From the PYP Coordinator

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.

The first is Knowledge. This is of course the actual content of the programme, what is it that we are looking to teach in our school through the units of inquiry? What is it that we want students to know about?

Next is Concepts. The PYP isn’t a topic curriculum, it is concept driven. The PYP curriculum is structured around important concepts that drive the inquiry going on in our classrooms.

Third is Skills. This can be expressed in the question, “what do we want students to be able to do?” These are trans-disciplinary skills that support the search for understanding.

Fourth is Attitudes. “What do we want students to feel, value and demonstrate?” The PYP isn’t just about developing the academics, it also strives to develop the child as person.

Last is Action. The PYP tries to encourage students to look beyond the classroom and to develop the desire to take independent action based on what they have been inquiring about in school.

We will look at each of these in turn in more detail through later posts.

Alex Inman
PYP Coordinator

Week 21 of Primary Weekly Correspondence

Here is the following correspondence from Primary Office this week;

Primary Correspondence

• February Lunch Menu 2015

• Thank you for signing up again this term for CCAs using our online system. As always, we value the feedback we have received and will continue to enhance and improve the online signups. We appreciate your patience and understanding through this process.
  
  
  Please note, the CCA signups are now officially closed and we will not be making any more changes to the registrations. However, if you need to speak to us regarding your child's CCA or registration, we are always available via email at lhebert@chatsworth.com.sg and rnewberry@chatsworth.com.sg respectively.

• Parent Cafe 2nd February 2015(5D) The Learner Profile and House System

• Please take a few minutes to complete this survey for us - Parent Survey. It helps us to understand how you feel about the school and assists us in areas of strength and areas needing particular attention.
  
  

Malissa Rahman

Primary Admin

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Thoughts from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

"Each language is a unique expression of human creativity."

-- K. David Harrison

A few years ago I was fortunate to meet Mr. K. David Harrison while I was working for the IB Asia Pacific office. David is a linguist, author and activist for the documentation and preservation of endangered languages and affiliated with the National Geographic Society. He co-starred in Ironbound Films' Emmy-nominated 2008 documentary film The Linguists and served as director of research for the non-profit Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. I have followed David's movements throughout the world as he traces endangered languages. My hope is that he reaches the last speakers in time to record and keep some of these languages alive.  The loss of local languages means the loss of cultural systems and diverse intellectual wealth (Hale 1992).  Thus, I have learned from David's work the importance of keeping our mother tongue languages, our local languages alive for future generations.

As an IB school, all teachers at Chatsworth are language teachers.  We either teach a language or teach through a language, all the while demonstrating the need to communicate through language. We appreciate the diversity of language and the importance of using and developing mother tongue languages.  The hallways and classrooms at Chatsworth are filled with the sounds of English, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Spanish, Mandarin and many other languages that allow students to make sense of concepts they are learning.  This week we are celebrating the Chatsworth Language Festival where languages are celebrated in one form or another.  Thank you to all who have organized and participated in these activities, modeling to our students the incredible diversity of language.

Enjoy this week's photos:

Mario Gauci

Head of Primary

From the PYP Coordinator

Around the school and in all the classrooms you will see a set of words describing personality attributes. They are the same words in all the classrooms and together they represent what is called the IB learner profile. This represents the profile of an International Baccalaureate graduating student. It is a common set of values, developed in all three IB programmes (PYP, MYP, DP), that transcend international boundaries and help develop internationally minded people.

“The IB learner profile represents 10 attributes valued by IB World Schools. We believe these attributes, and others like them, can help individuals and groups become responsible members of local, national and global communities.” 
International Baccalaureate 2015

The attributes that make up the learner profile are Inquirer, Knowledgeable, Thinker, Communicator, Principled, Open- Minded, Caring, Risk-Takers, Balanced, Reflective.

