What is the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years Programme?
It is a transdisciplinary programme of international education designed to foster the development of the child.
The IB program is an internationally practiced method of curriculum planning and teaching that brings different subject areas together, providing interconnected meaning to the students’ learning experience. It focuses on developing the physical, emotional, social and intellectual needs of all students. At the elementary level, IB is organized under the Primary Years Programme (PYP) of Inquiry.
The lessons not only provide in-depth academic learning, but also provide global awareness relevant to the academic subject areas. This allows students to think critically, make connections across subject areas, and develop strong problem-solving skills in the areas of academic knowledge and social awareness. The PYP helps students to develop a strong sense of responsibility for their achievement and the role they play in the world around them. This allows students to develop effective skills as inquirers, thinkers, communicators and risk takers, as well as to become individuals who are more knowledgeable, principled, caring, open-minded, balanced and reflective.
Why PYP @ Oakridge?
The PYP is a process led, inquiry based curriculum that encourages students to ask questions and seek answers about the world around them. It helps students to become independent and confident thinkers and learners from an early age. We believe that the PYP is in line with our school philosophy and meets the needs of our students and teachers; we have adopted this approach at Oakridge, and have been a PYP authorized school since October 2004. This provides us with a solid curricular framework, while still allowing us to meet the unique needs of our students.
PYP at Oakridge:
We, at Oakridge strive to develop international mindedness in our youngsters. This drives the entire program and provides us with a rewarding purpose for all learning tasks undertaken. PYP provides us with the guidelines to achieve our goal. An internationally minded person is a person who demonstrates the attributes of the IB learner profile.
PYP Curriculum:
The five essential elements are at the core of the PYP curriculum. These five essential elements—concepts, knowledge, skills, attitudes, action—are incorporated into the framework of PYP curriculum.
- Concepts - The driving force in developing the Program of Inquiry. These powerful ideas have relevance within and across the disciplines, and are continuously re-explored.
- Knowledge - Significant subject matter for students to explore. This also provides our students with a shared base of information.
- Skills - Abilities the students attain in order to succeed in making sense of their world.
- Attitudes - Fundamental values, beliefs and feelings students have regarding learning, their environment, and other people.
- Action - Demonstration of deeper learning through service and positive action.
The aim of the programme is to help students acquire a holistic understanding of six main themes, shown on the outside of the curriculum model, through the interrelatedness of these essential elements.
Six transdisciplinary themes
The essential elements at the centre of the curriculum model are developed and applied in a context defined by the six transdisciplinary themes
- Who we are
- Where we are in place and time
- How we express ourselves
- How the world works
- How we organize ourselves
- Sharing the planet.
The PYP identifies a body of knowledge for all students in all cultures, in six subject areas:
- languages
- social studies
- mathematics
- science and technology
- the arts
- personal, social, physical education.
In the spirit of internationalism students are required to learn a second language in addition to the language of instruction of the school.
Programme of Inquiry
The Programme of Inquiry is a matrix composed of the six Tran disciplinary themes. Throughout the year, Nursery and Kindergarten cover four of these themes while Grades 1 to 5 are required to cover all six transdisciplinary themes. Grade 6 covers five themes and holds the PYP Exhibition. Each Unit of Inquiry within the Programme of Inquiry includes a Central Idea which defines the enduring understanding, Lines of Inquiry to define the scope of the unit, and Key Concepts, powerful ideas which students revisit throughout the Programme of Inquiry.
Assessment
As with the other academic programmes at Oakridge, assessment is both Formative and Summative. In addition, the PYP requires that individual portfolios of student achievement be kept, as an important mechanism for documenting progress. Students aged 10 to 12, in the final year of the programme, are expected to participate in a culminating project, the PYP Exhibition. This is designed to demonstrate their proficiencies in all areas of the programme.
Primary-- Profile of a PYP student
The learner profile is central to the PYP definition of what it means to be internationally minded. It also represents a synthesis of the essential elements of PYP. This profile lists the learning outcomes of the curriculum.
The programme encourages students to become:
- Inquirers - their natural curiosity has been nurtured and they actively enjoy learning
- Thinkers -they exercise initiative in applying thinking skills critically and creatively to solving complex problems
- Communicators -they receive and express ideas and information confidentially in more than one language
- Risk-takers - they approach unfamiliar situations without anxiety and have the confidence to explore new ideas
- Knowledgeable -they have explored themes which have global significance and have acquired a critical mass of knowledge
- Principled -they have a sound grasp of the principles of moral reasoning and have acquired integrity, honesty and a sense of justice
- Caring - they show sensitivity towards the needs and feelings of others, and have a sense of personal commitment to helping others
- Open-minded - they respect the values of other individuals and cultures and seek to consider a range of points of view
- Well-balanced - they understand the importance of physical and mental balance and personal well-being
- Reflective - they give thoughtful consideration to their own learning by constructively analysing their personal strengths and weaknesses.