The BIST way
The Future Begins Here!
Introducing Early Years
We would like to wish you a warm welcome to the British International School of Tunis. We are delighted that you have chosen our school to start your child’s educational journey. Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances.
A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children’s ‘school readiness’ and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.
Your child deserves the best
We value diversity and recognise that every pupil is an individual, with individual needs. Our ethos is to respond to each child according to those needs with compassion, understanding and whole-hearted support.
Our four main principles
Every child is unique
Every child is a unique child and a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
Positive relationships
Children can learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
Enabling environments
Children learn and develop well in enabling environments in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents or carers.
Different ways and rates
Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. Students needs are assessed and appropriate planning is conducted to ensure their needs are appropriately addressed.
How do children learn?
We provide a secure, stimulating environment where which young children can explore areas of learning at their own pace. The Early Years team consider the individual needs, interests and stage of development of each child in their care and they use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience covering all areas of learning and development.
Children learn skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through seven areas of learning and development. These prime areas are those most essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning.
By the time your child leaves us in EYFS to begin their first year in the national curriculum; we aim for them to achieve the early learning goals.
What do children learn?
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
Our Early Years Teachers
Simon Mccullough
Simon is from the Lake District in England, and is a passionnate, enthusiastic and dedicated teacher who has spent two years teaching in Milan.
Being a music graduate from the prestigious Royal Birmingham Conservatoire studying Trumpet Performance and Pedagogy, it has assisted him in planing and constructing lessons in which music is effectively promoted within childhood education. Simon passionately feels that music allows children from all ages to express themselves without pressure and promotes positive learning outcomes through enjoyment.
Anna Tineke Chaouch
Tineke has a degree in Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Intervention from Santa Monica College, California. She worked 8 years in the US in early childhood settings, including 4 years in a Therapeutic Day Treatment Program for young children with mental difficulties.
In 2012, when BIST first openned its doors, she joined the team as a Special Educational Needs Coordinator across Primary and Seconday. In February 2021, she rejoined the Early Years team being the Nursery teacher and Key Stage 1 Physical Education teacher.
An insight into Early Years
Admissions for children ages 3 to 5
Compulsory age
To apply to Nursery, children must meet the compulsory age of three years old by the 1st of September. Children can undertake taster sessions during the preceding summer term but would need to be three years old by the start of the academic year.
A child’s education from birth to age five forms a crucial foundation for all that follows. At the British International School of Tunis, we aim to provide children in our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) with educational experiences that will help them develop a positive approach to learning.
Taster sessions
From our Early Years & Foundation stage up until Year 1, applicants are warmly invited to attend a taster day at school.
A Taster Session is a wonderful way for your child to experience life at the British International school of Tunis first hand.
Taster sessions would take place within a classroom environment in company of the appropriate class teacher and can last over several days to complete.
Care is taken to find out as much as possible about your child’s behavioural, social and cognitive abilities among others areas to ensure appropriate planing is conducted.