Students are provided with opportunities that are necessary to be a happy individual throughout the primary school years during which the physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and aesthetic development and improvement occur in the most rapid way.
In primary school students establish the foundation of knowledge and skills they build on throughout their lives. Learning about the children’s rights and human rights they take steps forward in order to become principled individuals. They participate in international, national, and school-wide projects and thus, learn how to produce knowledge instead of just consuming knowledge.
In primary school students learn how to inquire and research. They apply what they learn and experience how their learning can be transferred to daily life. Since 2008 our preschool and primary school have been working on the Primary Years Programme (PYP) of the IBO. The PYP aims to raise individuals with an international perspective who display the attributes stated in the Learner Profile and inquire within the framework of a constructive approach in which teachers also inquire.
The social, cultural, and psychological development of students are as important as their academic progress. Therefore, students’ progress and psychological development are monitored and actions are taken and parents’ cooperation is sought so that students could get better. It is essential to crosscheck and assess student progress in all areas through the practices. Thus, students both learn things that will be crucial in their lives and learn how to learn.
Our education programmes involve “learning through research” through which learning and problem- solving are taught. Projects are also an indispensable part of our programme that aims to develop research, reporting, presentation, analytical thinking, and teamwork skills etc. in line with the developmental characteristics of each grade-level and curricula.
Within the framework of the “learning through producing knowledge” approach, it is very important to produce and share knowledge and other products related to learning not just projects.
The “active learning” approach aims to help students play an active role in the learning process (in classroom environment) because we know that the more the students ask questions, discuss, do experiments, observe, and take part in group work, the more learning opportunities that are permanent and accurate they will have.
PYP (Primary Years Programme)
With the Primary Years Programme (PYP) the International Baccalaureate (IB) aims to create a synthesis of the best teaching and research practices of a variety of national systems in order to establish a meaningful and interesting transdisciplinary curriculum that allows students to inquire.
The PYP clearly states that knowledge alone is not enough and that related concepts, skills, and attitudes also need to be developed. The programme, instead of listing the information that needs to be learned, aims to create a learning environment in which both students and teachers inquire effectively and to raise individuals with international perspective in line with the six transdisciplinary themes explained below and the Learner Profile.
Our school, as a modern school with universal values that is open to novelties as stated in its vision, has been working on the Primary Years Programme (PYP) since 2008 and has completed the following activities and got approval for the Candidate School Status, the prerequisite to become an IB world school.
The PYP Implemented in Our School
The accreditation process has been planned through establishing a strategic plan and an action plan.
- In-service training carried out with teachers,
- Vertical planning activities done to coordinate the PYP programme and the Moe programme,
- Interdisciplinary Connection meetings and planning sessions regarding themes that are held with the participation of all subject teachers, department, and grade-level leaders,
- Counseling and assessment activities planned together with the programme,
- National and international projects that are in line with the principle of inquiry.