Primary Years Programme

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) provides a comprehensive, inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning. The curriculum framework focuses on the total growth of the developing child, touching hearts as well as minds and encompassing social, physical, emotional and cultural needs in addition to academic welfare.

At the center of the PYP curriculum are five essential elements: knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes and action. These five elements are used as the basis for all planning and teaching. The school’s program acknowledges the importance of subject areas such as: language; mathematics; social studies; the arts; science and technology; and personal, social and physical education. In order to help students make meaningful connections, these subjects are integrated wherever possible into units of inquiry. By providing students with this approach, the program aims to further the acquisition of knowledge and skills in the context of an ongoing search for meaning and understanding. Students from Grades 1 through 5 are engaged in six inquiry units a year that are centered around themes of global importance: Who we are; How we organize ourselves; Where we are in place and time; How the world works; How we express ourselves; and Sharing the planet. In K1, K2 and K3 (3 to 5 years), four inquiry units from the above themes are explored each year.

Towards the end of the PYP, students are involved in a culminating experience, the PYP Exhibition, in which Grade 5 students plan and present a collaborative project to the school community to demonstrate what they have learned during their years in the PYP.

Alongside the mainstream academic areas, the school offers a broad range of subjects to challenge and stimulate students’ interests. Single subject teachers work with classroom teachers to ensure quality instruction in a range of subject areas including Art, ICT, Japanese, Music and PE. As a school, we believe that this integrated approach to learning provides students with the opportunity to acquire skills in context, and to explore content that is relevant to children and transcends the boundaries of individual subjects.

Required subject content objectives are set by the IB, but the timing of the presentation of these is not prescribed, and so schools are free to develop their own curriculum or adopt an existing curriculum to use within the PYP framework. At KIST, we have adopted the National Curriculum for England’s Key Stages 1 and 2 for English and mathematics for K3 to Grade 5 due to its comprehensive and challenging nature that is in line with our school goals in preparing students for the academic challenges they will face as they progress to higher grades. In subjects other than English and mathematics in K3 through Grade 5, subject content is determined by the school in line with IB PYP guidelines. For K1 and K2, we have adopted England’s Early Years Foundation Stage.

Curriculum explanation sessions are scheduled throughout the year for families to learn more about the nature of the curriculum, the learning methods focused on and other general expectations. All parents/guardians are encouraged to attend these sessions in order to gain the knowledge necessary to be able to provide appropriate support to their children.

Click here for more information for parents about the PYP…