[Newsletter] December 2014

THE ETONHOUSE MONTHLY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2014
Dear Parents,
It is hard to believe our school soon will be done. Over the last ten months I have learned many things at EtonHouse
Bundang. We are fortunate to have an amazing group of dedicated and passionate educators and staff at our school who
continue to strive to create opportunities for children to learn and achieve.
The Christmas show and flea market events were done successfully. Each class performed with different Christmas carols and songs inspired by their own inquiry topics. Children performed with pride in front of many parents and relatives. This year’s Christmas was more meaningful because each class collaborated with other classes and finished the
show with the whole classes’ participation. Children learned team sprit through making beautiful harmony with different age levels and classes.
After the Christmas show, parents and other guests enjoyed the flea market with children. Many parents donated items
such as clothes, books, toys and other valuable products for this event. Our neighbors, ShaSha Pilates, Java City, H Clinic,
Kizmeal and Rectangle 618 Coffee shop also participated by donating certificates, sportswear, food and drinks for the
flea market. Our children and teachers actively participated in preparing different booths, advertising and selling products on that day. It was not only an event that parents and children enjoyed but also an event that children can learn
the marketing roles and responsibilities and the value of sharing and helping other people.
I would like to acknowledge the great work and support of our parents and PTA
members led by class mothers. I would also like to acknowledge and thank those of
you who volunteer your time freely across our school in support of children’s
learning. We would like to keep building these partnerships.
On behalf of all staff at EtonHouse Bundang School, I would like to wish all families
School Events
 Dec 22th to Jan 2nd
Winter Break
a happy, relaxing and fun school holiday break. For those traveling, we wish you a
safe and enjoyable time with family and friends. The staff and I look forward to seeing you all in 2015 for another fantastic year of learning at EtonHouse Bundang.
 January 30th
Year End Report Card
 February 13th
With very best wishes,
Lunar New Year Event
Hannah Sung
 February 17th , 2014
Graduation/Half Day
Principal of EtonHouse Bundang
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THE ETONHOUSE MONTHLY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2014
Body Awareness Workshop
In November, EtonHouse Bundang students (Pre-K to K2) had a
great opportunity to learn about their bodies and child protection
education by the seniors from Soojeong Social Welfare Center.
EtonHouse believes that children are sexual beings who need to
know about their bodies. The seniors taught our students to respect and take a good care of their own bodies and other children’s
bodies. We want our children to keep their bodies safe given that
we can’t supervise them all of the time.
To stay safe, they need to develop the confidence that comes from
the knowledge that their bodies are their own, that they can say No
and reject and report inappropriate and unwanted touching.
We would like to keep providing this wonderful opportunity to our
students in regular school assembly time.
Parents’ Curriculum Workshop for the Next School Year
It is time to prepare for the next school year! In order to provide
appropriate information in advance for parents who are curious
about the EtonHouse Bundang Curriculum for the 2015-2016
school year, EtonHouse Bundang held curriculum workshops. Parents were able to get more specific information about the next
school year curriculum through the workshops. Parents also had
an opportunity to visit classrooms and asked specific questions to
teachers. We hope parents will be able to understand more about
the next year level curriculum with this opportunity. Please feel
free to contact the principal, school coordinator and teachers if
you have any questions regarding this matter.
MISSION
 Empowering each individual to be an enthusiastic life-long learner and confident
global citizen of the future
 A curriculum focused on pedagogical integrity and research-based best practice
 Acknowledging and responding to each
learner’s potential
 An authentic partnership with families and
quality assurance across the organization
 A curriculum focused on pedagogical integrity and research-based best practice
 Acknowledging and responding to each
the community
 Continual evaluation, improvement and
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learner’s potential
THE ETONHOUSE MONTHLY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2014
tation: words, movement, drawing, painting, building, ships.
sculpture, shadow play, collage, dramatic play, music (the
"hundred languages"). In this way children are able to explore
and communicate ideas in many different ways, and are able
to link ideas across different media.
EtonHouse is committed to each staff member’s professional
development through induction, appraisal system and professional training and workshops. In November, EtonHouse sent a
representative to the Reggio Emilia International conference to
adopt great educational values for EtonHouse school. We would
like to use this opportunity to introduce the Reggio Emilia approach to parents and more details will be followed later.
The environment is the third teacher
Space is designed to encourage encounters, communication
and relationships. There is order and beauty in the organisation of materials; every corner of space has an identity and
purpose. The piazza and the atelier are at the heart of the preschool centre.
