IB Primary Years Programme
IB Primary Years Programme
The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is a transdisciplinary programme of international education designed to foster the development of the whole child. It is intended for children aged 3 to 12. The programme focuses on the holistic growth of the developing child, nurturing hearts as well as minds, and considering social, physical, emotional, and cultural needs alongside academic progress.
The PYP draws on research and best practices from a variety of national systems, offering a wealth of knowledge and experience to create a relevant, engaging, challenging, and significant educational framework for all children.
All traditional subject areas remain integral within the PYP. Wherever possible, we create transdisciplinary learning opportunities to develop skills and conceptual understanding within and across disciplines such as Language, Maths, Science, and Social Sciences, PSPE, and the Arts.
For further information about the IB or the Primary Years Programme (PYP), we invite you to visit the IB website and search for the PYP Playlist, a comprehensive guide to the PYP, broken down into key areas and concepts central to the curriculum framework.
Learner Agency and Self-Efficacy
At JIS, we encourage our students to embrace their individuality, take ownership of their learning, ask questions, and seek to understand. We aim for our students to have agency in their learning.
When learners have choice in how they learn, what they learn, and with whom, they are more likely to develop deeper understanding and make lasting conceptual connections to the world around them.
Students at JIS are partners in the learning process.
Learners at JIS reflect continually on their learning, identify next steps, and take an active role in their community as inquirers, thinkers, and risk-takers.
IB Learner Profile
The IB Learner Profile is a set of ten attributes used across the entire IB continuum. As stated in From Principles into Practice, the key supporting document for the PYP framework:
The attributes of the learner profile represent a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that encompass intellectual, personal, emotional and social growth. The development and demonstration of these attributes are foundational to students becoming internationally minded, active and caring community members who respect themselves, others and the world around them.
Alongside our three core values of Kindness, Commitment, and Respect, the IB Learner Profile helps shape how we collaborate and work together to enhance our learning community and the world at large.
Programme of Inquiry
The Programme of Inquiry (POI) outlines all the Units of Inquiry that each grade level undertakes throughout the school year. Units of Inquiry are collaboratively planned at each grade level. Our comprehensive POI is regularly reviewed by all staff and is displayed in the school for students and the wider JIS community to explore.
There are no externally set or externally marked exams in the PYP. Teachers develop and carry out all assessments of student work, designed to provide a clear picture of each child’s progress.
Primary 6 students, as the culmination of their PYP experience at JIS, participate in the PYP Exhibition. Guided by their teachers, they work on group and individual inquiry projects that require them to synthesise their learning and deepen their understanding of all aspects of the PYP.