At Westgate Christian Academy Early Childhood, we see ourselves as partners with parents in helping children learn to trust God, as well as grow academically. The preschool program is planned to cater to each child’s interests and needs, and to foster the development of abilities, attitudes and skills which will prepare the child for ever increasing spiritual and academic understanding.

In preschool, children learn by participating in a great variety of activities both within, and occasionally outside, the Preschool facility. The most natural way for a preschool-aged child to learn is through play, observation, trial and error, and by doing things themselves. There will be a curriculum in place to make sure all fundamentals are covered, however, the style of learning will be flexible, open-ended, and child-led in order to cater to the wide range of interests, needs and abilities in a preschool classroom.

In Early Childhood classrooms, children are encouraged to:

1. express themselves and communicate with others
2. understand basic concepts which help them understand their world
3. develop self-confidence
4. make friends
5. share and cooperate with others
6. develop physical skills
7. develop a positive attitude toward learning

Many people still remain unsure as to what preschool is all about! Early Childhood education is not “babysitting” - it is about the development of important skills - those which are needed in everyday living, in relationships with other people, and in being prepared for success in school. We strive to help each child work to their full potential, in all areas, and to have them feel good about themselves and their prospects for success in school.

All children learn differently - just as adults do. Some are auditory learners, some kinesthetically and others visual. Our goal is to tap into your child’s strengths and build a program around their specific needs!

A child’s play is his or her work. It is the avenue through which children make sense of the world around them. Through interaction with their environment and other people, they develop emotionally, socially, intellectually, physically and spiritually. Due to the uniqueness of each child, we don’t expect everyone to reach the same level at the same time. What we strive for is to capture the learning interests and curiosity of each individual, and provide an environment where each feels free to explore, inquire, and test the world around him without fear of failure.

As we do this, we base our instruction on what is known as the “Constructivist” model. The research behind this approach tells us that children can best learn through hands-on experiences. By being actively involved in the learning process, the child constructs his/her knowledge base by participating in developmentally appropriate activities. These opportunities for learning come through learning centers set up throughout the classroom, each center dealing with one of the areas of development. These “areas of development” are:

• Language
• Social Development
• Motor Development
• Cognitive Development
• Spiritual Development

The classroom is child-centered and children are given choices as to the activities they wish to do. The teacher’s role is that of facilitator, helping each child gain maximum benefit from each learning experience.

Project Construct is the philosophy that guides our instruction. It is based on four principles of child development and related practices:

1. Children have an intrinsic desire to make sense of the world. What they genuinely need to know, and are genuinely interested in, drives their learning.
2. Children actively construct knowledge and values based on the physical and social world. Because their thoughts are still closely tied to action, they require a physically and mentally active learning environment.
3. In their struggle to understand the world, young children’s thinking will contain predictable errors.
4. Developmental areas are interactive and interrelated, each influencing the others. It is within the social environment that intelligence and language are fostered.