Chapter 12: Primary Curriculum

In Early Years we understand the importance of giving children the best possible start to their learning journey. That starts with children feeling happy and secure which is why at ISH we first focus on providing a warm, happy and welcoming environment for every child.

Our highly skilled and passionate Early Years teaching staff support children to follow their curiosity and imagination through open-ended play experiences in a unique, purpose-built learning environment.

We know that when children make their own decisions and follow their own interests, their confidence grows and the richest learning experiences happen.

Our core beliefs in Early Years at ISH are:

• We believe children are capable learners.
• We foster an enabling environment.
• We focus on collaborative relationships.

The Early Years Programme (Age 4 to 5 Years)
Our programme is inspired by the student-centred, Reggio Emilia and Montessori approaches, which
utilise self-directed and experiential learning, where children learn by doing. As Maria Montessori said: “Play is the work of the child”, in other words children learn and grow through play.

Children as Capable Learners
We believe passionately that young children are strong, capable and resilient. Children are naturally curious and want to experiment, explore and make sense of the world around them. We value previous experiences and the understanding that children bring to the learning process and encourage them to make connections and build on those experiences.

Children come to school with some knowledge, skills and understanding already in place. For example children may come into school with knowledge of print and books such as how to hold a book the right way round, how to turn the pages and tell the story.

Through our interactions with children, both individually and in groups, we are able to identify where they are in their understanding and then plan learning opportunities to develop these skills further. We emphasise the growth of children's inquiry, creativity, curiosity and imagination, while the development of basic skills is also carefully nurtured.

An Enabling Environment
At ISH we are fortunate to have a purpose-built setting, designed to stimulate the children’s curiosity every day. The teaching staff plan for and support rich learning opportunities through play - preparing the space, placing the equipment, responding to the needs and interests of the children in their care every day.

There are four classrooms for your child(ren) to explore, with a shared central space as well as a fantastic outdoor area and a fully fitted indoor EY gym. Each classroom supports an area of learning, for example, the Arctic Room supports mathematical development and block play. Throughout the day, children are able to ‘free flow’, which means that they can move freely through the whole EY setting and make choices and decisions about the places and spaces in which they will learn.

Movement is essential for a small child as it provides a crucial building block for brain development, on which all future learning builds and the indoor/outdoor access all day long really supports that essential physical development.

The ‘free flow’ approach also encourages children to be independent, accessing the resources and materials that they need, choosing things that interest them and connecting with their new friends.

Early Years One Programme (Age 5 to 6 years)
As children progress to EY1, they continue to have access to free-flow, both within their classroom and across the EY1 setting. Alongside this, they begin the curriculum content of the Primary Years, easing into the IPC units and beyond, at a pace that works for them. During the day, there are opportunities for whole class teaching moments, as well as specialist lessons for library, music, Dutch and PE, which they would have already started to experience during their first year at the school.

Language Arts
At ISH we aim for Primary students to:

• Gain reading skills for decoding, meaning making and research.
• Read a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts.
• Become lifelong readers who read for pleasure and purpose.
• See themselves as writers with something important to say.
• Write to inform, persuade and entertain.
• Develop concepts, knowledge and skills to support their writing.

Literacy at ISH follows a ‘Workshop’ approach to the areas of reading and writing. This empowers students to see themselves as readers and writers capable of influencing others through the power of words. Language is taught through Units of Study, which were developed by the Teachers’ College at Columbia University.

Writing
From EY1 to Year 6, students study three main genres of writing: narrative, informational and opinion. Within these genres, students may study more specific forms of writing, such as personal narratives, writing series fiction, lab reports, historical information writing, reviews and persuasive essays. Students are encouraged to write about topics and ideas which interest them, to write for a purpose, and to share their writing with the wider community. Students are taught to move through the writing process: generating ideas, planning, drafting, revising and editing their written work. Through this programme, students write with increasing stamina and accuracy, and learn to apply a range of craft skills to make their writing informative, interesting or persuasive.

Reading
We provide a text-rich environment, with access to high-quality literature through classroom books and the primary library. Students experience reading a range of fiction and non-fiction texts, and develop their accuracy, fluency and comprehension in reading increasingly complex texts. We place an emphasis on book talk, with students sharing their reading with partners in younger years, and taking part in book clubs in upper year groups.

Word and Sentence Study
Students from EY1 - Year 3 follow Units of Study in Phonics, where they are taught the letter- sound correspondences and spelling patterns that they use in their reading and writing. Years 4-6 continue this learning in Word and Sentence Study lessons, where they continue to learn English language spelling patterns, following the Words their Way curriculum. Explicit grammar instruction is also incorporated into Word and Sentence Study lessons.

