If I could, I’d hop a plane and take all the little ones I know to this program in Ireland. What a name, Little Moo Moos!
Life On The Farm
A PLAYSCHOOL in a unique setting on a working dairy farm in St Margaret’s has won an award for the quality of the service it provides to its pre-schoolers.
Little Moo Moos Playschool is set on a working dairy farm. Catherine Dwyer and her husband, farmer Rory, are behind the venture and have an ongoing commitment to incorporate different aspects of farm life into the learning experiences of the children at the playschool.
Catherine told the Fingal Independent: ‘The school’s natural environment provides a rich source of learning, around which a carefully considered play-based emergent and Montessori curriculum, underpinned by Aistear has been developed.
‘Children spend more than 75% of their time outdoors feeding animals, visiting the farm, planting vegetables, going down the fields on adventures and playing.’
Explaining the philosophy of Little Moo Moos, Catherine said: ‘The child is at the centre of the learning process, where their individual needs and interests are nurtured to grow and blossom.
‘Because Little Moo Moos is concerned with the provision of the highest quality service, we are delighted to be recipients of ‘The Siolta Quality Award.’
She explained: ‘Since completing the Siolta programme, our service sees ‘quality’ as an ongoing process where we are constantly thinking and reflecting on how to improve on our provision.
‘To us, quality means putting the children first where their rights, needs and interests are of paramount consideration.’
On receiving the award, the playschool was quick to thank the most important players in all of this, the children themselves and a letter went out to parents saying: ‘Without your children, we wouldn’t have achieved our highest award to date.’
The Siolta Quality Assurance Programme (QAP) is the national quality Framework for early childhood care and education.
This programme was developed by the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education of behalf of the Department of Education & Skills, following consultation with more than fifty diverse organisations representing childcare workers, teachers, parents, policy workers, researchers to name but a few.
The award recognizes the high level of quality and practice maintained in Little Moo Moos Playschool.
Here is the article link: http://www.independent.ie/regionals/fingalindependent/lifestyle/life-on-the-farm-29264612.html