Connie Kenny, Director, (B.Ed, MICD)
Connie has more than twenty years experience as an international educator, leader and IB teacher trainer in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. In 2010 she co-founded Reach Education Organization in Hong Kong, which recently established, constructed and managed Branksome Hall Asia in South Korea. Connie was instrumental in establishing the school operations, admissions and recruiting the first cohort of 300 students and 66 International Educators Branksome Hall Asia is now a thriving IB world class day and boarding school with over 750 students. In Hong Kong, Connie also played a key role in the establishment of Discovery College and was employed as the assistant principal at the prestigious German Swiss International School. Connie has also been involved in the United World College schools, as a faculty member at UWCSEA Singapore and more recently a senior consultant in establishing the first UWC in Changshu China.
Connie believes that quality early childhood education is key to the future success of children and the subsequent development of a sustainable society. Connie is the proud mother of three daughters who all completed their own international education at IB World Schools in Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Connie believes that quality early childhood education is key to the future success of children and the subsequent development of a sustainable society. Connie is the proud mother of three daughters who all completed their own international education at IB World Schools in Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Tessa James, Principal
A sincere welcome to you and your entire family to our very special learning community within a beautiful unique natural environment. Your discerning choice in early childhood education and development today, will impact on your child throughout their life. We are honoured to partner with you in the learning and development journey ahead for your child.
Wilderness International Kindergarten implements best practices in Early Childhood Education and development. Each child’s individual learning and personal needs are at the forefront of our endeavours. This is not merely a marketing statement. This is what we do. Our world class educators plan and program to differentiate their teaching for every individual child.
At Wilderness, we instill in our children, a strong sense of wellbeing, identity, and independence. It is our goal that we develop lifelong learners who are confident, involved, creative, and resilient. Children who think critically and apply creativity across the curriculum and life. We believe in choice. Planning and providing opportunities for children to choose, make choices and learn from these decisions. This is fundamental in developing their executive functioning skills and growing each child into happy, well-functioning adults. At Wilderness we state that… “we cannot expect children to make wise decisions as teenagers and adults if they have never been empowered to choose.”
Importantly, Wilderness has a focus on sustainability and caring for our environment. Our curriculum provides ample opportunities for learning how we care for the environment by connecting with the environment daily. Our sustainability and nature focus can be witnessed in our programming, our resources, and the beautiful Wilderness facility itself. We focus daily on wellbeing and social skills to optimize learning and enhance emotional IQ. Our children practice yoga and mindfulness daily to enhance and promote social skills, relationships and build resiliency.
Children connect to nature daily at Wilderness. We believe that connecting children to nature is a fundamental human need, and each day children are given the time and space to bond with nature in our stunning outdoor garden.
It is through our play based and emergent learners’ curriculum that we can live our Wilderness mission and sustain our vision. Play is crucial during this phase of each child’s development and sets children up to become healthy, happy, and well-functioning adults. Through our emergent curriculum we can follow and promote children’s interests, allow unique strengths to be expressed regularly and ensure all individual learning needs and talents are supported.
Wilderness believes that:
• All children are capable of learning.
• Children learn best through a pedagogy that respects their individual development and personal interests.
• The environment is the ‘Third teacher’. The Aesthetics of the learning environment are very impactful and effect on the atmosphere, creativity, richness, and peripheral learning of each child.
• The process of learning is dynamic, and its outcomes are integrated into the lives of the young learner.
• The innate desire to learn can be purposefully elevated by caring and sensitive adults in the lives of children.
• Children who enjoy kindergarten/school are more likely to attain and extend the skills and knowledge appropriate for their age and developmental level.
Please take the time to explore our website and learn more about our Wilderness learning community. Our staff are always available to answer your questions and we invite you to join us for a tour and free trial should you be interested in learning more about us.
Yours in Education,
Tessa James, Principal
Wilderness International Kindergarten implements best practices in Early Childhood Education and development. Each child’s individual learning and personal needs are at the forefront of our endeavours. This is not merely a marketing statement. This is what we do. Our world class educators plan and program to differentiate their teaching for every individual child.
At Wilderness, we instill in our children, a strong sense of wellbeing, identity, and independence. It is our goal that we develop lifelong learners who are confident, involved, creative, and resilient. Children who think critically and apply creativity across the curriculum and life. We believe in choice. Planning and providing opportunities for children to choose, make choices and learn from these decisions. This is fundamental in developing their executive functioning skills and growing each child into happy, well-functioning adults. At Wilderness we state that… “we cannot expect children to make wise decisions as teenagers and adults if they have never been empowered to choose.”
Importantly, Wilderness has a focus on sustainability and caring for our environment. Our curriculum provides ample opportunities for learning how we care for the environment by connecting with the environment daily. Our sustainability and nature focus can be witnessed in our programming, our resources, and the beautiful Wilderness facility itself. We focus daily on wellbeing and social skills to optimize learning and enhance emotional IQ. Our children practice yoga and mindfulness daily to enhance and promote social skills, relationships and build resiliency.
Children connect to nature daily at Wilderness. We believe that connecting children to nature is a fundamental human need, and each day children are given the time and space to bond with nature in our stunning outdoor garden.
It is through our play based and emergent learners’ curriculum that we can live our Wilderness mission and sustain our vision. Play is crucial during this phase of each child’s development and sets children up to become healthy, happy, and well-functioning adults. Through our emergent curriculum we can follow and promote children’s interests, allow unique strengths to be expressed regularly and ensure all individual learning needs and talents are supported.
Wilderness believes that:
• All children are capable of learning.
• Children learn best through a pedagogy that respects their individual development and personal interests.
• The environment is the ‘Third teacher’. The Aesthetics of the learning environment are very impactful and effect on the atmosphere, creativity, richness, and peripheral learning of each child.
• The process of learning is dynamic, and its outcomes are integrated into the lives of the young learner.
• The innate desire to learn can be purposefully elevated by caring and sensitive adults in the lives of children.
• Children who enjoy kindergarten/school are more likely to attain and extend the skills and knowledge appropriate for their age and developmental level.
Please take the time to explore our website and learn more about our Wilderness learning community. Our staff are always available to answer your questions and we invite you to join us for a tour and free trial should you be interested in learning more about us.
Yours in Education,
Tessa James, Principal
