Phoenix's philosophy is based on the principles of the Reggio approach.

    The way in which we teach and educate children is directly affected by the way we view them. Phoenix's curriculum recognizes that children have a right to qualitative education, rather than quantitative. Our view of the children is open-ended, where teachers facilitate learning rather than directing it. The curriculum is developed directly from the children's ideas and curiosities. Children are valued, respected and viewed as capable and strong. Our purpose as educators is to build on those individual strengths. Each child is unique and is made aware of their importance and value.

    Our environment represents the incredible knowledge our children possess. It is an environment that encourages experimentation, exploration and appreciation of the beauty found in nature. The environment is viewed as an important part of the curriculum and offers many opportunities for learning.

The child
is made of one hundred.

The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.

A hundred, always a hundred
ways of listening
of marvelling, of loving,
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.

The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.

The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and Christmas.
They tell the child
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety - nine.
They tell the child
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says
"No way - The hundred is there"

Loris Malaguzzi (translated by Lella Gandini)