The Primary Years Program (PYP)
and Inquiry Learning at Bradbury
School
A presentation for Year 1
Bradbury Parents
September 2011
Chris Duncan and Lisa Harris
Shift Happens!!!!!!!
Why Make the Change?
Our curriculum has become over-crowded.
Curriculum has become very content driven.
Time is not available for subjects to be studied
in depth
Current curriculum model is not equipping our
students with the skills they need to live and
work in an International setting in the 21st
Century.
Why make the Change?.....(cont’)
Timetables at the moment can be fragmented
and finding blocks of quality time for the in
depth teaching can be difficult.
Hong Kong is changing and as a result aligning
ourselves with just the British curriculum is not
appropriate.
The ESF Development plan has made a
commitment to inquiry-based learning and
Internationalism
What have been the benefits of
implementing an Inquiry based
curriculum and becoming a Primary
Years Program (PYP) School?
• It is a whole-school philosophy not a
replacement curriculum.
• Much of our content includes components found
in the National Curriculum of England and
Wales.
• It is truly International and supports our
commitment to developing global citizens
through a relevant curriculum based on firsthand experiences.
• It is a concept driven curriculum that focuses on
skills that can be transferred across subjects
(transdiciplinary).
• It has a knowledge component but it will help us
move away from a content driven curriculum and
develop our pupils to develop life-long leaning
skills.
• It stresses the importance of the Mother Tongue
and second language teaching.
• The majority of our children transfer to ESF
secondary schools and they have now introduced
the IB Diploma Program so teaching the PYP
would provide continuity of teaching experience.
• We will have greater access to high
quality training for all staff.
• The IBO is a world-wide organisation and
this enables our school to develop
learning networks for both staff and
students, throughout the world.
• WEBSITE (full of information for teachers
and parents) www.ibo.org
Models of teaching - please have a
look at the hand-out provided
(orange sheet). This will provide you
with a snap shot of what is Teaching
through Inquiry.