Your children will love learning at our school because we understand that children come to us with their own learning styles, strengths and challenges. They have different combinations of unique and shared patterns of values, knowledge and experience of the world and their place in it. Recognising each child as an individual, we can help them develop a love of learning by facilitating a culture of collaboration, mutual respect, support and problem-solving that involves the whole school community.
Within our Primary School Programme, it is necessary to achieve a balance between the programme of inquiry and single-subject teaching. The relationship between the subject areas and the units of inquiry will change from one unit to the next. However, in order to support transdisciplinary teaching and learning, the homeroom teacher takes responsibility for the main language of instruction (English), mathematics, social studies, and science.
The importance of traditional subject areas, or disciplines, is acknowledged: language (both English and Mandarin); mathematics; science; social studies; the arts; and personal, social and physical education (PSPE): and these are specified as components of the Primary School curriculum model. Overall expectations for each subject, within each age range, are specified in detailed scope and sequence documents. In general:
Assessment, Recording & Reporting
The assessment component in our curriculum can be divided into three closely related areas:
Teachers assess student learning in a variety of ways using a range of assessment tools, and the students themselves are expected to be reflective and think about their own learning.
Evidence of student learning is collected and feedback is given to students regularly and frequently: individualised, immediate feedback has been proven to make the most significant improvements in student learning. Students and teachers work together to create a ‘portfolio’ for each student. This portfolio is used as a reference during the Student-Led Conferences (SLC).
Teachers communicate regularly with parents so they can support and celebrate their child’s learning, as well as understand their progress and development. The School uses a digital platform called Seesaw, which facilitates daily communication between the teacher, parents and students. In addition to being a great way to digitally share learning activities, it provides a platform for discussions at home in support of mother-tongue development.
Formal reports are sent home at the end of Term 1 and Term 2. Students share their individual learning journey with their parents during their Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences held at the end of the first and third terms, and at the SLC held in Term 2.
HKCA PLK School Scope & Sequence Documents
In order to create a Programme of Inquiry (POI) each school needs to ensure it addresses the essential conceptual understandings and learner outcomes within all subject areas. HKCA PLK School uses a combination of IB and ‘school-developed’ Scope & Sequence continuum documents in order to facilitate a well-designed, inquiry-based transdisciplinary programme. In line with the school’s Vision and Mission, the programme is designed to create a balanced curriculum where all subject areas play an important role in guiding the students’ interests, talents and essential learning.
The following IB PYP documents are used to guide the school’s planning process:
The school has developed its own scope & sequence continuum documents for Science and Social Studies, which are based on the IB Science and IB Social Studies Scope and Sequence documents but have been adapted for the school’s POI using various international school conceptual understandings and learner outcomes:
These PYP scope and sequence continuum documents:
The scope and sequence continuum documents have been organized around “phases” rather than age-band stages. This is in recognition of the fact that learning is a developmental process whereby the learner does not always progress through age-related stages in a strictly linear fashion. The resulting continuums are organized in such a way as to place primary importance on the construction of meaning, leading to deep understanding of concepts. The continuums make explicit the conceptual understandings that need to be developed at each phase. Evidence of these understandings is described in the learning outcomes associated with each phase. The POI provides opportunity for learning both about and through the subject areas. The documents also provide guidance to ensure an interactive and ongoing process of curriculum development.
Reference: Introduction to the PYP scope and sequences (International Baccalaureate Organization 2009)
HKCA PLK School Transdisciplinary units of inquiry
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