EAL Learners
EAL learners are supported by the use of mentor texts, small group instruction and translation tools. We place an emphasis on translanguaging for all learners, so that students develop understanding of concepts in both English and their home language(s).

Mathematics
Mathematics is a powerful tool for describing and analysing the world around us to help us to solve problems. We aim to support students to appreciate the intrinsic fascination of mathematics and to explore the world through its unique perceptions. Our programme aims to provide students with the opportunity to see themselves as ‘mathematicians’ by developing a growth mindset to mathematics, where they enjoy and are enthusiastic when exploring, inquiring and learning about mathematics.

At ISH, our mathematics curriculum supports a mastery approach to learning. ‘Maths Mastery’ is achieved through exploration, clarification, practice and application over time. The aim is for students to be able to demonstrate a deep, conceptual understanding of a topic, as a way of thinking, rather than simply memorising key facts and procedures.

We believe that a mathematical concept or skill has been fully mastered when a student;

• Can represent it in multiple ways.
• Has the mathematical language to reason and communicate related ideas.
• Can independently apply the concept to new problems in unfamiliar situations.

When introduced to a new concept, be it fractions, measurement, or shape, children build competency by having the opportunity to develop their understanding of the concept. Children use manipulatives, before progressing to pictorial representations and then finally working confidently with a more abstract approach to key concepts.

Emphasis is placed on pre-assessment opportunities at the beginning of a unit to find out what children already know to determine where to start teaching.

Children use an inquiry approach to carry out mathematical investigations, where they can engage with ideas to develop their conceptual understanding, which can then be applied to new situations.

For the majority of learners who are new to English, there are many language demands for students to access mathematics lessons, and an understanding of the key features of mathematical language is essential for success in this subject area. We support students by ensuring children have the mathematical vocabulary and concepts needed to engage with a unit.

The International Primary Curriculum (IPC)
Throughout Primary, learning is uncovered through concept based inquiry. Teachers and students engage with concepts to develop key knowledge, skills and understandings. Students are encouraged to be curious, to think creatively and to construct meaning that can be transferred to new situations.

Units are carefully planned across the year groups from EY1 to Year 6 to ensure sufficient attention to each of the IPC subject areas; science, history, geography, international mindedness, art, design, technology and innovation, ICT and computing and health and wellbeing. Through exploration and research, students learn how to collaborate, act with compassion and become global citizens.

In keeping with the overall philosophy and vision at ISH, the IPC curriculum supports children in celebrating the host country language and culture as well as developing a sense of their own nationality and language. The programme helps students to develop a strong respect for the nationalities and cultures of others.

We strive to connect our learners to both the local and global environment. One way that we do this is by connecting our units of inquiry to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

International Goals
International learning goals are unique to our curriculum and help young children begin the move towards an increasingly sophisticated national, international and global perspective. Each IPC unit includes an international aspect, which covers a range of learning-focused activities to inspire positive action and engagement with global issues to help develop a sense of ‘international mindedness’. In Primary, we define this as ‘Valuing me, you and the world around us’.

Educational and Residential Visits
We value the importance of field trips and excursions as an important and effective means of motivating students and engaging them in active learning experiences. Visits are curriculum related and enhance classroom learning by making real world connections, as well as allowing students to interact with and learn from the local community. Additionally, we have a range of visitors to the school to deliver presentations and workshops across all areas of the curriculum.

Parents/guardians are given a list of all trips and a blanket permission slip to sign at the beginning of the school year to cover all day trips out of school. Questions or concerns about any of the trips can be discussed with the class teacher.

Learners benefit from a central ICT lab and a mobile class set of laptops which are used to support learning across the curriculum. Students also learn a range of discrete ICT skills such as coding or keyboarding. These skills, as well as conceptual understanding, are organised in a vertically articulated curriculum, which is linked to the ISTE Standards For Students and where each step is developmentally appropriate, preparing our students to engage in the modern, digital world.

From Early Years to Year 4, class groups have iPad towers allowing for group work in the classroom. In Years 5 and 6, a 1:1 iPad programme supports learning objectives. Students and parents/guardians are asked to sign an iPad agreement. Class and specialist teachers work with the ICT Subject Leader to devise projects and activities which allow for the teaching of specific skills and to ensure that IT is well-integrated in the mainstream curriculum. Integration and further development continues throughout the year during the technology rotations of our DART programme. 

Through our Digital Leaders and Digital Citizenship programmes, students develop the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary for them to safely navigate modern digital environments.

ISH Primary promotes a positive school culture and provides a safe learning environment, to develop the inner well-being of the child.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
In order for learning to be effective, children must feel secure and supported. The aim of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) at ISH is to ensure all children have the knowledge, skills, and competencies to succeed in school and in life. The programme supports young people to become self-aware, caring and connected lifelong learners who work together to achieve their goals and create a more inclusive, just, and equitable world.
Social and emotional education is central to helping children acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships and make responsible and caring decisions.

