International Early

Years Curriculum
Information Booklet
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 OUR PURPOSE
To educate the youth of the world to take their productive
place as leaders in the global community.

OUR CORE VALUES

Respecting and Caring for Each Other
Being Dedicated to a culture of Excellence
Openness in Communication
Acting with Integrity
Being Passionate in What We Do
Creating Enjoyable Environment

OUR VISION
Nexus International School will be an internationally
minded learning community that nurtures and supports
every child’s emotional, physical, creative and intellectual
needs in order that they can achieve academic success
and become globally responsible citizens.
We will accomplish this by celebrating diversity
and challenging minds.

OUR PROMISE
To foster the gifts and talents that reside in everybody
through careful mentorship and guidance
based on respect.
To provide a nurturing environment for these talents;
one that is innovative, progressive and grounded in trust,
compassion and respect.
 Contents
Mesagge from the Head of Primary 4
Intro 5
How is the IEYC taught? 6
IEYC topic overview 8
Who we are 9
Our school day 9
Settling in 10
Home/school communication 10
What will my child need? 11
What will my child wear? 11
EY website 12
Parent & teacher communication 12
Working toward positive behaviour 13
Ict at nexus 13
Reading & library facilities 14
After school activities (CCA’s) 14
Parents as Partners? 14
 Message from the Head of Primary
At Nexus International School, the Primary Years
are seen as a wonderful opportunity to capture the
curiosity of children and instill in them a passion for
learning that is long lasting.
Our vision is articulated in The Nexus Way, with its
focus on Learning, Mindsets, Inclusion, Relationships
and Technology, making our school the special place
that it is.

Our choice of the International Early Years Curriculum, adapted to the specific needs of our
children in our context here in Malaysia, fits beautifully with this vision. It encourages enquiry
based learning, developing knowledge and skills and a growing understanding not only
academically but also personally and internationally.
The IEYC enables our learners to be challenged at just the right level for them so that they
are fully engaged and develop a love for learning, whatever their educational preferences and
needs. It allows for our learners to explore and express their learning using the marvellous
resources and technology available to them at NISM.
In Primary, teachers use the IPC as a continuation from the IEYC, and in the Middle School
the curriculum flows seamlessly as learners begin to deepen their understandings.
This curriculum guide gives the reader information about how Nexus uses the IEYC to
achieve its goals and could be read together with the Nexus Way booklet in order to get a full
understanding of what we can offer.
If more detailed information is required, please make an appointment to come and see us; our
learners are very proud of their school and for newcomers, it is always great to see a school in
action and to talk with them about their experiences.

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 Welcome to Early Years at Nexus

THE IEYC AND OUR BELIEFS & PRINCIPLES

Entry
Point

Exit
Point Capturing
Curiosity

Explore & Enable the

Express Environment

The Big
Picture

How we teach
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 How is the IEYC taught?
Through the following learning strands. Each Strand provides descriptions of what children
will experience and learn about through contextualised activities woven into IEYC units of
learning.

Independence and Interdependence Communicating

Focuses on developing personal, social Communicating through:
and emotional development. 1. Speaking and Listening
This strand links to: 2. Reading
• The IEYC Personal Goals 3. Writing
• The IEYC International Dimension 4. Number
5. Shape and Measures
6. ICT and Computing
7. Expressive Arts and Creativity

Enquiring Healthy Living and Physical Wellbeing

Focuses on developing the skills of Focuses on developing a positive
enquiry through exploring: attitude to:
• People • Health
• The World • Self-care
• Physical activity

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How is the IEYC taught?
The International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) has a framework for teaching and learning.
This framework comes in the form of learning strands, of which there are 4 (pictured below).
Each Strand provides descriptions of what children will experience and learn about, through
contextualised ‘Explore and Express’ activities. All of the learning that takes place through the
strands is connected via an IEYC unit of learning or ‘theme’. Each theme follows a process of
learning which is detailed overleaf.
The entry point is an activity that begins each unit of work. It gets
the learners excited about what they will learn in each new unit.

An entry point is usually a fun, engaging start to the theme. It acts

as a point of reference for children to look back to throughout the
unit. Although, there are no specific learning outcomes for this part
of the learning process, often children learn through this experience.

Some entry points that will be carried out this year in Early Years are

Entry Capturing curiosity allows the children to

reveal what they already know about the
Point topic, and what they want to know about
the theme they are learning. During this
part of the process, the children will
reveal their interests and this will be used
to plan for future learning.

Exit Capturing
Point Curiosity
The Exit point is where
children share, reflect on
and celebrate their learning.

Child
Explore & Enable the
Express Environment
The Explore and Express parts of Enabling the Environment is when
the process when the children spaces indoors and outdoors are
engage in lots of opportunities and created to support learning through the
experiences where children play and topic. These areas will provide a space
learn together. that support different types of learning.
• Explore: This is the process when
teacher-scaffolded IEYC learning
activities and child- initiated The Big
exploration are developed through
individual and collaborative
Picture
experiences. The Big Picture provides children and
• Express: These are the • Each IEYC unit of families with some context to an IEYC
creative opportunities learning has distinct unit of learning so that connections
provided to help children ‘Phase Level’ activities between previous and new learning
demonstrate, share and through which children can be made.
consider what they have can Explore and Express
engaged in and learned their learning.
about.

