British School Jakarta (BSJ) has rebranded its early years education program by changing the name back to “Kindergarten” – a better understood term for parents in Indonesia. BSJ Head of Primary, Shane Nathan, explains that the change is to better reflect this stage of education.

“The previous name of Foundation Stage One and Two was based on the English National Curriculum. We found that many parents in Indonesia did not understand what FS1 and FS2 related to or how it fitted into our school curriculum as a whole. The terms Kindergarten One and Two are widely used in Indonesia, so it was a logical decision to change the terminology,” said Mr Nathan.

With the name change, BSJ has enhanced curriculum and facilities focusing on each student’s individual learning needs. Mr Nathan pointed out, “We want to make an overall change – one part is to make it easier for parents to understand the real value of our program and facilities, so they can be actively involved in their children’s educational progress.”

This includes the belief that every child needs to learn, explore and direct their educational experiences by themselves. Therefore, BSJ’s Kindergarten program comprises of experiential learning and flexible learning in a Reggio Emilia approach and forest school movement that is focusing on students’ hands-on learning.

“This includes greater flexibility in terms of attendance, allowing parents to enrol their children for the number of days that is best matched to their needs. With such flexibility, we can better understand children’s readiness to attend school and how that might be impacting their educational and development skills,” added Nathan.

In efforts to enhance children’s confidence and creativities in an active and experiential environment, the 18-hectare school provides a wide variety of accessible indoor spaces. Children are able to move freely from indoor to outdoor provision where they can explore and play with lush gardens, sandpits, bike tracks and BSJ is the first and only in Indonesian schools – where children can make creative discoveries with water at newly installed bespoke, interactive water play area.

BSJ’s Assistant Head for Student Well-being, Laura Crossland, added, “We aim to accommodate students with a place where they can freely explore their creative thinking and develop a natural curiosity within the environment around them. Through playing, children learn how to overcome risks and challenges, and not before long, they will start seeing this as a fun learning process. At the same time, we make sure the student learns the necessary skills to enter into primary school.”