PYP Curriculum Framework - Peninsula East Primary Academy

Overview

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is a transdisciplinary curriculum framework that offers authentic learning experiences.

The PYP encourages students to learn to appreciate knowledge, conceptual understandings, skills and personal attributes as a connected whole.

OUR PROGRAMMES OF INQUIRY core text overview

IB World School …

Our curriculum covers all the requirements of the National Curriculum but is arranged around inquiries into six different Transdisciplinary Themes. Peninsula East Primary Academy is an IB World School, authorised to deliver the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme.

The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

Overview of the pyp framework

Peninsula East Primary Academy has at its core the pursuit of the highest standards possible in education.

We believe in high aspirations, high motivation and high achievement for all. Through our extended curriculum we seek to meet the needs of the individual.

We aim to build a community underpinned by international mindfulness, traditional values and social justice in which all members are equally valued.

We are committed to ensuring the very best for our children in order for them to play a significant part in society.

Our aim is to:

Provide every student with the knowledge, skills, self belief and motivation to be successful in their learning and lives
Build a community based on justice and a sense of personal responsibility
Promote courtesy, acceptance, tolerance and respect for others
Welcome, value and respect all who come to the academy
For our children to be lifelong learners and global citizens
Build well-rounded pupils through our IB Learner Attributes

We are unashamedly uncompromising, in our promotion of excellence for all, respect, politeness and determination.

At Peninsula East Primary Academy, we are passionate about putting our pupils at the heart of our curriculum and our learning opportunities are both innovative and inclusive. Our curriculum has been carefully designed to enable the depth and breadth of the National Curriculum to be explored through the transdisciplinary themes of the IB PYP framework. Our Programme of Inquiry carefully interleaves the wider range of subjects, ensuring not only a clear sequence of learning, but that the children are able to retain key facts and knowledge into their long term memory. A key aspect is to help children develop their understanding of being a global learner as their international mindedness is developed, and how they can make a positive contribution to their community and the wider society through engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals. The curriculum celebrates the diversity and utilises the skills, knowledge and cultural wealth of the community while supporting the children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, ensuring that children are well prepared for life in modern Britain and as global citizens. The IB Learner Profiles are an integral part in developing the whole child and are embedded within the ethos and values of our schools. Our children learn through relevant and purposeful contexts, building upon prior learning and our curriculum promotes this by being challenging, engaging and motivating to all pupils, fostering a real thirst for knowledge that we want them to take with them as they move into their secondary schools and beyond.

Our EYFS, Key stage 1 and 2 bespoke curriculum is planned collaboratively across school with each member of staff mapping out their appropriate curriculum frameworks (the Primary National Curriculum) through the transdisciplinary themes of the IB.
These are:

Who we are
Where we are in place and time
How we express ourselves
How the world works
How we organise ourselves
Sharing the planet

We initially map out the National Curriculum skills under the transdisciplinary themes to ensure complete coverage for the children by the time they leave us in Year 6. This also allows us to guarantee that no skills outside of each year group are repeated at any one time; if there are similarities between the teachings of inquiries, we collaboratively plan to make sure that there is always progression between what has been taught previously. Furthermore, the nature of collaborative planning supports teachers to create opportunities for inquiries to explore the national curriculum and because teachers plan collectively they can utilise teachers’ subject strengths. We then focus on the key and related concepts, presenting these to our children so that they can lead the learning through their interests and questions. Teachers can then plan engaging learning opportunities which allow for the coverage of the skills within the National Curriculum. The teachers are skilled in ensuring that prior knowledge is built upon and referred back to where appropriate so that the children can make the links between what they have learnt and develop their long term memories.

In order to ensure pupils are globally aware and internationally minded, children are aware of the sustainable development goals. This teaches them about the wider world and the impact that each person can have, giving them an opportunity to make a difference to the lives of others. Across the school, our children are part of local projects, such as working with a local care home, our local church and AGE UK and the Haven park. We draw upon our links to the local community and so that the children learn about their local area and the impact it has on their lives.

The curriculum will be delivered by:

Teachers who have good knowledge of all subjects
Teachers presenting subject matter clearly and they check learners’ understanding systematically, identify misconceptions accurately and provide clear, direct feedback.
Teachers responding and adapting their teaching as necessary.

At consistent points throughout the year, all staff will be given opportunities to reflect on the last unit of inquiry and feedback on what went well, what did not go well and how this will impact on future learning throughout the rest of the academic year. Additionally, this is blended with the use of the SOLO taxonomy which teachers use this to assess the learning. We believe that children should be given continuous feedback throughout the school day in order to move their learning on and so they know the next steps for improvement and this should mainly be through verbal interactions built into the school day – this also ensures that they can make links between their learning. As part of this feedback, the children will be able to reflect on the IB Learner Profile attributes against the work they have completed.

