The UWP Approach

In today’s world, mindfulness is more important than ever, which is why we make sure mindfulness is at the heart of every lesson.

How we do it is our secret sauce, but what we achieve is easily measurable.

We’re talking about increased focus, attention, self-control, classroom participation, compassion and social skills; and decreased levels of stress, depression, and aggressive behaviour. All of this leads to improved academic performance, ability to resolve conflict, and overall well-being.

When it comes to learning, environment is key.

At UWP, we make sure your child feels loved. After all, a good school not only aims for its students to achieve their academic potential, but also develop them as caring, responsible, and loving people.

Positive education is a spin-off from positive psychology, and when applied in school teaches problem-solving skills, decision-making, creative thinking, and how to keep a cool head. As such, positive education has come to be defined as “education for both traditional skills and for happiness.”

Our aim is to gently guide your child towards achieving their full potential academically, socially and emotionally in a happy and vibrant setting.

Emotional Intelligence is a science-based roadmap on how to raise a well-balanced, higher achieving, and emotionally intelligent child. Research has shown that emotional awareness and the ability to manage feelings will determine how successful and happy our children are throughout life, even more than their IQ.

The Reggio Emilia style of teaching is based on the image of the child as unique, capable and strong.

Like Montessori, teachers serve as guides- they work with their students to build on their interests and ideas by carefully observing them. Then, teachers can introduce individualised learning provocations, such as thought exercises and projects that may last weeks or months. This approach empowers children, makes them responsible for their own learning, and encourages creative thinking.

Children are not spoon-fed answers or given these quickly; they are encouraged to explore, investigate, and finally represent their real-world findings. The curriculum is constantly evolving, is child-centric and mirrors the interests of the children.

The UWP approach is all about empowering children with confidence, life skills, and a sense of discovery, joy and wonder.

No place does this better than the Montessori classroom. Famous for its beautiful integration of learning through doing, the Montessori classroom is all about developing inner drive, motivation, and character.

Learning in a Montessori classroom is completely individualized and materials are introduced by teachers who serve as mentors. Children are encouraged to learn at their own pace and work independently by using these self-correcting materials. As such, students can identify mistakes in their thinking independently without assistance. This encourages reflection and self-regulation and teaches children that they have the intelligence and ability to do things on their own. Since children aren’t rushed through facts and materials, they are also able to build a strong foundation and learn to enjoy learning!

Montessori classrooms also have mixed-age groups where children can learn from each other and develop life skills, teamwork and leadership by working alongside older and younger peers. The Montessori classroom empowers children and gives them more confidence in themselves.

Through teaching these valuable life skills, UWP students are equipped with an increased capacity to learn effectively, and a strong foundation on which they can build a successful life.

German educator Friedrich Froebel invented kindergarten, and we’re pretty sure his philosophy still stands strong.

Froebel propagated the idea that play was essential to learning for children, and that through play, children experience the world directly. He believed that children should be encouraged to develop self-discipline, allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, and that the educators’ role was to create a warm, affectionate environment where children could learn freely.

Children are given space to construct meaning from their experiences and are guided through purposeful discussions around what they are doing and what they plan to do next. This helps direct learning and builds exceptional language and reasoning skills.

The Fröebel philosophy considers the whole child’s health as important- we’re talking about health and physical development, emotional well-being, mental ability, social relationships as well as spiritual aspects of development.