As every nursery provision in the U.K., we deliver the developmental outcomes established in the Early Years Foundation Stage across 7 areas of learning.

What makes us different is how we achieve those to make your child ready for school by age 5.

The 3 Primes: Communication & Language; Physical Development & Personal, Social & Emotional Development

The 4 Specifics: Literacy; Numeracy; Understanding the World Expressive Arts & Design

Pedagogy Framework

We believe in the importance of values-based, thematic and experiential learning for our children. Our annual plan is a cyclic approach to learning based on:

1. Values: to provide an emotional focus for character-based learning; a moral thread that runs through all practice delivered in that month.

2. Experiences: to recognise and celebrate diversity, our children learn through rich experiences based on a cultural programme that also provides the basis for our...

3. Themes: to contextualise children’s learning, whilst also providing structure to the bilingual framework. Children listen, understand and speak thematically aligned words, stories and songs throughout the course of the month.

We find that children learn best with a balance of structure and explorative play, particularly as they move towards Reception and formal education, wherein structure and routine become more of the norm. We do this by offering:

1. Continuous provision Freely accessible learning and play areas in each room to provide children with exploratory opportunities to engage with their own interests.

2. Adult-led / focussed activities Structured and timetabled activities that encourage children to join together to learn something new with their teacher.

Our Bilingual Method

The real beauty of what we do is our bilingual immersion. Bilingualism has many significant cognitive benefits on young minds:

Enhances creativity; Stimulates problem-solving skills; Improves critical thinking; Strengthens empathy and understanding.

At Hatching Dragons, we consider that bilingual immersion isn't just about learning another language. More importantly, children learn to see, comprehend and understand the world from different perspectives. In our bilingual nurseries, we aim to not only meet the expectations set in the EYFS but far exceed them.

How Does It Work?

Consistency Each child is assigned two key workers, Mandarin and English speakers, who will only use their mother tongue to communicate with the child. As they mature through the school, their linguistic development will be pinned to and normalised in bilingual exposure.

Commitment We offer 50 hours/week, 51 weeks a year, and have a proven track record of achieving high levels of fluency with children who commit to that level. Although we are flexible with our hours, we advise having a minimum of 25 hours/week commitment to our educational programme to observe results.

Let's start promoting these qualities at an age where children can set the tone and the foundation for their futures. Let's start in the early years.