From the PYP Coordinator

Next week will see our Junior Years classes going on residential field trips to various locations in Singapore and for the Year 6 students, over to Malaysia.

These are great opportunities for the students to be able to have an extended period of time using the local and nearby environment to supplement the units of inquiry they are following in class.

So for example the Year 3 trip to the Bird Park will tie in with the current sharing the planet unit of inquiry, “People can make choices to support the sustainability of Earth’s resources”. The students will be inquiring into resources the birds need and how we can share the planet’s finite resources and coexist with the animals.

What we aim to do in the Primary Years Programme is to move away from the traditional textbooks and use a range of resources both in and out of classroom.

The residential trips also help us develop the attitudes, skills and the learner profile. For example helping the students becoming more self managed and more independent which goes back to our philosophy of developing the whole child and not just the academics.

Alex Inman
PYP Coordinator

Week 32 of Primary Weekly Correspondence

Here is the following correspondence from Primary Office this week;

Primary Correspondence

CCA Update




Due to students being away on camp, please note there will be NO CCAs for EY and JY students next week. All ECAs will be on as usual. Please contact your homeroom teacher and Ms. Brenda (Bus Manager) to communicate any specific changes in the end of day procedure of your child-ren for next week.


• ESL Information Evening - 13th May, 6pm - 7pm Main Hall (RSVP Here)日頃より本校のESLサポートにご理解とご協力をいただき誠にありがとうございます。さて、お子様方の英語力と学習内容の理解をクラス内でより高めていくために、来年度よりESLサポートの体制を改めることとなりました。つきましては、下記日程により説明会を行いますので、是非お越し下さい。日時：５月１３日（水）　午後６時から午後７時場所：校内メインホール（当日は日本語でのサポートがございます）In an effort to support your children in their acquiring the language of English and developing their skills within the classroom, we are changing our model of ESL support.  Please come and hear the ways we feel your children will benefit from this new model.

• Inquiry in the PYP Cafe Evening - 20th May, 6pm - 7pm Main Hall (RSVP Here)今回のワークショップ「Inquiry in the PYP Cafe」では、チャッツワースインターナショナルスクールにおいて、探求型学習がどのように行われているかを解き明かしていきます。思考の可視化を用いた学習法、アートでの表現活動、探求型フォニックス学習などを紹介します。This workshop will unpack what inquiry based teaching and learning looks like here at Chatsworth. Visible thinking strategies, responding to art and understanding phonics through inquiry will be explored.

      Parent Reminder

• Student Contract Letter - Kindly returned the student contract to the Homeroom Teachers by 8th May 2015. 

Library Update

1. The 7pm EVENING Library Session for NLB - The Benefits for Expats has been cancelled.  The morning session will still run. Please drop by the library if you want to join.  

2. The AFCC - The Asian Festival of Children's Content is here from May 30 to June 6 at the Central Library near Bugis.  If you are a parent, teacher or writer interested in children's books, sign up.  Link is http://afcc.com.sg/

3. Parents please note the library closure for the whole month of June and last day to borrow library books on May 29 Friday.   Letter is here.

Malissa Rahman

Primary Admin

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Thoughts from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

Even when you've played the game of your life, it's the feeling of teamwork that you'll remember. You'll forget the plays, the shots, and the scores, but you'll never forget your teammates.

                                                               - Deborah Miller Palmore-Basketball Olympian

The Junior Years Sports Day this week was an enormous success.  Students, teachers and parents spent a fun morning at this event.  The 400-meter sprints and the relay races caused much cheering for Sentosa, Changi and Raffles teams. All the students had the opportunity to experience many events from long jumps, Tug of war, to sack races and high jumps. A huge thank you to the team of teachers and helpers who organised this event.  Special thanks go to Ms Brennan and Ms Tomkin our PE teachers who spent many hours preparing for the Sports Day events.

Some of the highlights of the day:

Mario Gauci

Head of Primary

From the PYP Coordinator

Following on the series of posts about the essential elements of the programme, the next we will look at is ‘attitudes”.

The International Baccalaureate understands and recognizes that to develop a programme that builds a truly internationally minded person it is very important to develop a set of attitudes towards people, the environment and also learning.

What do we want our students to feel, value and demonstrate?

This is the development of personal attitudes towards people, the environment and towards learning. These characteristics are built up by developing the following attitudes: appreciation, commitment, confidence, creativity, curiosity, empathy, enthusiasm, independence, integrity, respect and tolerance.

As with other aspects of the programme such as the learner profile and the skills, there are no set lessons to develop these, rather the teachers look for authentic links within their class time.

