ELEMENTARY
Children are our future
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Curriculum
As an integral part of the IB Primary Years Programme our Primary Years curriculum takes a transdisciplinary approach to learning and is inspired by the philosophy and practice of the world-renowned Reggio Approach to Early Years Education. Within a carefully planned curriculum, children are given the time to explore concepts and construct theories together with teachers in a small group context.
Our children are encouraged to:
(1) Explore and elaborate their understanding through all their expressive, creative verbal, and mathematical languages.
(2) Construct understanding by making connections between mathematics, logic, science, digital technology, and the expressive arts.
(3) Construct relationships within a full immersion English Language context that gives value to each child’s own unique cultural identity.
Environment
Children learn by building relationships with their surrounding environment and our classrooms and outdoor spaces are designed to support this. The carefully planned and stimulating physical environment encourages both autonomy and collaboration between children. Children are given time and space to explore natural and open-ended materials that are carefully chosen by the teachers to support the development of transdisciplinary inquiry-based projects.
Emphasis is placed on students learning how to learn. Explicit learning outcomes and the learning process are made transparent to the students. Students and teachers work together to develop goals and strategies to improve learning. Learning often involves group activities focused on skills for leadership, social interaction, and problem-solving.
Approach
The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is a transdisciplinary curriculum framework with an inquiry approach to conceptual learning and teaching. It is taught in over 100 countries of the world. The learner and the learning community is at the center of learning and teaching. Through the embodiment of the attributes of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile, the program strives to build cultural understanding and internationally-minded young people.
Throughout an academic year, student inquiry is guided by conceptual ideas that are connected to six transdisciplinary themes of global significance. Bridges between subject disciplines are fostered and developed to build transferable knowledge, understanding, and skills.
Jane Sedgwick
Grade 5 & Elementary Leader
FROM 6 TO 12 YEARS OLD
The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) for children aged 3 - 12 nurtures and develops young students as active participants in a lifelong journey of learning.
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Alexandra Tuenter
Grade 2 Teacher
Learning and Teaching
The Primary Years Programme (PYP) ensures that learning is engaging, relevant, challenging and significant. A transdisciplinary and conceptual inquiry approach encapsulates these aspects of learning, underpinned by authentic integrated assessment. The PYP is a transformative learning and teaching experience and represents a commitment to student learning in an authentic and transdisciplinary context. A conceptual inquiry approach is a powerful vehicle for learning that values concepts and promotes meaning and understanding. It challenges students to engage critically and creatively with significant ideas beyond the surface level of knowing. PYP teachers use powerful, broad and abstract concepts as a lens to organize learning within units of inquiry and subject-specific learning.