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 IEYC early years topic overview

Term 1.1 IEYC Theme This is Me (Me and My World)

Term 1.2 IEYC Theme To the Rescue (Superheroes)

Term 2.1 IEYC Theme The Brilliant Bug Ball

Term 2.2 IEYC Theme Dinosaur Detectives

Term 3.1 IEYC Theme Treasure

Term 3.2 IEYC Theme Transport

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Who we are
All EY classes are taught by a fully qualified teacher and at least one experienced Teaching
Assistant (TA).
There are 3 age groups in Early Years at Nexus:
Pre- EY1 - for children who turned 3 from September onwards.
EY1 - 3 turning 4 years old
EY2 - 4 turning 5 years old

Our school day

School begins at 8:45am and finishes at 3:10pm
The Early Years opens at 8:15am. Learners and parents are advised not to go to the play area
before 8:20am.
Any late arriving learners (after 8.45) must go to reception to be registered and collect a late
pass. The receptionist will mark the learner as late in the register and issue a late pass.
At the end of the school day, to ensure the safety of all children, we ask that after you collect
your child, you move outside the play area in order for all children to be safely collected by
parents or for CCA.

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 Settling in
All children are different and while some children
will settle in fairly easily to the new environment
and new routines, others will take longer to feel
comfortable and secure. Separation anxiety is a
healthy and protective emotion.
Young learners need reassurance and it is good to
talk through the daily routines and let them know
when you will pick them up.
Always let your child know when you are going and
when you will be back, please do not sneak away
when they are distracted. Tell your child that you are
leaving and leave as quickly as possible.
If your child is taking longer to settle in than you
had expected and you still have concerns, discuss
these with your child’s teacher. Together you can
agree on and put into place strategies to support
your child during this time.
Getting off to a good start will help you support your
child through this very important period in their lives.

Home/School communication
Good communication between home and school
is very important. Children quickly pick up any
parental discord and often become upset or use it
inappropriately. If you have any worries or concerns
or complaints please come in and discuss them
with us. We will never make judgmental comments
about parents to children and we ask you to respect
the children’s relationship with their teachers in the
same way. If we are aware of problems, we can
together to solve them. The children need to know
that we trust each other and are working together.
We encourage the children to be as independent as
possible and to think for themselves. We ask that
you support us in this.
We will make every effort to be available to
you. However before and after school are busy
times as we like to start our activities promptly.
Please if possible send an email or note in the
communication book to book an appointment for
more complex matters.

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What will my child need?
• A water bottle that they can open and close
independently.
• A spare set of clothes that can be stored at
school.
• A sun hat. Nexus has a strict ‘no hat, no play’
policy.
• If you choose to provide your own lunch and
snack, please place these in two separate
containers.

What will my child wear?

• School uniform, which includes a blue t-shirt and
shorts as pictured above.
• Your child’s house color T-shirt for PE as pictures
below.
Please ensure all belonging are clearly labelled with your
child’s name.

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 EY website
Information on learning ‘this week’ and learning
in ‘the week ahead’ can be found on the website.
There are often photos of learning in action;
examples of learning experienced and suggestions
for how learning can be supported at home. Your
child’s teacher will share a link to their website.
Please make sure you check this site regularly.

Parent & Teacher communication

Building strong relationships is important to us and
we are aware of the role clear communication has in
supporting this.
Before your child starts school you will receive an
email from their class teacher welcoming you into
the class.
Once your child has started you will be given a blue
communication book, which will be used to pass
personal messages between yourself and your
child’s class teacher.
More formal occasions have also been timetabled
into the year to keep you up to date with your
child’s progress.
1. Within the first few weeks, there will be a Meet
and Greet session for parents and teachers.
2. Parents will have the opportunity to track
their child’s progress through online learning
journeys.
3. In Term 2, learners will present their learning to
parents in Learner - Led Conference (LLC)
4. Parents will be invited to EYs Learning
Showcase in the theatre in Term 3.

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Working toward positive behaviour
Restorative Practices at Nexus:
“Restorative Practice” is a series of ways that
can be used to address conflict and misbehavior
in school situations from the informal through to
formal. The philosophy that learning happens in
a safe and respectful relational context underpins
Restorative practice.
Restorative Practice has now been included in the
school behavior policy, which addresses high-risk
behavior such as bullying. It focuses on repairing
relationship breakdown and harm to people as
opposed to blaming and enforcing punishment.
Restorative Chat:
Teachers will ask the learners involved:
1. What happened?
2. Who has been hurt/upset. How do you feel?
3. What do we need to do to make things right?
What will you do next time?

ICT at Nexus
Nexus International School is committed to
integrating the use of all emerging technology into
the school curriculum from Early Years through to
Year 13.
We are committed to providing an environment
where new technologies are used to develop the
learning skills needed for learners of today and
tomorrow.
By finding new ways to ensure that the use of
emerging technologies will be an integral part of
every child’s education, learners and teachers
as Nexus will benefit from an enhanced learning
environment.
EYs will be following a new ICT curriculum which
has been designed especially for the needs of our
youngest learners.

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 Reading & Library facilities
• Learner can borrow one book a week.
• Please use the coloured library bag.
• Learners will be given the chance to participate
in storytelling as an inspiration to their
imagination in the library after school hours on
selected days.
• Please check your child’s communication book
for their library day.

After school activities (CCA’s)

Age appropriate CCA’s are available for EY children
and can be found on the school website.
These are updated each term and we ask parent to
think carefully about whether their child is ready for
a longer day before enrolling.

Parents as Partners?
We recognise the value in working together
with parents to support children’s learning and
development. If you would be intrested in helping
with day trips or on a more regular basis in school,
please let one of our staff know.

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www.nexus.edu.my