Early years
The international preschool with Early Years (EY) for ages 3-5 and Pre-EY for ages 1-2. The preschool is placed in Hagabo.
The international preschool was established in January 2003 to cater for students from ages 1 through 5 years. As a result of the PYP re-evaluation in May 2016, it was recommended to rename it to Early Years (EY) for ages 3-5, while ages 1-2 remains the preschool class (Pre-EY) following the Swedish approach and we bridge it with the EY by developing small thematic play-based units.
Play
At our school, we believe that education influences and reflects the values of society. It is important therefore that in our school, even at this young age, we recognise a broad set of common values and purpose that underpin the school curriculum and the work within the EY.
Children are curious and capable learners with a sense of agency, rich in potential, bringing valid skills, preferences and understandings of learning. Through play, children actively create meaning from their interactions with people and their environments. These meanings are revisited and revised in light of new experiences and further learning.
The EY strives for a balance between the search for understanding, the acquisition of essential knowledge and skills, the development of positive attitudes and the opportunity for positive action through play.
Children are naturally motivated to play. The play-based learning approach uses this natural motivation and contextualizes it to learning. In the framework of the PYP, learners explore, experiment, discover and solve problems in imaginative and playful ways related to the Unit of Inquiry under study.
Our EY Classrooms are purposefully set up with play stations linked to the Unit under study and the lines of inquiry (see the POI). There is a provocation to delve deeper into the inquiry, and students are encouraged to interact with the provocation and come up with their own hypothesis/understanding. For example: at a blocks station, the teacher can provocate the child further with posing inquiry questions on maths and science (connected to the subject scope and sequence of the school) like “how tall is this block tower…”, “How many blocks do you need…”, “Can you blow this house down..” etc.
This encourages the children to think and develop cognitive as well as social skills. This also build confidence in engaging with new experiences and environments.
ISÄ EY Curriculum
The Primary Years Programme – Early Years (PYP-EY) offers a transdisciplinary, play-based-inquiry and student-centered education, enabling students to learn between, across and beyond traditional subject boundaries.
The framework serves as the curriculum organizer and offers a guide to achieve authentic learning that is engaging, significant, challenging and relevant for all students.
Through the Programme of Inquiry – POI (all schools develop their own in context to their own school) and by reflecting on their learning, students develop knowledge, conceptual understandings, skills and the attributes of the IB Learner profile.
Informed by constructivist and social-constructivist learning theories, the emphasis on play, collaborative inquiry and integrative learning honours the curiosity, voice, and contribution of the students. At the heart of the PYP curriculum are Approaches to Teaching (ATT) and Approaches to Learning (ATL). There are six subjects that are conceptually taught using the six transdisciplinary themes. The aim is to develop critical thinkers and lifelong inquirers.
In the PYP Enhancements, there are now three pillars of the curriculum – The Learner, Learning and Teaching, and The Learning Community.
- The Learner: describes the outcomes for individual students and the outcomes they seek for themselves (what is learning?)
- Learning and Teaching: articulates the distinctive features of learning and teaching (how best to support learners?)
- The Learning Community: emphasizes the importance of the social outcomes of learning and the role that IB communities play in achieving these outcomes (who facilitates learning and teaching?)
The PYP Coordinator conduct Parent Information sessions throughout the year to support parents in understanding this curricular framework.
The PYP identifies a body of knowledge for all students in all cultures, in six subject areas:
- Language
- Social studies
- Mathematics
- Science
- Arts
- Personal, social and physical education
Six transdisciplinary themes
The elements at the centre of the curriculum model are developed and applied in a context defined by the six transdisciplinary themes:
- Who we are
- Where we are in place and time
- How we express ourselves
- How the world works
- How we organize ourselves
- Sharing the planet
At ISÄ EY we teach four units per grade level that run for approximately 9 weeks each.
Who we are, Where we are in place and time and How we express ourselves are mandatory to be taught in the EY. Therefore, at ISÄ, we have ensured a balance of the other three themes, within the EY years. For example, EY 1 takes the first three themes and How the World works. EY 2 takes the first three themes and Sharing and planet and EY 3 takes the first three themes and How we organize ourselves.
To learn more about our curriculum please refer to the IBO’s website and our Play Policy.
EY Calendar
The parent Handbook, and Calendar are available on our Learning platform Toddle which can be accessed whilst students are enrolled to our school. New parents please contact us for further information.
Read more about the EY on IBO's web site www.ibo.org
External link.