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Les Eléphanteaux is situated in Yenzi Camp where the majority of pupils live. It is part of Ecole Yenzi but is a 10 minute walk from the main building. The pre-nursery class is lead by a qualified teacher, supported by a team of voluntary nursery workers, with a minimum of one assistant for every 8 children enrolled.
Mission Statement Les Eléphanteaux aims to develop the whole child by providing quality learning experiences in a safe and stimulating environment. We will encourage all associated with the school to work with and respect each others differences and our special environment. |  |
Criteria for Enrolment
In line with Shell policy, Ecole Yenzi has one pre-nursery class. This is a bilingual class open to children intending to join either the International stream or the French Language Stream.
Children are eligible to enrol in Les Eléphanteaux if:
- they are toilet trained
- their third birthday falls during the term in which they enrol
- one or both parents are Shell employees, salary group 7 or above.
When numbers allow it, contractors may also enrol their children at the pre-nursery. Contractors will be will required to pay school fees.
The maximum number of children who can enrol in the pre-nursery class is 18. In certain circumstances and at the Head Teacher’s discretion, the maximum number may be increased to 20.
School Hours
Les Eléphanteaux is open Monday to Friday: 07:45 - 10:15
The School Day
The structuring of the day is quite informal. There will be set activities each day – story time, singing, outdoor play and snack time but other than that, a lot of the choices the children make, will be left to the children themselves. Staff will organize a wide variety of interesting activities and will encourage the children to spend a sustained amount of time on one activity but also to move from activity to activity in the course of a session.
The curriculum is experience based so the children will learn through play. For example, they may be encouraged to set the table for 3 people when playing in the home corner – discussion can take place with the workers about how many knives, forks, plates etc they will need – thus informally developing their language and mathematical skills. The key issue here is the informal learning that the children undergo.
Children's learning must respond to their current and future personal needs, their future career needs and the needs of the varied societies and cultural groups in which they are likely to play a part. Learning needs to be active, in the sense that children must engage with their own learning. For early years children, this means that learning which is relevant to the future must be placed in a context that is meaningful to their present lives.
The curriculum design is influenced by two ideas. First, the key concepts of independence and interdependence which underpin our view of what it is have an international mind-set and, second, the lessons learnt as a result of a decade of research into the brain and the development of brain- friendly learning and teaching strategies.
Children need to share responsibility for their learning with their teachers, parents and carers. The proportion of responsibility each bears will depend on the age and characteristics of the children. Nevertheless, learning must be constructed in such a way that, by the end of the primary years, children begin to see and experience the potential for taking responsibility for their own learning.
Three year olds do not have to be able to read, write, count, tie their shoe laces, work for long periods of times, or be able to draw and colour in.
At Les Eléphanteaux we aim to encourage the children to explore all the different materials we have there. Exploring does not mean doing things once. It may mean doing particular activities repeatedly, not because we insist on it but because the child is extremely interested and motivated. These two elements are so important to the learning process. We encourage and allow repetition where it can.
Exploratory play may mean that your child becomes a little dirty. Again, messy play is an important aspect of learning. There are certain important skills which are pre-requisites to the more formal skills of reading, writing, number work and drawing.
We try not to focus on the product but more on the process. Your child may bring home what looks to you like merely a scribble or a splash of paint. But that could be their first attempt at writing or a very important stage in developing their eye-hand co-ordination, visual discrimination skills or drawing skills!
Updated 14 December 2012