Through our curriculum implementation as stated above our children will become;

Learners who develop detailed knowledge and skills across the curriculum and, as a result, achieve well and which is reflected in results from national tests
Learners who are ready for the next stage of education
Learners who will have fully rounded characters with a clear understanding of complex values linked to PYP Learner Attributes
Learners who have an enjoyment of the curriculum promoting achievement, confidence and independence.
Pupils who regularly have the opportunity to showcase learning through school based and external events, performances and competitions.
Learners who become global citizens and who are inquisitive and develop life skills for the future.

Subject specific curriculum statements

International Mindedness

International-mindedness is central to the IB mission and is a foundational principle to its educational philosophy; it is at the heart of the continuum of international education.

International-mindedness is a view of the world in which people see themselves connected to the global community and assume a sense of responsibility towards its members. It is an awareness of the interrelatedness of all nations and peoples, and is a recognition of the complexity of these. Internationally minded people appreciate and value the diversity of peoples, cultures and societies in the world. They make efforts to learn more about others and to develop empathy and solidarity towards them to achieve mutual understanding and respect (Oxfam 2105; UNESCO 2015).

Primary Years Programme (PYP) learners and their learning communities have a range of perspectives, values and traditions. The concept of international-mindedness builds on these diverse perspectives to generate a sense of common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet.

Source: From Principles Into Practice – ibo.org – PYP Resources (need password).

International Mindedness is being aware and having an understanding of everyone’s cultures and views whilst connecting with all members of the global community.

Here at Peninsula East Primary Academy, we have a deep understanding of the world around us, as well as our local communities. We celebrate the different cultures and backgrounds of the children and families within our school community and encourage them to share these across the Leigh Academies Trust. Throughout the year we participate and learn about different festivals and celebrations from a range of different countries to help our children immerse themselves within other cultures. As our inquiries are child-led this allows pupil agency, which often intertwines with current events, personal holidays and/or family heritage, within the global community. One example was our Diwali afternoon this year, or when we had an imman from a local mosque come to talk to us about Ramadan.

A large part of being Internationally Minded is being able to communicate with people around the world. We currently learn Spanish as our modern foreign language. This was changed in September 2023, following a pupil survey where an overwhelming majority of children voted to learn this language due to visiting Spanish-speaking countries on holiday. The children love being able to communicate in another language and enjoy our regular Spanish lessons with Miss Brading and Mrs Champ.

Co-curricular at PEPA

Co-curriculum opportunities at Peninsula East Primary Academy include, but are not limited to, activities and learning experiences that enhance the learning and inquiry that happens within the school day. As part of the IB PYP it is imperative that the learning we offer is broad and balanced, therefore, we feel strongly that our co-curricular clubs and learning experiences support and nurture the learning we confidently offer to our pupils.

Our Co-curricular Offer at PEPA

As an IB World School, we are committed to forming connections and links with the community around us; this is more important now than ever before following the amalgamation of two peninsula schools. It is imperative that we thoroughly explore the history and heritage of both villages so that we get a true understanding of the community in which our school is located. Over the years, we have already made several associations within the local area and we are committed to continue doing this into the future, all of which are encompassed within the philosophy of the IB. As part of this, we have made links with the local Haven Holiday Park in order to offer exciting and rich learning experiences beyond what we can offer within school. We are extremely fortunate to have such a good relationship with the Park and as a result our children are able to access co-curricular opportunities such as swimming, rock climbing, laser tag and many more exciting activities!

In school, through the PYP, we aim to deliver fantastic learning experiences through our co-curricular offer: this also works well with the belief that learning goes beyond the classroom walls and builds children’s wider knowledge of the world around them.

In school, we offer a range of co-curricular clubs such as:

Sports Clubs, including football, irish dancing, yoga and fitness clubs.
STEM and Eco clubs including gardening.
Arts and crafts clubs including baking.
Performing arts clubs including theatre clubs and choir.

We are always trying to improve our co-curricular club offer and as a result of this, we update our clubs three times a year in order to provide different experiences for children.

Modern British Values

As a world school, Modern British Values are hugely important to us and we recognise how they can impact on children both academically and socially. British Values can be defined as an understanding of:

Democracy
Rule of Law
Individual Liberty
Mutual Respect
Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs

These values are integral to so many other countries in the world and are central to the way in which our pupils learn. Our children are taught explicitly through Personal, Social, Health and Emotional (PSHE), and Religious Education (RE) about these values. We also teach British Values through planning and delivering a broad and balanced PYP curriculum.