OVERVIEW

As a parent, knowing what’s best for your child can be difficult and raising children can be hard work. This often blinds us as to their true capabilities. We need to see our children in new and different ways and this requires a new way of thinking. We know you love your children, and your peace of mind is most important to us. At BKI, we give your child the freedom to grow through open spaces, open minds, and open hearts. Humour always plays a large part of what we do.

Our older children begin by engaging in a scientific approach to discovery through exposure to routine methods of inquiry. Teachers refrain from offering direct answers to problems but instead make themselves available as a resource and a guide. Open ended questioning is constantly employed to engage problems until satisfactory answers are exposed, a process which may take days or even months before a sense of completion is achieved. For more information, including how this relates to children at the toddler level, please be sure to book your parent interview with us on the enquiry page here.

We also regard the Reggio Emilia Approach as a highly exciting “living” method of education. We are greatly inspired to offer a similar* experience to foreign and Japanese children alike and we conduct this in a 100% English environment.

Your child’s journey with us starts with their socialization within the group. Mixing with boys and girls of their own age your child will quickly learn valuable social rules and behaviors from a variety of personality types. At Circle Time, teachers constantly discuss acceptable behaviors to ensure a balanced enriching social environment.

After your child feels comfortable within the group, we will start the development of vital life (self-help) skills. Your child will be taught in a clear, well-thought out, professional way; how to develop many skills such as putting on shoes and socks, jackets, and pulling up zippers by themselves, for example. Such skills and routines not only make your life easier as a parent, they are also a great confidence booster for your child. Toilet training is also an important part of this phase.

Eventually, of course, it will be time for your child to leave BKI as a confident, socialized, physically active, well-adjusted, bilingual child — a child with a positive future, who is able to connect in both English and Japanese and is able and ready for primary school. With primary and secondary schools now introducing mandatory English as a subject, your child will now have the BKI advantage. Our children successfully go on to a variety of different schools including the American School in Japan (ASIJ), Myojo Gakuen, the Christian Academy in Japan, Columbia International School, K International, Aoba-Japan International School, Sakurano Elementary School, and other local schools.

*  By “similar” we do not mean to imply that we have replicated the exact circumstances as in Reggio Emilia, Italy, which exists in its own unique economic, cultural, political and historical context. In fact as with many schools (outside Italy) attributing their philosophy and practices to the approach, we are somewhat removed from this.  What we have done is to carefully take various fundamental aspects of the approach that we most aspire to and have professionally adapted them to our own unique circumstances here in Japan. Our school is privately owned and as such is not open to public research.