Reggio Emilia is a small city in northern Italy. After the second
world war citizens of Reggio began to construct their own preschools and educational approach for young children. The schools
were built on the premise to teach children to think for themselves
and with an image of the child as rich in potential, strong, powerful and competent. The schools embraced creativity, listening to
children, community involvement, democratic citizenship, professional dialogue and documentation of learning processes. There
are now 78 municipal preschools and infant toddler centres in
Reggio Emilia, and their approach is an inspiration to educators
around the world.
Educators are partners, nurturers and guides
Educators and artists (atelierista) facilitate children's exploration of themes - short- or long-term projects - and guide experiences of open-ended discovery and problem-solving. They
observe and listen closely to children in order to deepen their
understanding of the children's ideas and their ways of working together. They reflect in groups to analyze their observations and decide how to further support the children's learning.
Reggio's Approach: some key principles
All children have potential
Our image of the child is rich in potential, strong, powerful,
competent and, most of all connected to adults and other children.—Loris Malaguzzi From birth the child has the need and
the right to communicate and interact with others. Through energy and curiosity the child constructs his/her own learning.
Educators are researchers
Children are connected
Documentation as a learning tool
The child is a member of a family and a community rather than
an isolated individual. The child learns through interaction with
peers, adults, objects and symbols. Preschool centres are seen as
a system of relations embedded in a wider social system.
Careful consideration and attention are given to the presentation of the thinking of the children and the adults who work
with them. Transcriptions of children's words and dialogues,
photographs and drawings are used for groups of adults and
children to reflect on the learning that is taking place. The
documentation enables children, educators and parents to
share each other's learning, not just at the end of a learning
process but as an aid to a continuing group idea.
The educators work together, sharing their observations and
interpretations about how the children are exploring and interacting. They develop their own research based around how
best to support particular aspects of children's learning.
The reciprocity of children
“Children are very open to exchanges and reciprocity as deeds
and acts of love which they not only want to receive but also
to offer. These form the basis of their ability to experience authentic growth, dependent on the elements listed above, as
well as on conflict and error. “ - Carlina Rinaldi
Children are communicators
Children have the right to use many forms of symbolic represen-3--
Families as partners
Families have an active role in children's learning experience.
They are encouraged to share their ideas and experiences of
their children's learning, and are able to see what has been
happening in school through documentation and discussions.
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THE ETONHOUSE MONTHLY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER - DECEMBER 2014
The Importance of Giving
By Allan Ward and Jinny yook
With the success of the recent flea market, that allowed us to support a
local children’s home, fresh in our minds and with Christmas looming
around the corner we thought it would be apt to write about why it is
important to give. And more importantly why should you teach your
child about charity.
Ellen Sabin, author of The Giving Book, suggest that once children are
exposed to helping other people it starts to become a habit. In her opinion, as well as in ours, children should grow up believing that helping
others is a basic thing that everybody does. Like brushing your teeth, or
saying please and thank you. Like having good manners children will
only get in the habit of giving if they learn to do so. For this reason it is
important for you to lead by example.
But why should we give back? Other than the obvious answer that it is
good for the person being helped, it has also been found that it is beneficial to the helper. The Corporation for National and Community Service
found in a study that children who do volunteer work do better in
school. They also found that people who are regularly involved with
charitable work tend to be healthier, and that these wellness benefits
increase if they start volunteering earlier in their life. Volunteer work
that involves personal contact also makes people feel better, happier in
life, by releasing endorphins. It is also important to remember that
teaching your children about giving and getting them involved in community projects helps them build confidence and self-worth in the right
way...by showing them that their actions make a difference.
That doesn't mean you need to schedule weekly trips to the community
centre or build houses for the homeless every weekend (unless you
want to, of course). Building a culture of giving is simpler than that.
Praising kids when they share nicely with their siblings, encouraging
them to make birthday cards for their friends, picking up trash as a family when you're at the park or playground, visiting an animal shelter to
give the ownerless cats and dogs some hands-on love. "Just smiling at
someone is a charitable act," says Sabin. "If we offer good experiences, if
we say to kids, 'How cool is it that you can do this,' it becomes addictive."
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405 Michelan Chereville Jeongja-dong Bundang-gu Seongnam-si Gyeonggi-do South
Korea | (+82 31) 782 1004 | www.etonhouse.co.kr | www.etonhouseprep.com
204 Hyperion Building Bansong-dong Hwaseong-si Gyeonggi-do South Korea | (+82 31)
613 9963 | www.etonhouse.co.kr | www.etonhouseprep.com
68-3 Hannam-dong Yongsan-gu Seoul-si South Korea | (+82 2) 749 8011 |
www.etonhouseprep.com| www.etonhouse.co.kr
Vision
EtonHouse is committed to the pursuit of excellence
and leadership in educational services and practice