We are well aware that the period that children spend with us during their "Bug" stage is a critical one. From a child’s perspective they are hungry for knowledge, eager to grasp things in greater detail and desperate to have their individuality recognised. Their gross and fine motor skills are well developed and they are raring to use them. Bug’s age children are open to new challenges and thirsty for knowledge. We are here for them at every turn.

For parents, this is a period not lacking in stress! Although your child has become a little follower whom you can interact with like a "buddy", behind the scenes the search for next schools leaves many questions open ended. Many parents may already have decided where they wish to place their child when they reach 6 or 7 years old, and are now looking for reassurance that their child is being prepared for what’s ahead. Others may still be searching for the right next step, either way reassurance is here, look no further!

Essential Information

Schedule

Bugs attend from 8.45am until 2.45pm

Extra Care

We have extension periods for children who wish to enjoy extra activities;

Breakfast Club - 8.00am to 8.45am

Afterschool activities.

Attendance

We request that Big Bugs attend daily, due to focus on building strong bonds with teachers/peers, and their involvement in our reading/writing programme which requires continuity.

Lunch

Big Bug can enjoy a balanced and nutritious meal from our Lunch Scheme. Kiwi Kitchen lunches are meticulously prepared, with attention to dietary needs, allergies, balance and presentation (and they’re delicious too!) Advance planning (and many meetings with our lunch committee) has led to a vast and well loved menu of nutritional foods-ever changing and extremely successful with the children.
 
Teachers

At Kspace we choose all of our teachers carefully. Teachers for Bugs must be organised and structured. Having said this, they simply wouldn’t be Kspace quality if their artistic natures and simply amazing personalities weren’t evident. All of our Big Bug teachers are enigmatic, dedicated and committed to providing our children with the very best.

An important feature of our Butterfly and Bugs programmes is that the children receive a huge amount of personal attention. Main lessons daily are taken by their Key Workers yet children are also divided off into focus groups for phonics studies, mathematics and Japanese, when they enjoy small group work with other teachers too.

Ratios

Teacher: child ratio of 1:5

Curriculum

Every day at Tspace is spent working through a well balanced itinerary. Special attention has been given to the placement and length of all classes. The children’s daily schedule is divided to ensure that they are never required to spend elongated periods (especially when they need a physical/artistic outlet) in a desk - based environment. In turn, we offer some amazing tools to fire the children’s brain power and tackle the more challenging segments of the programme. Once the children have studied, the day then leads beautifully into time spent creating, or enjoying physical pursuits. Some activities are listed under the heading Kspace Special Curriculum. These are activities that may be considered rather adventurous for children of this age; however we have achieved excellent results by following these programmes and we are proud of the diversity of the subjects that we offer at the school.

A précis of subjects covered by the Big Bugs is below.

Section 2 - Educational Modules

You will notice we have a heading Kspace Special Curriculum. These are activities that may be considered rather adventurous for children of this age; however we have achieved excellent results by following these programmes and we are proud of the diversity of the subjects that we offer at the school.

Subjects covered by the Bug Bigs are:

Jolly Phonics and Early Literacy

Jolly Phonics is a tried and tested programme of early phonic introduction from the UK. This method of teaching works beautifully alone but also blends well with programmes run at many other schools; thus remains the perfect grounding for every child’s road to literacy. It is a multisensory approach to learning that combines actions, stories, songs, fun activities and effective worksheets to assist children on the road to reading. In their first term of Big Bugs children will cover all 42 phonic sounds, begin blending simple words and have a good grasp of writing these letters.

The main aims of Jolly Phonics are to:
1. Learn the letter sounds
2. Learn letter formation
3. Learn basic and more complex blend patterns
4. Identify sounds in words
5. Spell the tricky words

These aims are achieved in a fun and imaginative way and we have been astounded at the success of Jolly Phonics.

As the children progress through the Big Bugs their reading skills are consolidated and they are fully prepared at Super Bug level to start on our fantastic reading scheme.

Reading scheme

Although the Jolly Phonics scheme uses many books it is primarily a guide through early phonics recognition. Our Big Bugs require time too when they are being read to and are allowed to read to the group, their teacher, and at leisure. After carefully looking through countless reading schemes we have found the perfect one to compliment our style of teaching in the Fitzroy Readers. Using a similar approach to phonics as Jolly Phonics, The Fitzroy Reading Scheme builds on children’s phonetic knowledge at a gentle pace, ensuring that they feel confident at each and every step. Our Super Bugs have one-to-one reading sessions with a reading specialist and are able to take books home on a weekly basis to read with parents. We use communication books to keep teachers and parents ‘in the loop’ and find this partnership to be the very best formula for success.

Writing Scheme

Writing must be taught separately and it uses entirely different skill sets. Many children display strengths in reading yet need much focus on their writing; or vice versa. Tspace provides strong guidance and support whatever he subject matter may be and our (fine-motor) handwriting programme incorporates lots of interesting techniques.