Research demonstrates that an education that promotes Social and Emotional Learning has a positive impact on a wide range of outcomes, including academic performance, healthy relationships and mental wellness.

At ISH we encourage pupils to have a mature and respectful appreciation for difference and diversity. Through discussions about what it means to be a global citizen, children engage critically with stereotypes and prejudices and develop an understanding of how we can celebrate our own heritage and home cultures, whilst also embracing the diverse culture of our communities.

The Social and Emotional Learning programme covers five core social and emotional competencies;

• Self awareness.
• Self management.
• Responsible decision-making.
• Relationship skills.
• Social awareness.

There are opportunities to integrate the Social and Emotional Curriculum in all elements of the ISH learning programme. In addition, social and emotional skills and attitudes are taught and practised through explicit instruction.

Comprehensive Sexual Education

As part of our Relationships Skills strand, we equip children with knowledge, skills, attitude and values that will empower them to:

• Realise their health, wellbeing, and dignity.
• Develop respectful social and sexual relationships.
• Consider how their choices affect their own well-being and that of others.

Student Charter
The school used the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a framework to identify individual student rights and responsibilities. The purpose of the ISH Student Charter is to provide a vehicle to share understanding, increase student agency and improve behaviour.

Students (and adults) are expected to:

1. Be respectful of others regardless of who they are, where they are from and what they believe.
2. Be safe in how we take care of ourselves and in our behaviour towards and around others.
3. Be responsible in our behaviour and in our learning.

As valued, respected individuals, children at ISH have the following rights:

1. Be treated with respect regardless of who we are, where we are from and what we believe.
2. Be consulted about decisions that affect us through our student representatives, be able to question those decisions and to assert our rights as they are set out in school policies and protocols.
3. A safe, clean and well-maintained school environment, which supports our learning and personal development.
4. Share our personal views at appropriate times, keeping in mind that we must respect the views of others and not share views in a harmful and disrespectful way.
5. Learn about ways to take care of our wellbeing and personal safety.
6. Have access to support services that take care of our physical and mental health.
7. A healthy and balanced learning experience, which allows us to pursue our own interests.
8. Experience learning in line with the school’s High Quality Learning Statements so that we are enabled to achieve our own personal excellence and be well prepared for life after school.
9. Be informed about our rights within and beyond school.
10. Learn about and share our culture and language and have it valued by others.

Students use the Student Charter to make shared 'Classroom Agreements' at the beginning of each year, which guide classroom behaviour expectations.

Standards of Conduct

Be Respectful

• Treat all people kindly and be accepting of differences.
• Be attentive and responsive to the directions of adults.
• Listen when someone else is talking and try not to disrupt learning.
• Take care with other people’s belongings and ask before borrowing.
• Speak truthfully and refrain from using inappropriate language.

Be Responsible

• Take responsibility for personal choices/actions and learn from mistakes.
• Sustain a positive attitude towards learning, remain organised and try to engage meaningfully with people (and the prepared learning experiences).
• Look after personal belongings, and take care of school equipment and the school facility.
• Adhere to school agreements about classroom behaviour, playground behaviour and digital citizenship.
• Personally, strive to develop the attributes of the ISH Community Profile and honour the ISH Student Charter.

Be Safe

• Refrain from all behaviours that are intended to harm others physically, materially or mentally. Report harassment and abusive behaviours. Play-fighting is not permitted.
• Seek permission before leaving a supervised space or the school campus.
• Always walk calmly through the school building and use indoor voices. Do not speak during emergency procedures like lockdowns and evacuations.
• Ensure that nothing harmful is brought to school. Phones and smart watches may not be used during the school day without permission. The school does not accept responsibility for the security of these devices. They must be kept in school bags at all times.
• Only consume food in designated areas. Healthy snacks are strongly encouraged. Sweets, gum and sugary drinks are not permitted at school.

Restorative Practices

Our staff are trained in the use of 'restorative practices' to support students to resolve conflicts. This helps to build community and healthy relationships.

ISH Community Profile

The ISH Community Profile is used to promote intercultural learning and global citizenship. These attributes promote the individual qualities and dispositions we believe children will find essential in the 21st century. There are 12 Personal Goals that form the ISH Community Profile. In Primary these attributes are represented on the web of SquISH the spider:

In PE, Music, Dutch and Library, children are taught by specialist teachers. The recent addition of the DART programme means that children also access specialist-led Art, Drama and ICT lessons on a rolling basis. Please check your child's timetable for further information.

