
• Tutorials.

Child of the week:

As part of our educational programme each of our Infant pupils enjoy a week as the stars of the class and can come dressed up as their favourite characters. In this way they strengthen their confidence and self-esteem, begin to learn to speak in public and work on social skills.

Internationalisation

We believe in the importance of languages as an essential vehicle for our pupils to develop in an international environment.

Pupils are taught in a 100% English immersion environment in 1,2,3 and 4 years old and 50% from the age of 5. Our daily practice is based on experimentation through play and multisensory activities.

We encourage participation in different events throughout the year to bring them closer to Anglo-Saxon culture. Some of them are: Thanksgiving Day, Sports Day, Science week, etc.

Digital competence

We have classrooms equipped with PDI and other devices as learning tools that allow our pupils to develop interactive activities and to be introduced to multimedia languages, as well as providing them with the ICT skills that are present in their daily lives and that will be key to their education and their lives.

We gradually incorporate programming and robotics through interactive whiteboards, smartboards and bee-bots, educating them in responsible use.

With this we want to awaken the motivation of our students, encourage their creativity, develop their autonomy, reinforce their social skills by having to work in teams and collaboratively, encourage their critical thinking by finding obstacles and learning to solve them as part of the process.

Social Action Campaigns

We encourage solidarity with others as a family from Infants so that our pupils feel committed to this society.