Growing minds: the power of a positive nursery environment

Huili Nursery Hangzhou creates an inspiring and immersive environment for the children to conduct in-depth exploration and learning. Its homely atmosphere even makes some children reluctant to return home when it’s time for school to end. It is also an environment of imagination, links and relationships. We are incredibly fortunate to have professional educators who are committed and passionate. Let us follow their lead and look into how our environment enlightens and facilitates the learning and growth of our children. 

As an atelierista I believe that the pleasure of learning, knowing, and understanding is one of the first fundamental sensations that every child should experience,  an approach not just in art, but in all aspects of life. To reinforce that, in the atelier environment, we promote a scientific and enquiry based method to allow the pleasure of knowing and discovering to persist during all their life. This self-motivational feeling will cross over into the joy of being curious and it will encourage a growth mindset. 

To achieve that, the environment must be ready to welcome all the languages of our pupils. A hundred languages does not mean a hundred materials but hundreds of ways to transform the same material. Here creativity is a serious matter. For this reason, there are no 'children's tools', just tools, and children are challenged to develop their motor skills and at the same time find new ways to express themselves. 

In Huili Nursery we put attention on how to display the materials to make sure that all pupils can access them independently and make their choices to be actors of their own learning. 

Talking about materials does not simply mean talking about 'things' but it means talking about sensations, textures, smells, emotions and even memories. We have a deep understanding of the innate connections between materials and children's perceptions. For this reason, we use mostly natural materials because they are closer to the pupils' feelings so they can relate and learn from that.  

To help children visualise what they want to achieve, materials must be presented in an organised and clear way so that each child can choose, try, change their mind and try again. 

The atelier is a safe place for doing and creating but it is also an integral part of an overall educational project, in which the whole school is taking part. 

For this reason, in each class we set up a satellite atelier as an extension of the atelier learning. This project allows children to have materials constantly available to support their expressive needs and to extend their own learning process to all the areas of knowledge. By providing a large range of artistic materials and tools, in an inviting and thought provoking environment, we want to our children to learn to observe, to express themselves and develop critical thinking. I believe these qualities are essential for lifelong learning and meaningful academic achievement. 

I hope to share with you some of the ways we create opportunity for oracy and literacy. When we create spaces for children, such as the construction area, we ask ourselves many questions that help us develop that space. 

We ask ourselves about the small words and toys we bring into the space, what narrative is present in this set up, what stories could the children tell using these materials.

If the setup is a countryside to cityscape what might the children notice and how will they share this with us? We use a range of materials that can inspire the children, if the countryside has a soft flowing blue fabric river but the city is hard wooden blocks and black cardboard what could be explored from this juxtaposition? 

This exploration then leads to literacy opportunities, with children using mark-making to expand the world they are creating with story mapping, theory drawing and writing. 

As a story is told, children build the setting and characters using loose parts and natural resources, they can select and ascribe meaning to each item and agree together; this seed pod is actually a boat, the pinecone is the fisherman, this fabric is the shore. Using the loose parts and natural resources enhances their storytelling as they use their imagination to envision and overlay their ideas onto the materials in a way that using puppets and traditional storytelling props does not. 

The space in the classroom holds the foundation of the educational philosophy we believe in. Many teachers choose to start the academic year with a light and shadow room in the class. It might create an opportunity to make different shadow landscapes that tell stories. With coloured glassine paper changing in front of light sources, it could also become a role-play paradise that foster a strong dynamic between children. It allows children to use their divergent thinking to continue their creativity throughout the year. 

Math happens everywhere in children's life. In early years, children play with puzzles, shapes and numbers in a variety of ways and think about their relationships. Lots of their mathematical skills are strengthened through board games. They cheer for the 'good cards' they were dealt. They question the reward numbers on cards and think about the concept of 'probability'. They check the points they collected meticulously using Numicons and Cuisenaire rods. It is cooperative and competitive at the same time. 

Documentation at Huili Nursery Hangzhou shares the work currently in progress. Through photos, transcripts of children's words and children's work being displayed, we can visibly see the learning process. It documents the creativity and thinking of children and gives us a platform to connect to the whole wide community.  It inspires you to think – how do we take children's learning further? 

People say that parents are the first teachers of a child, we are the second teachers and the environment is the third teacher. We expect combining all three teachers to create a win-win situation of cooperation and support. 

At Huili Nursery Hangzhou, we adopt a co-teaching approach. It means that there are multiple teachers to prepare the teaching plans and conduct the teaching and assessment jointly, which is then followed by a complete process of reflection to facilitate individualised teaching which will meet the demands of the children.  

Co-teaching helps the teacher to learn more about individual interests that a child demonstrates in the environment and individualise the teaching to meet their learning needs. It also ensures that every child is visible and cared for.  

Co-teaching brings into play the expertise of teachers, promotes mutual learning among teachers and improves the professionalism of the team. It also helps teachers to assess children's learning outcomes and identify and address any issues promptly. It constructs a mutually trusting relationship between the teachers themselves, teachers and children, while reinforcing our teaching environment. Such is the positive influence of this third teacher on the learners. 

As educators, when we mention 'environment', we do not simply refer to the spaces inside a classroom. It includes every space where a potential learning opportunity presents itself. These opportunities are the links between the spaces.  

We use learners' existing knowledge and experience to set up the initial environment. Whoever enters the environment, be they the children, teachers, parents, or even unexpected visitors, is capable of creating chemistry with the environment and driving it to change constantly.  

It is when the environment becomes the third teacher, blowing gusts of wind that carry germinating seeds that will take root and sprout, and grow into a leafy tree under the care of the community. This is how project-based learning operates. They say that a tree is a poem from the earth to the sky. We are amazed by the energy and inspiration that this tree brings to the community. 

An ancient saying in Africa goes, 'It takes a village to raise a child'. Our village is our community. Whether it is raising or educating a child, or whether it is a project-based teaching or integrated curriculum, we rely on the strength of our entire community. It is what supports a child to realise their unique development.