Learning at Kennedy
At Kennedy School, we follow the IB Primary Years Programme or IB PYP curriculum framework. The IB PYP follows a socio-constructivist, inquiry based model for learning and teaching. This means that we believe learners (whether a child or an adult) builds their understanding of the world around them by using what they already know (prior knowledge), by collaborating, sharing and interacting with others, and by asking questions to find out more.
We believe students should have a voice in their learning. We encourage students to take initiative, to have agency to make decisions and choices in relation to their own learning. We want to create expressive and dynamic thinkers and communicators.
We believe learning and teaching should be transdisciplinary, meaning that skills and dispositions of students aren’t locked into a subject area but rather are developed when interactions and exchanges occur across disciplinary boundaries. This means we see knowledge as being interconnected.
Because of this, much of our teaching occurs within the context of our Programme of Inquiry or POI. The POI is a matrix of units of inquiry that are mapped across six transdisciplinary themes. These are Who We Are, Where We Are in Place and Time, How We Express Ourselves, How the World Works, How We Organise Ourselves and Sharing the Planet. Each year level has unit within each of these transdisciplinary themes. For a detailed look at our POI, click here:
Kennedy School Programme of Inquiry 2023-2024
All of the traditional disciplines of English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, the Arts and Personal, Social and Physical Education (PSPE) are taught through the context of the units. This helps build strong connections allowing students to apply their learning and new understandings across disciplinary boundaries.
We believe that the Arts, Physical Education and Learning Technologies play a vital role in learning and teaching. Opportunities are provided weekly for students to create, to perform, to engage in physical pursuits and to apply and work with relevant and emerging technologies.
We believe it’s important for students to be technologically literate. By this we mean confidently using and applying new applications, coding strategies and technologies to enhance and extend learning.
We believe Kennedy students are citizens of the world. We encourage students to take action inside and outside of the classroom. This could mean a very local focus of students creating and developing a school garden to students going out into the community and working with students at a local school to build connections and understanding. We take great pride in being a ‘Green School’ and this has only been possible through our community—students, teachers and parents alike—taking an active role in making sustainable choices.
We strive to ensure that learning and teaching is significant, relevant, challenging and engaging for all learners at Kennedy School. We want our students to make connections to not only what’s happening inside their classroom but across the school, the community and the world.
At Kennedy School, through our dynamic learning and teaching opportunities and our commitment to the IB PYP, we are developing the creators, the thinkers, the inventors and entrepreneurs of the next generation.
For more information about IB PYP framework please visit here http://ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/
To view the latest IB PYP evaluation report for Kennedy School please click here
For more information about the IB PYP at Kennedy school, please feel free to contact our Vice Principal in charge of the programme coordination at ylee@kennedy.edu.hk