Curriculum and Subjects
The International Primary Curriculum
During the academic year 2009/10, the School adopted the International Primary Curriculum. This curriculum is taught through the use of themed, cross-curricular units of work incorporating the subjects of Science, History, Geography, Art, Design Technology, ICT, Music, Physical Education and International Mindedness.
The IPC was developed to provide support to teachers so that four main aims could be achieved. They are:
- to help children learn the subject knowledge, skills and understandings they need to become aware of the world around them.
- to help children develop the personal skills they need to take an active part in the world throughout their lives.
- to help children develop an international mindset alongside their awareness of their own nationality.
- to do each of these in ways which take into account up to-date research into how children learn and how they can be encouraged to be life-long learners.
The IPC contains the following elements:
Learning Goals
These define what the children might be expected to know, what they might be able to do and the understandings they might develop as they move through the school.
Units of Work
There is a bank of more than 90 cross-curricular, themed units of work. These are appropriate for one of three different age groups: five to seven, seven to nine and nine to twelve. These units are constructed so that the topic will be covered through history, geography, science etc. Each unit lays out clear guidelines for the length of time to spend on each subject area, but also allows for flexibility.
Brain-Friendly Learning
90% of what we know about how the brain works has been learned in the last ten years. Every unit of the IPC is written to take account of the latest brain research.
Assessment for Learning
As well as being learning-focused, the IPC is also assessment and evaluation focused in order to find out whether learning has taken place and how to plan the next steps.
The learning goals are the foundation of each unit and are themed around an area of real interest to children, respecting their own knowledge, understanding and inquisitiveness. Whilst the units are interdisciplinary, with each being studied through a number of different subjects, at the same time each subject is studied separately within the theme. All activities in the units are linked to specific subjects and to personal and international learning goals selected from the full curriculum.
Once again, it is up to the Management Team and the staff to choose how to organise the IPC units of work in order to achieve a balance across the whole School.
The following pages explain in more detail how each different curriculum area is organised.