Early Years

Pinewood’s Early Years Program is widely regarded as a trailblazer in the field of preschool education. We are committed to providing a unique and nurturing environment that fosters learning, play, and growth among children from diverse backgrounds.

Our Early Years Program is an all-English program that facilitates the natural acquisition of native fluency in English among children. The program comprises Early Years 2 and Kindergarten classes, offering a full-day, developmentally appropriate curriculum for children aged 4 to 6 years in self-contained classrooms.

Our curriculum is carefully designed to promote social, emotional, physical, and academic development through a combination of teacher-directed activities, self-selected activities, projects, and learning centers. Children have access to a variety of large groups, small groups, and independent learning opportunities in a supportive, active, and nurturing environment.

 

  • For the 2023-2024 school year:

    • Early Years 2: Children born in 2019 would be 4 years old or turning 4 during that school year. They would typically be in the second year of nursery or preschool, depending on the educational system in your country.

    • Kindergarten: Children born in 2018 would be 5 years old or turning 5 during that school year. They would typically be in their first year of kindergarten or reception, depending on the educational system in your country.

 

Program Information

The Early Years Program is taught entirely in English and is a program of immersion that enables students to become bilingual quickly and effortlessly. It is tailored to meet the needs of both Greek and international children, provides a rich and varied curriculum to include language development, early math skills, science, social studies, arts and creative play. In addition, children have instruction by specialists in music, physical education and library. As a whole, the program provides students with an understanding of cooperation, compassion and appreciation of global differences as they learn and play side by side with children of different cultures. The teachers of the Early Years Program are all certified in Early Childhood Education and teaching assistants are provided in each classroom as necessary.

 

Pinewood American International School is a Candidate School* for the PYP Program. This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy – a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education that Pinewood believes is important for our students.
*Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programs: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme, or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programs, visit http://www.ibo.org

Music

The Early Years Music program is designed for children to join together in musical activities, using their voices and simple instruments to develop concepts about sound and musical awareness. They participate both individually and in groups in games, songs, and creative movement activities in order to develop an appreciation of music from different cultures. Children learn to sing rhymes and lullabies, perform simple rhythm patterns, experiment with various instruments, dramatize song lyrics and follow directional cues. The goal of the Early Years Music Program is to make use of music as another language for expression and communication.

Physical Education

The Early Years Physical Education program is designed to increase physical fitness, motor skills, self-discipline, improved judgment, self-confidence and self-esteem. In physical education classes, Early Years children learn and continue to refine skills and concepts centered around body awareness, spatial awareness, effort, locomotor movements, and non-locomotor movements. Activities in the above are put into contexts of appropriate games. Learning and having fun is the focus, winning is not emphasized.

Library

Each week, students visit the Pinewood library in order to interact with books and literature in a beautiful setting specifically designed for this purpose. At this time, students also check out books of their choice to be taken home for the week. These books are returned the following week to the library. Overall, the goal of the Library program is to build a love of books and reading in the hearts of our students.