In the daily lives of the students, we provide opportunities for students to be aware of, develop and build appreciation for these attitudes. We constantly look for and reinforce the demonstration of the attitudes in the learning environment and develop the child as a whole and not just focusing on the academic side of the programme.

Alex Inman
PYP Coordinator

Week 31 of Primary Weekly Correspondence

Here is the following correspondence from Primary Office this week;

Primary Correspondence

Inquiry in the PYP Cafe Evening - 20th May, 6pm - 7pm Main Hall (RSVP Here)

This workshop will unpack what inquiry based teaching and learning looks like here at Chatsworth. Visible thinking strategies, responding to art and understanding phonics through inquiry will be explored.

• Year 6 to Year 7 Orientation Day into Secondary School at Chatsworth (12th May 2015)
• Year 6 Orientation Parent Information Evening (12th May 2015)
• Laptop Ordering
• Primary House Movie Night - 15 May 2015
• May Lunch Menu
• Laptop Ordering
• Kindly sign up for all sessions one week before or they will be cancelled.  Library and Online Research Sessions at Orchard Campus

Malissa Rahman

Primary Admin

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Thoughts from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

"Principled: We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences."  

- International Baccalaureate Organization 2013

Assemblies are a place where children share their learning as well as use their problem solving ideas. The assembly today in the Junior Years, students volunteered to preform skits about issues important to them. 

At recess, students bring cards to trade and often you will see a Y3 student trading with a Y6 student. Teachers are not involved in these transactions so it is a place for students to manage their own behavior and remain principled during the process. We let the students know that they should leave expensive cards at home; but sometimes, they are so eager to show their prized possessions that they do not follow this advice. 

Y3KW students preformed a skit and gave these words of advice to those trading:

A fair trade is when the cards you trade are a similar value and people agree.

When you trade Match Attax cards make sure it is a fair trade.

If you do not want to trade that card, say NO!

Make it fun for everyone who is playing.

Read the rules and play by the rules.

Be a principled trader.

Y4AC students shared an area of their learning with our Interpersonal Relationship Vocabulary (see Primary progression table below). This extensive vocabulary developed by Ms. Louise Favaro, Head of Student Services.  Ms. Angela Collins, our Pastoral Coordinator in Primary, uses this vocabulary in lessons to support students identifying their feelings more precisely. At the assembly today, students recommended: 

When playing four square remember not to target students when they are out. If you feel targeted maybe ask others for support. Also when waiting in line in the canteen line, please do not push and be aggressive.

Interpersonal Relationship Vocabulary Progression for Primary

Early Years Vocabulary:

Left Out, Not Inclusive

Targeted, Aggressive

Year 3:

Left Out, Not Inclusive

Targeted, Aggressive

Too Sensitive, Insensitive

Year 4:  

Left Out, Not Inclusive

Targeted, Aggressive

Too Sensitive, Insensitive

Not Assertive, Overbearing

Year 5 & 6:

Left Out, Not Inclusive

Targeted, Aggressive

Too Sensitive, Insensitive

Not Assertive, Overbearing

Closed Off, Troublemaker

Mr. Gauci is away at  the Beyond Laptops Conference in Tokyo, so I am filling in his blog this week.  

Kind Regards,

Kim Riemer

Y6 Teacher

Junior Years Primary Coordinator

Literacy Coordinator

From the PYP Coordinator

Following on the theme of looking at the five essential elements of the Primary Years Programme, the next is - skills.

It is very important in the PYP to develop the students knowledge and have a strong academic side of the programme as well as developing a good conceptual understanding as we saw in the previous post. The International Baccalaureate also recognises that it is just as important to develop a range of skills that can enable the students to support their own learning and to complement the construction of meaning.

These skills are developed within the unit of inquiry lessons, in authentic situations and with a meaningful context. We don’t have “skills lessons”, the development is built into our programme. It is also just as important to make sure that these experiences are tailored to the age of the students in the class.

So which skills do we want to develop in our students?

Thinking skills

Social skills

Communication skills

Self-management skills

Research skills

These are the skills set out by the IB and are in turn subdivided into further definitions. It goes towards our policy here at Chatsworth School of not just focusing on the academics but developing the whole child and giving them the tools and the skills to be successful in their future careers.

Alex Inman

PYP Coordinator

Week 30 of Primary Weekly Correspondence

Here is the following correspondence from Primary Office this week;

Primary Correspondence

CPG Coffee Morning and Parent Cafe

This month both the CPG and the Parent Cafe are teaming up to give you an exciting  morning on Monday, April 20. The Parent Cafe: Nurturing Creativity at Home begins at 9am followed by a relaxing get together of Chatsworth parents at the CPG Coffee Morning. It will be a casual affair to catch up with fellow Chatsworth parents.

When: April 20, 2015, 9:00 a.m.

