The IB Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) prepares the students in the Lower School at SJK to be life-long learners, who actively participate in developing an understanding of the interconnected world around them. The PYP is an inquiry-based, concept driven programme, specifically designed for young learners between the ages of 3 and 12 years. Students are encouraged to be globally minded, by developing an international perspective, where diversity is welcomed and celebrated.
The PYP provides a framework for the curriculum that is implemented in the Lower School, allowing students to acquire essential knowledge and skills, in an environment where the deeper understanding of concepts is nurtured. Both the Ontario Curriculum Expectations and the PYP Scope and Sequence Guidelines are followed. A distinguishing feature of the PYP is the six transdisciplinary themes of global significance. The students engage in meaningful, relevant inquiries that focus on making significant connections to the world, and developing enduring understandings. Each Unit of Inquiry is organized under one of the transdisciplinary themes, and every school year the themes are revisited with increasingly complex information, key concepts and skills from the core subject areas of Math, Language, Social Studies, Science, The Arts, and Physical, Social & Personal Education.
Through the attributes of the IB learner profile and the demonstration of the PYP attitudes, the PYP encourages international-mindedness and a passion for learning. Students are asked to reflect constantly on their learning, and take meaningful action based on new discoveries. A highlight in grade six is the participation in the PYP Exhibition, where students showcase the depth of their learning throughout their years in the PYP, by presenting a significant inquiry of their own choosing.
PYP students are: caring, open-minded, knowledgeable, thinkers, principled, inquirers, communicators, balanced and reflective.