Primary Years Program PYP

 

Introduction to the Primary Years Programme (PYP)

Kuwait Bilingual School became an authorized IB World School in June 2013 offering the Primary Years Programme (PYP). IB World Schools share a common philosophy—a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education—that we believe is important for our students.

The IB Primary Years Programme

Students in the 21st century are faced with the challenge of learning about an interconnected world where knowledge is constantly developing. The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Primary Years Programme prepares students to be active participants in a lifelong journey of learning.

The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), for students aged 3 to 12, focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside.

 

Primary Years Programme Curriculum framework

At the heart of the programme's philosophy is a commitment to structured, purposeful inquiry as the leading vehicle for learning.

 

Curriculum model

The curriculum is expressed in three interrelated ways:

• the written curriculum—what do we want to learn?
• the taught curriculum—how best will we learn?
• the assessed curriculum—how will we know what we have learned?

The written curriculum

The most significant and distinctive feature of the IB Primary Years Programme is the six transdisciplinary themes.

These themes are about issues that have meaning for, and are important to, all of us. The programme offers a balance between learning about or through the subject areas, and learning beyond them. The six themes of global significance create a transdisciplinary framework that allows students to "step up" beyond the confines of learning within subject areas.

• Who we are
• Where we are in place and time
• How we express ourselves
• How the world works
• How we organize ourselves
• Sharing the planet

Teachers are guided by these six transdisciplinary themes as they design units of inquiry that both transcend and articulate conventional subject boundaries.

The programme can be illustrated by a hexagon with the six transdisciplinary themes surrounding six subject areas:

• language
• social studies
• mathematics
• arts
• science
• personal, social and physical education.

The transdisciplinary themes and subject areas outlined above form the knowledge element of the programme.