We don't have lessons that are specifically designed to teach the learner profile, rather exploiting learning opportunities built into the units of inquiry where it makes sense to do so, avoiding artificial or forced connections. It may even be as simple as using or modelling the attributes around the school. An easy example would be commending a child for being caring when looking after a new student, or for a quiet child being a risk-taker when speaking during a whole school assembly.

We will be having a Parent Cafe on the 2nd February at 9.00am on the theme of the learner profile, so come along for more information.

It isn’t the responsibility of just the students, we ask that all members of the school community model the learner profile attributes….do you?

Alex Inman
PYP Coordinator

Week 20 of Primary Weekly Correspondence

Here is the following correspondence from Primary Office this week;

Primary Correspondence

Please take a few minutes to complete this survey for us - Parent Survey. It helps us to understand how you feel about the school and assists us in areas of strength and areas needing particular attention.

We enjoy seeing children playing after school with their friends before they go home. Please note that the playground/astro turf  is not supervised by teachers from 3.30pm onwards. In the interest of safety, all primary children playing on the playground/astro turf at this time will require your supervision.

CCA update:

From after school today, the CCA Online System will start to generate emails to confirm the students choices. The system can take up to 48h to email the entire community (separate emails for siblings). Please email me at lhebert@chatsworth.com.sg or Mr. Newberry at rnewberry@chatsworth.com.sg  if you have not receive any confirmation by Monday morning.

Due to lack of registration, Ultimate Frisbee CCA on Fridays after school will be cancelled.

ECA update:

All ECAs will start from next week onwards. Please directly contact the providers for any further questions.

Due to lack of registration, Little Mandarin and Jump Rope ECAs will be cancelled.

All CCAs/ECAs details are located on the Activities and Clubs board in block 3.

Chatsworth Calendar 2015-2016
New Year School Photo Sale
Orchard Campus School Fair 2015
Future of IGCSE at Chatsworth Secondary
Parent Cafe 2nd February 2015(5D) The Learner Profile and House System

Malissa Rahman

Primary Admin

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Thoughts from the Chatsworth Primary Hallway

If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow. - 

John Dewey 

A warm welcome to all of the new students and their parents to the Chatsworth International School. I also welcome our new Year 1 teacher, MsTamara Serong.

Returning to Chatsworth after ten days of recruiting teachers for the 2015-2016 school year, I was greeted with smiling children, teachers and parents! What a great way to start my second semester off.  Lots of excitement is in the air especially when friends meet after a vacation break, catching up on news and events.  Everyone has a story to tell and how wonderful it is to hear those stories. We met some great teachers in Melbourne and Bangkok, and choosing the very best to join our already strong staff was tricky.  We not only selected the best teachers, but selected those who would compliment our Chatsworth community. I think you will be pleased.

Your feedback is crucial to us because we use this feedback to improve our processes at Chatsworth. Some of the changes since August 2014 have been because of your feedback. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey for us - Parent Survey - It helps us to understand how you feel about the school and assists us in areas of strength and areas needing particular attention. Thanks!

Enjoy the pictures of happy students and teachers!

Mario Gauci

Head of Primary

From the PYP Coordinator

Students living and studying abroad have a very special and often unique opportunity. To be able to interact and form friendships with children from different cultures and backgrounds, sometimes very different from their own and to be able to understand which values are important to them. As the International Baccalaureate puts it in their mission statement, "that other people, with their differences, can also be right.” The students have a wonderful opportunity to look at, experience and see the world from a perspective outside of their home countries boundaries. 

One of the most important beliefs and values of the Primary Years Programme is that of international mindedness. The International Baccalaureate is after all an organization which develops international educational programmes for students in an international context. It is very hard to actually define what international mindedness actually is, but here at Chatsworth we hope to be able to instil a set of values and understanding that develops internationalism and international mindedness though the skills and the attitudes developed in our units of inquiry and through the attributes of the IB learner profile which you will see around the school. And of course developing those lifelong friendships and relationships with students from all around the world.

Alex Inman
PYP Coordinator