Early Years Program & Kindergarten

Early Years Program
& Kindergarten

These are the years filled with those unexpected moments that delight us. The years in which flexibility and freedom are the most important, the time to encourage children that they can do anything if they apply themselves.

These are also the years when we can learn the most, and rebound the fastest. The years in which we learn primarily from our mistakes. In these years, AISK’s program focuses on building perseverance, resiliency, and confidence, while supporting creativity and building a strong academic foundation. We introduce the basics of critical thinking and creative problem solving, helping our students train their brains to make connections, and so we can identify areas proactively where they may need further development.

The Lower Elementary curriculum focuses on four areas: Personal Development, Cognitive Development, Language and Literacy Development, and Creative Expression. That means in addition to the core academic subjects of reading, writing, and basic arithmetic, your child will learn how to act with respect for themself, others, and the world around them; how to think through a problem before they react to it; and how to express themselves in a healthy way.

Meet The Faculty

The Years of Discovery & Awe

In AISK’s Early Years Pre-School program, your student will begin their journey toward academic success. Our environment is built specifically for our youngest Hurricanes to learn how to experiment, how to adjust, and how to persevere, in a safe and supportive way. Our program emphasizes the need to stretch and challenge yourself to be fulfilled in life, and instills a love for learning at a young age.

Developmentally, these are the years when children have the largest capability and capacity to learn. Our hands-on program will help your child develop the skills they need to grow socially, emotionally, and physically, in addition to readying them for their ongoing scholastic career and the rest of their life.

Building Foundations of Excellence

Strong early childhood education puts your student on a path to success. At AISK, we make the most of these wondrous years of exploration, where the foundations of inquisitiveness and the intrinsic motivation to learn are created. During the early years, your child will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. Our learning environment fosters whole-child development, as well as firm academic foundations across core subject areas.

The Early Years Program

The program includes EYP 1 & 2. A hands-on learning experience for three and four-year-olds that provides kindergarten readiness skills.

Kindergarten

An introduction to traditional school life that lays foundations for lifelong academic success.

Core Focus Areas

In the early years we emphasize four primary areas of focus

Achieving a sense of self.
Behaving in a prosocial way
Taking responsibility for self and others.
Achieving gross and fine motor control.

Second Step® SEL

The Second Step® program is the core of the Elementary School’s social emotional learning curriculum. It provides students and teachers with developmentally appropriate tools that are the foundation for academic and social success. Students learn how to develop a growth mindset, manage emotions, demonstrate empathy and kindness for others, build healthy relationships, and solve problems and conflicts

Pillars of the Program

Short, fun, research based activities engage children in using and developing skills essential to learning and managing self effectively:

Listening and focusing attention
Remembering and using information
Managing and controlling impulses

Students learn the purpose of emotions, how to identify emotions in themselves and in others, and strategies for managing strong emotions in a healthy way. Emotion management skills support attention, motivation, academic, behavioral and social success.

The purpose of emotions
Building a feelings vocabulary
Understanding and respecting others’ perspectives
Calming strong emotions, self-regulation
Balancing emotion and logic

The ability to learn and understand what others are feeling, and to act with care and compassion to help support healthy relationships and social interactions. This creates a classroom and school environment for collaborative and cooperative learning, and one in which all students can feel safe, valued and empowered.

Recognizing contextual clues to how someone is feeling
Compassion: Empathy in action
Perspective-taking strategies

Students who are able to take a growth mindset, manage their emotions, communicate effectively, and empathize with others can use their skills to individually and collectively solve problems and resolve interpersonal conflicts.

Manage strong emotions to think clearly and solve problems
Understanding others’ perspectives to avoid blaming
Generate solutions that consider other perspectives
Evaluate outcomes of solutions
Cooperative problem solving

Dr. Ken Bence

I'm thrilled to join the American International School, Kingston family as the new Elementary Principal for the 2026/27 academic year! Originally from Liverpool, England, my journey in education has taken me across four countries over nearly 20 years, and I couldn't be more excited to soon call Jamaica home.

Most recently, I served as Senior Director at a school in Budapest, Hungary. Before that I served as the Elementary and Early Years Head at BASIS International School in Chengdu, China, where I had the privilege of building the founding team, culture, and school community in this brand new school. Before that, I spent four years as an Instructional Coach at American International School of Kuwait, work that reinforced my belief in the power of personalized support for teachers and data-driven instruction to help each of our students thrive and succeed.

I hold a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, with my research focused on coaching and transformational leadership in diverse international schools. I'm also certified in Understanding by Design, Creating Cultures of Thinking from Harvard's Project Zero, and have had the opportunity to present on topics like developing coaching cultures and creating school-wide reading programs across the international education community.

Katie Iver

I joined the AISK family in November 2013 in the capacity of Administrative Assistant to the Elementary Principal and Elementary teachers. I am a qualified personal assistant and have over 30 years of international experience over a wide range of sectors.

I am Jamaican born but lived in the UK for over 18 years and have travelled extensively, including a “dream come true” 12 months back-packing trip around the world in 2002-2003. I truly enjoy being back in Jamaica and particularly working at AISK. Its population of both Jamaican and international staff and students creates a really wonderful multicultural environment.

Watching children grow and observing how they learn everyday inspires me, particularly in the amazing environment we have here at AISK. Through music, dance, art, just to name a few, the look of pure joy when they can be truly who they want to be and learn valuable lessons across the board never ceases to amaze me. Their lightbulb moments always bring me joy.

Apart from enjoying running and watching great movies with friends, for those who don’t know, I am also a semi-professional singer. I do love to see the look on people’s faces when listening to me sing for the very first time. Music is my joy second only to my family!!

I am based in the Elementary School Office and am here to help and support you in any way I can, so please feel free to reach out.