The years between three and six are an important time in the development of our students and we use this stage to actively promote their curiosity, guide their interests, and discover their talents. To this end, we have designed a program that enables us to use this important time for each of our students. Our Early Years program provides the necessary flexibility in order to give each student the opportunity to develop his or her potential in Kindergarten and Preschool.
Our Early Years curriculum is based on the alignment of both international and national programs, merging the Berlin Educational Program together with the Primary Years Programme (PYP). In doing so, we are able to develop unique structures for our students as both programs seek to cultivate the whole child during the early stages of development and have inquiry-based learning as a cornerstone in their approach. Beginning in Kindergarten and Preschool, our teachers design projects for our students referred to as the units of inquiry. The Early Learning curriculum is organized around these units which forms the framework for our inquiry-based, student-centered teaching. These units are age-appropriate, transfer subject knowledge to our students, and give form to the acquisition of core skills in early development. The projects follow a structured curriculum and are taught with specific learning objectives and articulated learning outcomes, as defined in the Program of Inquiry. Along their path of inquiry, our teachers seek to integrate the interests and cultures of our students into the learning activities, in order to create an atmosphere anchored in both student interest and budding curiosity.
This interdisciplinary and hands-on approach makes it possible to reach all students and to inspire them to have an active role in their learning. One of our primary goals in Early Learning is to instill an active awareness in our students and to make them conscious that they too are an integral part of the learning process. In doing so, this awareness allows students from an early age to view learning as engaging, transformative, positive, and meaningful. Our students begin to create sense of HOW to learn and explore new ideas. In addition to structured and purposeful inquiry, our early learners also model the attributes of our educational philosophy and IB learner profile used throughout the school. We are confident that our school program provides a strong foundation of instilling strong values and confidence for later success in Primary and Secondary school.
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