Welcome to Willows Pre-School / Nursery
Hello, I am Dr. Kevin Rigley, the CEO of Willows. I took on this role in 2017 after my wife, Galyna, passed away. I was adamant that Galyna’s legacy, the WillowsWay®, her pioneering pedagogy that has been helping children thrive for more than fifteen years, would continue to provide children with the best possible start in life, I immersed myself in the field of childhood education and explored various teaching methodologies and styles.
It became apparent that the last decade has seen an explosion in scientific understanding of how the brain works. I am pleased to say that the latest science now explains why the Willows Way has been so successful in helping children thrive.
With a successful background as an immunologist and extensive experience in scientific research, I bring a unique perspective to early childhood education. My journey into education revealed that many teaching methods, including familiar pedagogies like Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and Forest School, are based on observations by psychologists and educators. However, I found a crucial gap: there was little research into the physiological processes that underpin learning. While many studies focused on the outcomes, they often overlooked the underlying causes and the unique needs of each child.
Leveraging my scientific expertise, I have delved deep into how the environment affects brain development in children. This approach has given me valuable insights into creating an optimal learning environment for children at Willows Pre-School.
For those interested in my scientific work, my bibliography is available here.
Willows is proposing a new perspective on learning. The evidence is clear, learning is an inflammatory process, which needs the appropriate balance of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators. I don’t want to lose you in the science, but the theory is strong, it is gaining support and importantly it helps to explain and predict a lot of what we are seeing in our children.
I published the theory in “SIPS: Building a Better Brain,” and the findings will be expanded upon in a forthcoming book, “Inflamed Minds: How Modern Life is Breaking Our Children.”
In practice, the theory advocates teaching and raising our children in ways that we intuitively know are right but which we have perhaps slightly lost sight of over time. It says that we should nurture and respect what each child needs. In today’s modern environment, we have sacrificed what was once an ideal childhood.
If we could use a time machine, we’d see that it truly takes a village to raise a child. Children played on the streets in all weathers until they were exhausted, ate natural foods and sometimes even yesterday’s dinner for breakfast, and bathed in the gratitude of friendships and a loving family.
They learned through play, guided by older heroes and mentors. This wholesome, community-driven upbringing is what we have lost, replaced by the pressures and isolation of contemporary life. The science tells us that we need to be more aware of what we expose children to.
Please know that I do what I do because I want the best for our young children, and that my thinking is backed up by decades spent in the scientific method.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us. We look forward to welcoming you and your children to the Willows community.