Our Curriculum
‘Spread Your Wings’
At Cocoon Childcare we believe that caring and learning go hand-in-hand. Our 'Spread Your Wings' Curriculum provides educational programmes for our Baby, Wobbler, Toddler and Pre-school rooms which are followed in all our centres.
At Cocoon we have a play based emergent and inquiry curriculum. Our curriculum reflects the principals of Aistear, the national curriculum framework for children aged zero to six years (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, 2009) and Siolta, the national quality standards for the early years sector in Ireland (Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education, 2006). Our Curriculum involves using children’s and practitioner’s interests, questions and experiences as the basis for our curriculum planning through the medium of play. This allows the children to become more involved and engrossed in activities as they are they are planned around their topics of interest. Through observation each staff member gains an in depth understanding of each child’s strengths, personality, interests and individual needs and can plan activities accordingly for each child. An emergent curriculum is very much collaborative. Practitioners and children come together with ideas, practitioners also converse with each other in regard to curriculum planning and parents are very much involved and share in their children’s learning. Children feel comfortable and safe in this type of environment and it promotes their natural curiosity and imagination. Examples of emergent interests explored may include; the natural environment, music & movement, art, culture, healthy eating, numeracy skills- the list is endless!
Many of the activities are designed to develop fine and gross motor skills, language, imagination, emotional and social awareness and are presented to all the children in a fun and play oriented manner. Our practitioners ensure that each child develops and early love of learning through our activities and resources. Our Curriculum Panel continually assess our curriculum to ensure our learning objectives are being reached and to ensure that we are meeting the needs of each child in our care. Our staff are fully-qualified, highly-talented professionals who have a vocation in providing the best care and education for your child. All our rooms are fully equipped with the latest teaching resources for the appropriate age group. To complement our extensive education programme, we have a reporting system that is second-to-none, providing you with a detailed daily report for each child in our care. We have a programme of outdoor activities that involve all children in the centre.
For more information, please call +353-1-419 9999, email us at info@cocoonchildcare.ie.