Main Teaching Strategies

Modeled writing – teacher models selected teaching points, makes explicit thinking processes involved in writing a text (thinking aloud), children observe the writing process.

Shared writing – teacher acts as scribe and is an equal role with students in generating ideas, planning and decision making needed to construct a written piece, students can be scribe, develops awareness of what writing is about.

Guided writing – small group or individual work.

Independent writing – students choose the topic and write independently.

Language experience – teacher scribes for the students, teacher and students discuss an event or experience, drawing can be used to help students focus, students attempt writing even if only easy parts, teacher acts as scribe and records harder parts.

The Early Science Curriculum

Children are naturally very inquisitive and our science classes tap into this enthusiasm. We fully encourage questions and experimentation and help the children to discover their inner scientist.

Our After-School science classes are well respected as stand alone education for children of this age. Whilst we draw much from them for our daily science sessions, each separate class retains its own identity. We provide children lots of opportunities for hands-on interactive science experiences and real life example of science based principles.

Mathematics

Tspace teachers have all received specific mathematics training. We offer very dynamic maths classes!

We develop mathematical thinking in children by using their natural intuition. Our training also provided us with some excellent materials for assessing mathematical progress without the use of paper and pencil tests. Combining aspects from the conference with the thorough guidelines from our UK curriculum developer, we have a fantastic programme that should stretch and excite our budding mathematicians.
Knowledge and Understanding of the World Japan may/may not be your childís true homeland and many of our children are already well travelled! For our budding cosmopolitans we offer the opportunity to study a different country every month; in order to develop cultural awareness and curiosity. We learn about the world from the climate and geography to the people, food and culture.

Japanese

Our Japanese programme has proved a great success and we receive overwhelming praise and compliments from delighted parents ñ and our children love this class. Through imaginative stories, games, songs and activities children absorb the language at a very fast pace. They also be learning about important cultural events on the Japanese calendar which should make their stay here even more memorable and ensure it is a holistic learning experience.

Personal and Social Development (PSE)

From sharing stories from other cultures, to talking about friendship and helping, PSE encourages children to empathise and consider themselves and others as valuable. Our children are wonderful beings and we want them to feel that way and treat each other accordingly! We also encourage good personal hygiene habits and practice skills like getting dressed/undressed and putting on/taking off our shoes. Dangers in the environment, traffic safety and safe practices are also covered in this section.

Physical Education

Gymnastics, team games, personal challenges, balancing skills, obstacle courses, racing, rolling and simply keeping VERY healthyÖ are all on our agenda for our children! Our gym and roof garden provide light, ventilated, safe and hugely spacious areas for them to let off steam. We enjoy time with gymnastics trained teachers, and have wonderful specialised teachers who visit us to add even more sparkle to the childrenís week. Children wear delightful PE kits and they love getting changed and switching mood.

Kspace Special Curriculum

Brain Gym

"Brain Gym" may sound rather strange but the title is perfectly descriptive! The movements devised in Brain Gym effectively trigger learning and it is indeed a warm up for the entire system; before moving onto desk based work, and areas that require concentration.

Creative Development (Art)

Our art programme at Kspace is infamous!! Through use of amazing materials we have encouraged some fabulous art projects. Children who are moving up from our Butterfly class are already familiar with our methods of teachingÖ.but we have many surprises in store! We of course continue with a very varied and expressive art programme and basing art projects around the monthly theme. For example; if the theme is space then we make mobiles of the solar system or use different combinations of paint and texture to produce the different surfaces of the moon/sun etc. Children are allowed more space to continue projects involving much thought and parents are free to view art work when they enter the Big Bugs classroom.

Creative Dance/Drama

At Kspace we believe that inside everyone is a budding thespian waiting to emerge. In this module we hope to tap into that and encourage expression and creativity through dance and drama.

Peer Massage

Peer Massage is often viewed by new parents to us as one of the more ëalternativeí teaching techniques used at Kspace, but it has become a popular tool in UK schools since its introduction 7 years ago. A belief that respectful touch can encourage self-esteem got the programme under way and our children are proof that ALL schools could benefit from such a module!

This little addition to the Big Bugs day allows for a great deal of team building and a nice spot of relaxation before we move onto more focused activities!

Cookery and Nutrition

We know that teachers and peers can play a valuable role in educating the children about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. As well as studying the foods eaten in the country that relate to our monthly theme, the children learn the importance of exercise/stretching, personal hygiene (including teeth brushing!!) and taking care of oneself.

Music Appreciation

Our programme of music awareness allows the children to spend focused periods studying the music relevant to our current theme; along with dance steps, tempo, musical instruments and music classifications. Over the year they will enjoy great diversity, from classical to native American Indian; trance, brass band, jazz, rock and basically EVERY music genre!