Here at United International School, we prepare the children for a positive start to their school journey making it a happy, exciting and successful experience in a fun-filled manner. We aim at fostering the children’s all-round development while presenting their uniqueness through play-based learning, in a safe and friendly environment. They are groomed to think, imagine, explore, express and learn from a bag full of valuable resources and activities, through a team of well-experienced teachers who care for them with love, compassion, and kindness. They stimulate the children’s young minds, whet their curiosity and keep in constant interaction with parents to create a strong foundation between parent and teacher for a holistic and balanced development of the child.
Since this is the age when brain development happens and children absorb everything that is taught during this period, the teachers help them develop – their latent language through phonetics, math skills, field trips, opportunities to showcase their talents while unleashing their full potential through competitions, annual day and sports. A well planned outdoor playground and park and many more such activities are available which help develop their social, physical, emotional, cognitive, gross and fine motor skills.
Besides all this, the school has an experienced nurse on hand, well-equipped Activity room, and Library, and a volley of school busses to help in transportation of children.
Academics in the Pre-primary education department is dedicated to optimizing a child’s development during their most formative years. Children develop social and cognitive skills, mature emotionally, and gain the self-confidence required to engage in new experiences and the environment.
At United International School, we believe each child is unique with a unique learning style. It can be visual, aural or kin-aesthetic. The Pre-primary teachers strive to cater to these by preparing an appropriate curriculum combined with play, group discussions, and activities that occur indoors and outdoors. We teach them with the help of teaching aids and the Smart Board, which enhances how they learn.
Besides this, we take them on field trips to various places like villages, farms, supermarkets, plant nursery, etc. to experience learning away from their regular school environment. It is an alternative way of grasping what we teach. They have fun learning and become more interactive and enthusiastic.
Co-curricular activities are as important as regular academics. They get to learn with a difference. Every month we have a colour day which carries a specific theme co-relating to the specific event of that month. The colours are displayed through children’s attire and classroom decoration. Badges and worksheets are given to children to educate them on the theme and the represented colour. They are requested to bring any item in the respective colour, which is displayed in the classroom. Various in-house activities are also conducted in class. This gives them exposure to certain skills, which enables them to think and look at things differently. Origami, finger/vegetable printing, paper plate, paper cup craft, etc. are taught during in-house activity. In this competitive world, children should be conscious of competition. Multiple competitions are conducted throughout the year, which showcases the children as an individual, brings out their talents, removes stage fear, and creates more confidence in them.
We also believe that games are essential for the healthy development of children. It influences their fine and gross motor skills, socialization, personal awareness, and emotional well-being. The Pre-primary play park is designed keeping in mind the age group of the children and their safety. Slides, swings, see-saws, merry-go-rounds, etc., fill the park area. Children have a good recreation time under the strict vigilance of teachers. Children need to be exposed to something more than classroom learning.
The Activity room in UIS brings the concept of visual learning to life through the use of stimulating teaching aids that encourage children to learn by exploring and experiencing. Thus, instead of learning the alphabet by rote, they are given opportunities for learning letters through a hands-on alphabet jigsaw puzzle. Various other puzzles include of animals, birds, transport, parts of a plant, numbers and number names, and loads more. Visual teaching aids such as building blocks, stacking the rings, etc., encourage children to enjoy the joy of learning.
We also have a wide range of storybooks in the library. This is a child-friendly place with comfortable seating. The children love listening to the teachers reading stories like Snow White, The Pied Piper, Cinderella, Dick Whittington, Heidi, The Wizard of Oz, and many more. They have a good time enacting the stories too. They improve in their vocabulary, grammar, accent, and imagination.
We have also introduced the piano in our school for the little ones. We have a tie-up with the prestigious Furtado School of Music. We teach the piano every Friday afternoon. The Instructors start by teaching the children basics – the three main key aspects–melody, rhythm, and harmony and what the black and white keys represent. Children eagerly await this day because they have a great time. At the end of the year, they learn to play and sing. They perform during the UKG Graduation in front of parents and other dignitaries. They are also awarded certificates for completing the first level.
Abacus, the counting frame, was started last year in our school to boost faster calculation skills for the students. Abacus sharpens concentration and observance. It develops confidence while doing math problems. We are in collaboration with Finger Magic–Abacus. The teachers meet with our students once a week to teach them how to use the abacus frame to solve problems. The UKG students enjoy this class as they learn addition and subtraction with ease. They have fun calculating and coming up with the correct answers using the beads. At the end of the year, we award them certificates.
At UIS, we believe children develop rapidly during the first six years of their lives. These years are very crucial to them. So we leave no stone unturned to give them a firm foundation.
It shouldn’t matter how slowly a child learns as long as we are encouraging them not to stop.
Robert John Meehan