Year Group	Physical Education	Dutch	Music
Early Years	1 * 45 min.	2 * 45 min.	1 * 40 min.
Early Years 1	2 * 45 min.	2 * 45 min.	1 * 45 min.
Year 2	2 * 45 min.	3 * 45 min.	1 * 45 min.
Year 3	2 * 45 min.	3 * 45 min.	1 * 45 min.
Year 4	2 * 45 min.	3 * 45 min.	1 * 45 min.
Year 5	2 * 45 min.	3 * 45 min.	1 * 45 min.
Year 6	2 * 45 min.	3 * 45 min.	1 * 45 min.

Physical Education

At ISH, our physical education (PE) programme promotes a positive attitude towards a healthy lifestyle by building a strong base for children to make informed choices about physical activities now and in the future, while developing an understanding of the importance of exercise for both body and mind.

The PE curriculum supports children's development by providing opportunities to learn and participate in a variety of activities and games that help to build character and resilience, as well as develop values such as fairness, honesty and respect. Furthermore, our PE curriculum promotes the development of teamwork, communication and collaboration skills. PE lessons are given twice a week to classes from Early Years to Year 6 by our specialist PE Teachers.

Our PE curriculum is divided into units which include health related fitness, territory games (eg. team games, ball games), dance, gymnastics, athletics, net games, and striking & fielding games.

The PE Department has access to sports facilities both indoors and outside. We also participate in yearly sports tournaments, events, sports days, local fun runs and musical and dance performances. Primary children need to come to PE in clothes that allow them to move freely. Ideally these should be sports shorts/trousers and t-shirt/sports shirt. All students need outdoor sports shoes and indoor sports shoes with a non-marking sole. For safety reasons, students are not allowed to wear jewellery during lessons.

Dutch

Whilst living in the Netherlands, all students have the opportunity to learn Dutch. Children in all age groups learn Dutch from a native speaker and in addition they explore the history, culture and geography of the Netherlands, whilst developing competency and fluency in spoken and written Dutch. Dutch language acquisition lessons focus on oral and verbal abilities, through meaningful role play, story telling, music and game based learning. In addition, the Dutch department explores cultural themes which include: our neighbourhood, festivals and celebrations.

The content of the curriculum is driven by the communication needs of the students and their language proficiency level. From Year 2, students are grouped according to their Dutch language level. Students who are new to Dutch are those arriving with Dutch competency are supported to maintain and develop their social and academic understanding of the language, as well as developing their reading and writing skills in Dutch. supported to learn basic conversational Dutch, while those arriving with Dutch competency are supported to maintain and develop their social and academic understanding of the language, as well as developing their reading and writing skills in Dutch.

DART

Our DART (Drama, Art and IT) programme began in 2023, with the aim of expanding our Arts offerings in the curriculum, and raising the skill level of students. ISH believes that the arts equip children with critical life skills, foster creativity and confidence, and make learning a more enjoyable and engaging process.

We are now into our second year of implementing the programme and the engagement and enjoyment is clear for all to see.

All students across the Primary school have two rotations of each of these subject areas across the year, with one lesson a week being dedicated to DART. We have three specialist teachers to plan and teach the programme. Lessons follow a skills based continuum in students, as well as linking in with some of our academic units.

These experiences and skills will stay with our students across their entire school journey.

Music

The aim of the music programme at the ISH is to enable each child's musicality and creativity to blossom. Students are active music makers throughout the Primary years, from EY through to Year 6, experiencing music through performance, listening, exploration, improvisation and composition. The programme exposes children to diverse musical styles which include classical, modern, jazz, world music, pop and blues music, allowing for a deeper understanding of the diverse approaches to basic musical elements. Children listen to and identify music elements and are gradually introduced to musical terminology. The students also engage in vocal and instrumental performance tasks. Music lessons offer children an opportunity to approach new challenges, according to their creativity and curiosity. They can experiment with and explore music composition, including the use of music technology, such as video, sound-editing and composing software. Our extracurricular programme enables children to further develop their musical interests and talents. These opportunities include school choir, Primary rock band and Primary orchestra.

After-school Music Lessons

There is a range of after-school activities available for Primary students, including private music lessons. The Malcolm Davies Music Centre (MDMC) is a group of independent music tutors who provide private music lessons for our students. Via the school website parents can connect with the music tutors directly and arrange for music lessons after school. The Primary Office confirms the bookings of these lessons.

Music is one of the most powerful forces in the rise of mankind, and he who renders it accessible to as many people as possible is a benefactor of humanity

Zoltán Kodály

Tutors at the MDMC believe in just that: learning music engages and develops children's brains and contributes to the acquisition of good social skills, supporting them to become well-rounded human beings.