Early Years in Madrid

At Willoughby International School, our Early Years stage welcomes children from ages 2 to 6.

During these formative years, our top priority is that children grow up feeling happy, safe, and supported within their school environment. We ensure that every child feels guided and cared for by their teachers at all times. From this foundation, learning is approached in a holistic, experience-based way, allowing children to explore, discover, and develop naturally.

Our goal is for each student to reach their full potential, always taking into account their individual stage of development and maturity.

In our Two-Year-Old classroom, 100% of the timetable is delivered in English, providing full language immersion. From age 3 onwards, children follow a balanced bilingual model, with 50% of learning in English and 50% in Spanish.

We place strong emphasis on the development of psychomotor skills, as these are essential for healthy growth and future learning. As children explore the world around them, they develop motor skills that enable them to move, interact, and handle objects with increasing precision. These abilities not only foster independence and autonomy, but also play a key role in cognitive, emotional, and social development.

For this reason, we believe in learning through movement, creativity, and hands-on experiences. We maintain a zero-screen policy in Early Years to ensure that learning remains meaningful, active, and engaging.

– Psychomotor Development: Encouraging movement, coordination, and body awareness as the foundation for learning.
– Communication and Representation of Reality: Developing language skills, expression, and the ability to understand and interpret the world.
– Growth in Harmony: Supporting emotional development, self-awareness, and positive relationships with others.
– Discovery and Exploration of the Environment: Fostering curiosity through hands-on experiences and interaction with the surrounding world.
– English: Building strong language foundations through immersion and daily exposure.
– Art: Promoting creativity, imagination, and self-expression through different artistic forms.