Here’s What the IB Primary Years Programme Looks Like at Canadian International School

Give your kids a great head start in school with CIS’s IB PYP framework

Want to get your kiddos started on IB early, mama? The IB Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) is a hugely popular teaching framework (note: it’s not a curriculum!) amongst primary schools around the world. Like many parents, you may choose to send your children to a school that adopts the approach. But how many of us really understand what the learning looks like and involves?

Canadian International School is one of those leading international schools utilising IB PYP from Pre-Kindergarten through to Grade 6! We got to check out their dynamic and vibrant classrooms for a day to get a firsthand look into what learning through the PYP framework is like at their school:

The PYP prepares students for the intellectual challenges of further education and their future careers, while focusing on the development of each child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and out in the world. You can trust that the programme will help to develop your little one’s academic, social and emotional well-being, through a focus on international-mindedness and strong personal values.

The CIS Curriculum is built on the PYP framework of five essential elements: knowledge; concepts; skills; attitudes and; action. The school works with the five elements to construct a rigorous and challenging primary curriculum while developing unique and effective programmes at the same time. Using lots of great examples and simple language, issues discussed in class go beyond and across subject areas, while incorporating local and global issues.

Inquiring into real world problems and then being encouraged to take action and seek real, practical solutions is a great way to give students the skills and understanding of what the world is really like. Grade 6 student Jehann says, “I think it’s a very good idea that they are getting us ready early because for our generation the world might not be as clean or healthy as it is.”

Grade 6 teacher Michael Black reflects on his time teaching students using the IB PYP framework:

“It’s amazing to see the questions that come from planning what students want to look into, to watching them do the research and then ultimately create something that is related to that topic. Watching a student realise where they were and now where they are at the end of the unit and how much growth has happened – that’s the best part of teaching for me.”

The framework also motivates and empowers students into wanting to learn more, spurring them on to contribute and take action into solving problems. Grade 6 student Luke says, “I want to find a sustainable source of energy that can power big vehicles like spaceships and submarines.”

It’s enlightening to discover how the programme really encourages and inspires students to take risks, think creatively and critically, and approach problems from multiple perspectives.

Now that’s how you educate kids to grow up #woke, mama!