JS News: 15 June 2022

By Emily Begbie, Assistant Head of Junior School Teaching and Learning

PYP Approaches to Learning
A core element of the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) is the ‘approaches to learning’. Formerly known as ‘transdisciplinary skills’, the approaches to learning are grounded in the belief that learning how to learn is fundamental to a student’s education. Simply put, they are a set of skills that we use when we are involved in learning.

The approaches to learning have been categorised into five interrelated areas: thinking skills, research skills, communication skills, self-management skills and social skills. They aim to support students of all ages to become self-regulated learners who know how to ask good questions, set effective goals and pursue their aspirations with the determination to achieve them. These skills also help to support students’ sense of agency, encouraging them to see their learning as an active and dynamic process (IBO 2017).

As you may be aware, we will shortly be sharing student learning summaries with families. These will replace the traditional end-of-semester report that has been provided in previous years. The learning summary will include a section on approaches to learning, as well as information about co-curricular involvement, House membership and subject area grades.

For Junior School students, the two approaches to learning that will appear in the learning summary are self-management skills and social skills. These approaches to learning provide an insight into skills that are foundational for learning: your child’s organisational skills, mindset towards learning, ability to work with others and social emotional learning.

If you’d like to read more about learning summaries, you can read this week’s Nexus post here.

Staying warm
Winter has well and truly landed, and we have already had some extremely cold weather. Please ensure all jumpers, jackets, scarves and beanies are clearly named so we can return lost items to students promptly.

Year 5/6 Production of ‘The Witches’ opens tonight!
Book now for this great Year 5/6 Production, on for three nights only.