Our Approach
How and why children play
At Hawthorn Tree we believe children are born learners. Everything we do is designed to follow their curiosity, support their independence, and give them the space to discover things for themselves.
Just Playing?
It’s never just playing
A high quality early years education is about much more than colours and shapes, numbers and letters. It’s about learning to be independent, confident, strong and curious.
It’s about developing children’s natural joy and wonder at the world they live in. It’s about having a positive attitude, forming positive relationships and believing in yourself. If children can learn to ‘have a go’, learn from mistakes and try again, they will succeed in their future learning.
Young children learn by doing things for themselves — by exploring and investigating, watching and listening, talking and discussing, creating and communicating. In other words: playing.
Your child may be really exhausted and perhaps a bit grumpy when they come home — please make allowances. And please don’t compare your child with anyone else, or put them under pressure to make something for you. Often the most important play has nothing to show for it. The learning is invisible.
HighScope
The HighScope curriculum
HighScope is an evidence-based approach built on a simple insight: children learn best from activities which they plan and carry out themselves. No two children are the same — they all develop at different rates and have different interests. HighScope recognises and celebrates this.
Plan
What do you want to do today?
Each session begins with planning time. Children decide — with words, gestures, drawings or pointing — what they want to explore. Even very young children have intentions that deserve to be heard.
Do
Follow your plan, follow your curiosity
Children carry out their plan — and often discover something far more interesting along the way. Adults support without directing: asking open questions, narrating what they see, joining in when invited.
Review
What did you discover?
At the end of work time, children gather to share what they did. Review isn’t assessment — it’s celebration. Children build language, memory and confidence by telling their own story.
What does active learning look like?
- Materials — open-ended resources that children can use in any way they choose
- Manipulation — freedom to handle, explore and work with whatever is available
- Choice — children set their own goals and choose their own activities
- Language — children talk about what they plan to do and what they have done
- Support — practitioners extend thinking through sustained shared thinking
EYFS
The Early Years Foundation Stage
The EYFS is the statutory framework that sets standards for the care, development and learning of children from birth to five. At HTCCC we deliver the EYFS through the HighScope approach.
Four overarching themes
A Unique Child
Every child is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
Positive Relationships
Children learn to be strong and independent through warm, trusting relationships with adults.
Enabling Environments
Children learn and develop well in environments that respond to their individual needs.
Learning & Development
Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. All are valued.
Seven areas of learning
Prime Areas
The prime areas are the most essential foundations. They are developed first and underpin everything else. They are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity, enthusiasm for learning, and their capacity to learn.
Specific Areas
The specific areas build on the prime areas and provide the knowledge and skills children need to progress. They are introduced progressively as children develop and grow in confidence.
For more information on the EYFS, visit the government website.
Loose Parts
Real objects, real learning
Loose parts are open-ended, moveable objects found throughout our rooms — pine cones, pebbles, shells, wood slices, buttons, spools, coloured glass and more. Unlike toys with a single use, loose parts can be a thousand different things. They align perfectly with HighScope and touch every area of the EYFS.
Personal, Social & Emotional
Loose parts allow freedom of choice. Children use them however they wish, enabling self-expression, promoting confidence and encouraging collaboration.
Communication & Language
New language is introduced through talking about properties of loose parts. Children discuss ideas and listen to others, building vocabulary naturally.
Physical Development
Fine motor skills develop through intricate manipulation of small items. Larger parts — tyres, crates, planks — develop gross motor skills outdoors.
Mathematics
Loose parts prompt mathematical language: size, capacity, sorting, comparing, constructing. Children develop number sense through real, hands-on exploration.
Understanding the World
Children learn about materials, nature, manufacturing and sustainability through natural loose parts like pine cones, pebbles, shells and wood slices.
Expressive Arts & Design
The same log slice can be a pizza topping one minute and sunshine in a piece of transient art the next. Loose parts give children infinite creative possibilities.
Ready to see this in action?
Come and spend time in our rooms — see how children move, how practitioners interact, and how the whole HighScope approach feels in real life.