Primary School
Grade 1 – 5
The ISHR Primary provides a dynamic learning environment where students are encouraged to experience new things while building the foundational skills necessary for academic success. Our program focuses on innovative practices that promote learning at deeper levels. Students experience a curriculum that encourages the creation of new things and the solving of real-world problems. Students are empowered to set goals, reflect on their learning, and take action. Creativity is developed as students are provoked to think deeper and share their learning in a variety of ways. The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) provides the framework for a lifetime of inquiry by teaching our students to be curious about the world, develop confidence, and express their opinions while respecting the differing opinions of others. We focus on the development of the whole child in every area of learning; academic, emotional, and social learning are all valued.
General Information
Students at ISHR are encouraged to become globally aware, culturally sensitive, open-minded citizens who celebrate the fact that they attend a school with a diversity of cultures and beliefs. They are also encouraged to become balanced individuals across sporting, artistic, academic, social, and cultural interests. Whether your child is interested in maintaining the school garden or joining the Time for Action club after lunch, there are multiple opportunities for each student to express their individuality. We hold regular sporting events, musical concerts, and offer a wide range of in and extra-curricular activities for our students.
The ISHR Primary School PYP curriculum includes the core subject areas of Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies, as well as Music, Visual Art, German, Personal and Social Education, and Physical Education. We use the Readers and Writers Workshop pedagogical approach to deliver a balanced literacy program for students. The use of technology responsibly is taught through IT lessons as well as being woven into all areas of the curriculum. Students have access to iPads, computers, and SmartBoards throughout the day as well as a Primary Maker Space area to foster creativity and design thinking processes.
Language Acquisition
ISHR’s Primary School encompasses students from Grade One through Grade Five. We are an English medium school, but recognise that language acquisition and respect for each other’s mother tongue is essential. All students learn German and we have a Mother Tongue program to support students in maintaining their home language. Many students arrive at ISHR with varying skills in English. We have English as an Additional Language (EAL) specialists who provide assistance in English for those students who are learning English for the first time.
Immersive Learning
At ISHR, some of the best learning takes place beyond the classroom walls. We leverage our outdoor learning program as well as local and community relationships to enrich student learning opportunities beyond the four walls of the classroom. During the PYP Units of Inquiry, students explore both their home and host cultures to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. Students participate in a range of field trips which provide authentic connections to the local culture.
Wellness
The PYP Learner Profile is at the core of character development at ISHR. The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world. Students in ISHR Primary are encouraged to become inquirers, open minded, knowledgeable, caring, thinkers, risk takers, communicators, balanced, principled and reflective.
For students struggling with aspects of school, Learning Enrichment Specialists and our Primary School Counsellor are on-hand to provide academic, emotional, and/or social support when needed. Students in Primary receive pastoral lessons during the year from our counsellor around wellbeing, character development and problem solving. Small group and individual support is also provided as needed.
A Community of Readers
ISHR places particular importance on reading. Reading is the foundation of all effective learning across subjects and beyond the classroom. We believe that students should have access and choice to a range of “right fit books” around their reading developmental stage. We have a wonderful library to support this learning. Students in Primary visit our school library weekly. This is a whole school hub of learning, as well as a place for quiet retreat. Reading for choice and learning are the primary goals for this space, along with ensuring that students have the skills required to be informed digital citizens and researchers, capable of exploring their own independent inquiries.
Library lessons are guided by the teacher librarian and constructed in collaboration with our Primary school teachers and the PYP Coordinator to ensure relevance to classroom learning. Students are encouraged to develop a love of reading in Primary as they begin to understand how to use and utilize a library space to benefit their learning needs as they progress through their educational journey.
Parent Partnership
Parent involvement and encouragement is an important aspect of the IB PYP learning model, and there are many things you can do to help support your child’s learning:
- Maintaining regular contact with the school.
- Stay informed about the school and what is happening
- Sharing books with your child, reading to them and with them.
- Supporting your child’s first language.
- Assisting your child with research projects, and encouraging them to develop their interests.
- Encouraging your child to ask questions, and helping them to seek the answers.
- Encouraging your child to attain the attributes of the PYP Learner profile, and praising their attempts to do so.
- Attend curriculum information sessions and parent/teacher conferences at school.
- Showing a positive attitude towards learning, and modelling the Learner profile characteristics yourself
Primary Curriculum Guide
Useful PYP Links and Downloads
There is a wealth of information available concerning the IB PYP Programme and about ISHR’s curriculum and assessment policies. Below are a few links that we think are useful for parents:
Want To Know More?
IB PYP Programme
The IB PYP focuses on the total growth of the developing child, encompassing social, physical, emotional and cultural needs in addition to academic development.
Immersive Learning
From our on-campus garden, to outdoor learning activities, to field trips, learning beyond the classroom is an essential component of an ISHR education.