Where: Room 5D

Earth Day at Chatsworth!

On Friday, April 24, we will begin our day with a 9am assembly to kick off our Earth Day celebrations. It will be a free dress day for all students wearing green. We would like YOU to come dressed in green to honor the Earth. We would also like to make Friday a trash free day.  Please no trash, no plastic bags, styrofoam, wrapping of candy, energy bars etc. The only trash acceptable would be organic trash. Bring your lunch and snack in reusable containers. Our last activity of the day will be Earth Hour between 2pm and - 3pm. During this time, we will try to not use any electricity.  

Orchard ECA Survey 2015.

The last day for the survey is Friday 25th April. This can assists us to improve our programme and better cater to our students interests.

Reminders for Parents & Guardians

• Parents/Guardians are requested to wear the parent pass when on campus. This is for the safety of your child.
• JYP Students to wear House Colours/accessories for Sports Day on Wednesday (22th April)
• Library and Online Research Sessions at Orchard Campus
• Y1 Swimming PE Programme
• K2 Swimming PE Programme

Malissa Rahman

Primary Admin

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Thoughts from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

"Such projects that involve young children in investigating real phenomena offer them an opportunity to be the natural scientist or anthropologists they seem to be born to be"(The Hundred Languages of Children).

This week's contribution to the weekly blog comes from Ms Neelam our K1 teacher.  Ms Neelam has been exploring aspects of the Reggio Emilia approach and incorporating this into her K1 class.

I had a very interesting and fun week in class and wanted to share some of the highlights.

We are tuning into our last unit of inquiry, "We share the planet with living things that grow and change"

Snails, rocks, flowers, plants and toys were arranged on the table to provoke their thinking and encourage informal discussions. The children were first debating whether the snails were seashells or snails. Furby the toy was considered living as it made sounds and moved. The plastic lady toy was considered living as she was holding a bag and going to work!

After a couple of days, the children were challenged: How can you tell if something is living or non-living?

The children went on a living and non-living hunt and decided: 

• Bins are living because it is not a statue and it lives right there!
• Buildings non-living- but when the windows move it's living
• taps are alive when you turn it on
• people are living because mummy's and daddy's take them home
• mud is living because water has disappeared
• hand gel is living because inside its body has fruit
• Many more such examples. Fun times:)

Thanks, Ms Neelam for an insight into K1.

Mario Gauci

Head of Primary

From the PYP Coordinator

In a previous post we looked at the Primary Years Programme having five essential elements.

The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme has five fundamental curriculum aspects to it. These are called the five essential elements. These are the essential building blocks of the programme.

Concepts is one of these essential elements.

One of the central beliefs of the PYP philosophy is that it isn’t a theme or topic based programme but it is a concept driven curriculum. This enables the children to engage with significant ideas through their classroom inquiries. This would not be possible if we were just doing a topic or a project on say “The Victorians” or “Plants”. We want the students to go further.

“A concept driven curriculum helps the learner to construct meaning through improved critical thinking and the transfer of knowledge.”

Making the PYP Happen:A curriculum framework for international primary education 2009

The concepts which were chosen for use in the PYP were selected as they were deemed of major importance for a transdisciplinary curriculum. They are as follows -

• Form
• Function
• Causation
• Change
• Connection
• Perspective
• Responsibility
• Reflection

You will see these posted in your child’s classroom as they are used in our units of inquiry.

Alex Inman

PYP Coordinator

Week 29 of Primary Weekly Correspondence

Here is the following correspondence from Primary Office this week;

Primary Correspondence

CPG Coffee Morning

There are only a few more months to go before the summer holiday! That means we don't have much time left before the break. So please do join us for one of the last CPG coffee mornings of the year. It will be a casual affair to catch up with fellow Chatsworth parents. Please RSVP via cpg@chatsworth.com.sg

       What: CPG Coffee Morning

       When: April 20, 2015, 9:15 a.m.

       Where: Room 5D

CCAs/ECAs:

1. Session 3 will resume on Monday 13th April and will last for 7 weeks until Friday 29th May 2015.​
2. Please be reminded to inform Homeroom teachers and bus company manager (Ms. Brenda) of any end of day procedure changes.
3. ECAs will run on the same schedule as CCAs, if any changes/make up lessons, please contact the ECA providers directly.
4. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey for us - Orchard ECA Survey 2015.The last day for the survey is Friday 25th April. This can assists us to improve our programme and better cater to our students interests.

IBMYP Information Sessions Year 2014-15 (coffee mornings)

Caring For Cambodia (CFC) Dragon Boat Race Challenge
JYP Sports Day 22th April 2015
HERE to read more about the Orchard Campus Renovations.

Malissa Rahman

Primary Admin

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