At Nord Anglia, we celebrate the joy of Early Years learning and lay the foundations for lifelong happiness and success. Exploration meets excellence in our dedicated environments, where specialist teachers harness the power of play to nurture our youngest students’ personal and academic growth.
Early childhood is a time of unparalleled cognitive, physical, and social development. These formative years shape not only how a child does in school, but also their long-term happiness and wellbeing.
In our schools, we offer a high-quality, holistic Early Years education that prepares our students for a bright future.
Through guided and child-directed play, our youngest learners develop their independence, sense of responsibility, fine and gross motor skills, communication and social skills, emotional regulation, and more.
We know that children learn best when they feel secure, happy, and supported. Our inclusive international Early Years environments – cultivated by caring teachers who prioritise safety and wellbeing – empower our nursery and pre-school students to confidently explore, play, and grow.
In our schools, learning is joyful. Every day is packed with playful early childhood experiences that spark imaginations and pique our students’ curiosity. We believe that every learning activity is an opportunity for fun and laughter, too, as well as a chance to learn skills that last a lifetime.
Our children love coming to school, which is thanks to the wonderful relationships they build with our extraordinary international Early Years teachers.
Caring and compassionate, innovative and imaginative, our dedicated teachers and support colleagues bring a wealth of specialist qualifications and experience to our classrooms. They share our commitment to personalised, play-based learning, and use their early childhood expertise to deliver high-quality activities that are proven to nurture growth.
All our colleagues go through a meticulous recruitment process, too, ensuring they meet our rigorous safeguarding criteria.
Our colleagues’ experiences, qualifications, and passion for play-based learning prepare our children for lifelong success.
Early childhood is a journey of exploration and discovery. While days are carefully structured to ensure our learners reach important developmental milestones, we want our students to make their own choices, experiment, and shape what they learn. We carefully explain this approach to our parents, outlining the research-backed benefits of play and ensuring we are all on the same team in supporting their children's development.
Early years is a time of awe and wonder, a luminous beginning when the mind is most malleable and neuroplasticity blooms. Young children are innate explorers, led by curiosity to grasp the world through active exploration and hands-on investigation. They thrive in caring, empathetic environments that honor their vast potential and respect their unique ways of knowing. What an extraordinary opportunity it is to witness their growth!
When children feel safe and valued – and when they have the freedom, support, and time to play and explore – they learn. Our dedicated learning spaces and classrooms for the Early Years provide comfort and security – they’re warm, nurturing, and inviting. They also facilitate a wide range of activities. This ensures our students have opportunities to create, move, discover, and be curious.
Playful learning is dynamic and multi-faceted, unlocking an incredible range of developmental opportunities. From the everyday, like building a tower of blocks, to the more out-of-the-ordinary, like a day trip off-campus, every experience builds different skills. Play is also the universal language of early childhood, bringing smiles, laughter, and fun to our school.
The foundations of brain development are laid from birth through to the age of five. But as the research shows, cognitive growth happens through relationships, hands-on experiences, and play, not by sitting at a desk. That’s why we create a warm, engaging environment where children feel safe to explore, take risks, and build confidence. Open-ended resources spark creativity, responsive adults deepen understanding, and rich opportunities for talk and reflection strengthen communication. By nurturing curiosity and independence, children make connections, solve problems, and build strong foundations for lifelong learning.
The power of play lies in its ability to nurture every aspect of a child’s development – the cognitive, the physical, the social, and the emotional. Aligned with a strong curriculum, like the Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS), play ensures our students hit important learning and developmental milestones.
At our schools, play is interactive, personalised, and purposeful. Whether that’s getting creative with arts and crafts, growing in confidence by singing a song, or collaborating with friends as part of a group game, playful learning builds the sorts of skills every child needs in later life.
We empower our students to take the lead and direct their own experiences, too. Exploring and making choices nurtures individualism and sparks new interests and passions.
Our warm and welcoming Early Years settings encourage exploration and excellence. From colourful play areas to bright classrooms adorned with artwork, our schools provide stimulating spaces where children flourish.
Our Early Years curricula provide a framework for play-based learning, establishing the building blocks for personal and academic growth.
EARLY YEARS CURRICULA
The Early Years typically encompass the education of children aged from 2 to 5 years old. Some of our international schools, however, offer Early Years provision from the ages of 3 to 5. This depends on the curriculum being taught, as well as a school’s local context.
In our schools, purposeful play and high-quality learning go hand-in-hand. Our play-based approach to Early Years education is outcomes-driven and grounded in science.
The weight of global research shows that play unlocks powerful learning opportunities across all areas of early childhood development – the social, the emotional, the cognitive, and the physical. Play enables children to explore, experiment, and make sense of the world around them. It's also how they begin to understand rules, relationships, and how things work.
Academically, every activity we offer is carefully aligned to the curricula we teach and the personalised learning goals we want to achieve. This includes interactive experiences that build fundamental pre-numeracy, literacy, analytical, and scientific skills.
The cost of Early Years education reflects the lifelong, indelible impact this period has on child development.
From birth to five years old, learning takes place at a speed that will never be equalled. This is a time when students develop essential cognitive skills, emotional wellbeing, social competence, and sound physical and mental health. It’s a critical developmental stage that lays the foundations for success in adult life.
At our international Early Years schools, a high-quality education includes:
The benefits of play-based learning are wide ranging and lifelong. We’ve highlighted some of these below:
Our schools deliver a carefully considered mix of playful early childhood activities, which are designed to nurture our students’ cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. Activities include:
An Early Years education at a Nord Anglia school can support your child’s metacognition by encouraging reflection, independence, and self-awareness in their learning.
By incorporating reflection into daily routines—such as asking, “What did you learn today?”—children develop the habit of thinking about how they learn best. Personalised learning activities based on their interests also make learning more engaging and meaningful.
Teachers also build independence by giving children choices in their learning and encouraging problem-solving. Play-based learning, such as storytelling and exploration, helps children test ideas and adapt their thinking. Simple self-assessment techniques, like progress charts or daily check-ins, help them track growth and build confidence. By using these strategies, Early Years education lays the foundation for lifelong learning and critical thinking skills.
Take a look at these helpful resources to learn more about the importance of the Early Years and the dramatic impact it has on a child’s development.
INSIGHTS: Why Early Years are the most important years in learning
Teacher Development Trust: Quality early years education crucial for better life outcomes
UNICEF: 10 Facts about Early Childhood Development you need to know!
Nuffield Foundation: The role of early childhood education and care in shaping life chances
UK Department for Children, Schools, and Families: Early Years Learning and Development Literature Review
Harvard Magazine: Kindergarten Matters
Our international schools in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East offer an outstanding Early Years education, which lays the foundations for lifelong happiness and success.
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