Primary Years Programme

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) at Saint Andrew’s spans the seven years of Lower School. The PYP provides a framework to help students develop the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, and skills necessary to participate actively and responsibly in a changing world.

IB Learner Profile

As with the Middle Years and Diploma Programmes, the IB Learner Profile defines the type of lifelong learner that the PYP strives to develop. The IB learner profile represents 10 attributes valued by IB World Schools. We believe these attributes, and others like them, can help individuals and groups become responsible members of local, national, and global communities. (IBO, 2013). The profile aims to develop learners who are:

Inquirers
Knowledgeable
Thinkers
Communicators
Principled
Open-minded
Caring
Risk-takers
Balanced Reflective

International-Mindedness

International-mindedness is a core component of the PYP curriculum through which students are challenged to think analytically and creatively about global topics in order to be best prepared for 21st century challenges, learn to value their own culture and those of others, build awareness that the world is much larger than the local community in which they live, and gain the ability to see themselves as responsible global citizens.

UNITS OF INQUIRY

The International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum is ‘broad and balanced,’ addressing all disciplines through IB programme specific frameworks. The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) has a transdisciplinary framework addressing content between, across, and beyond the different disciplines. These connections support students as they move into interdisciplinary work in the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) and multidisciplinary work in the IB Diploma Programme.

The Programme of Inquiry (POI) is the organizing tool for transdisciplinary learning in the PYP. It comprises the six transdisciplinary themes under which units of inquiry (UOI) for all grades are developed. These six themes are founded on curriculum research into human commonalities across the globe. The descriptors for each of these themes provide the powerful organizing ideas that are relevant in and across subject areas. These promote conceptual understandings and the development and authentic application of content knowledge and skills. They ensure vertical alignment which connects your child’s learning through their time in Lower School. The descriptors are as follows:

HOW WE EXPRESS OURSELVES

An inquiry into the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs, and values; the ways in which we reflect on, extend, and enjoy our creativity; our appreciation of the aesthetic.

WHO WE ARE

An inquiry into the nature of the self; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social, and spiritual health; human relationships including families, friends, communities, and cultures; rights and responsibilities; what it means to be human.

WHERE WE ARE IN PLACE AND TME

An inquiry into orientation in place and time; personal histories; homes and journeys; the discoveries, explorations, and migrations of humankind; the relationships between and the interconnectedness of individuals and civilizations, from local and global perspective.

HOW THE WORLD WORKS

An inquiry into the natural world and its laws; the interaction between the natural world (physical and biological) and human societies; how humans use their understanding of scientific principles; the impact of scientific and technological advances on society and on the environment.

HOW WE ORGANIZE OURSELVES

An inquiry into the interconnectedness of human-made systems and communities; the structure and function of organizations; societal decision-making; economic activities and their impact on humankind and the environment.

SHARING THE PLANET

An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution.