Open House April 2023
Chatsworth International School provides a nurturing and caring learning for students to learn and thrive

International Primary School

Chatsworth Primary School offers the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) which focuses on whole-child development to nurture children to be the best people they can be during their elementary years

Overview: International Primary School
Years 1 to 6 (6 to 11 years old)

Primary School at Chatsworth caters to students in Singapore from Year 1 through Year 6 (Grade 5), ages 6 to 11 years old. The international curriculum offered at Chatsworth is delivered within the IB Primary Years Programme. It is an international ‘best practice’ educational framework that is differentiated to meet the individual needs of each of our students. The curriculum encourages them to question, collaborate, problem solve and lead investigations to develop essential learning and personal development skills, whilst at the same time fostering intercultural understanding and respect from the age of elementary school.

The skills and attributes developed in the Kindergarten years are immediately put to use, with students taking ownership of their learning, creating rich inquiries and achieving personal and academic goals at the primary level. As students progress through the year levels, they mature as leaders, taking responsibility for school projects, action groups and community events.

The final year of primary school culminates in a PYP Exhibition, a powerful celebration and showcase of student learning and development. Students inquire and apply essential elements of PYP transdisciplinary skills into their culminating project, demonstrating and celebrating the results and action of their learning throughout the primary years.

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Subject Information (The Curriculum)

Chatsworth's primary education offers the internationally recognised International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP). The programme balances the acquisition of significant and relevant knowledge and skills, the development of conceptual understandings, the formation of personal, positive attitudes and the capacity to take responsible action. It focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer both in the classroom and in the world outside.

By ensuring that learning is engaging, relevant, challenging and significant, we set out to meet the diverse needs of the students through the PYP, informed by the values in the IB learner profile. Being able to apply knowledge in real world contexts creates powerful and memorable learning experiences for our students. 

Subject Disciplines

English

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Mathematics

Science

Social Studies

Mandarin (K1 and K2)
Mandarin or French (Years 1 to 6)

Arts (Drama, Music and Visual Art)

Personal, Social and Physical Education

Library (Literacy and Research Skills)

Digital Citizenship/ Keeping Safe Curriculum

Communication and Assessment

Building a meaningful school-home connection is very important to us. Our primary teachers communicate with parents weekly via email and the school shares important information relating to school and programmes through electronic letters and newsletters.

Assessment is important in our programme where we understand the prior knowledge and experience students already have, assess their progress throughout the units of inquiry and assess their final understanding. Teachers formally feedback to parents regarding the progress of our learners in a report at the end of each school semester. Parent-teacher-student conferences are held twice a year. Each student’s digital portfolio is updated regularly by homeroom and single subject teachers.

Parents are encouraged to attend their child’s learning exhibitions, student-led conferences and performances throughout the year and meet with teachers on a needs basis as concerns or issues arise. In addition to planned parent participatory sessions throughout the year, we encourage parents to get involved in their child’s education at school by visiting the classroom to assist with activities or lessons, watching performances or helping with field trips. Our open-door policy provides parents the opportunity to meet with teachers at mutually convenient times to discuss their child's progress.

 

IBPYP and Other Curricula

How is the IB PYP Different from Other Primary or Elementary Level Curricula?
(Please note that the table below highlights the key features of the PYP relative to other curricula. It is not a detailed breakdown of other curricula)

IB PYPOther Curriculum Models

Promoting integrated transdisciplinary subjects and curriculum

Teaching subjects as isolated strands

Development of the whole child

Development of purely academic knowledge

Inquiry-based curriculum focusing on student and teacher questions

Content-based curriculum based on predetermined knowledge

PYP teachers who teach specialised subjects

Single Subject teachers solely teach subject knowledge

Real-world learning in context

Drills and workbooks to learn

Making mistakes as being necessary for learning

Focus on encouraging students not to make mistakes

Reading for comprehension, meaning and interest

Reading to merely decode as quickly as possible

Culturally diverse resources

Resources only from home country

Encouraging cooperative discussions facilitated by the students

Enforcing silent and individual work facilitated by the teacher 

Teacher as facilitator of learning

Learning to create a product 

Reliance on self and peers for some learning

Sole reliance on the teacher for learning 

Using a range of multimedia resources in the classroom

Providing print only texts for reading and research 

Finding many correct answers

Finding one correct answer

Students appreciating a range of valid perspectives and ideas

Rote learning, memorisation and repetition

Knowledge is one of five essential curriculum elements

Knowledge is the only essential curriculum element

Skills for life are embedded into the curriculum

Skills not seen as necessary for immediate learning

Attitudes towards learning are developed and assessed

Limited range of student behaviors are encouraged

Many forms of assessment including portfolios, rubrics and checklists

Assessment feedback provides merely letters or percentage grades

Learning as a process

Teacher as knowledge expert

International mindedness

One national or local perspective

 

Features of Chatsworth's IB Primary Years Programme

  • Focus on the development of the whole child
  • A personalised approach made possible by our small class sizes
  • Inculcate an inquiry mindset and skills where students are involved in and take ownership of their learning
  • Provide diverse experiential learning opportunities for students to apply knowledge in real world contexts
  • Develop intercultural understanding and awareness, empathy and global mindedness through service learning and a variety of programmes
  • Celebrate the results and action of learning throughout primary years with a culminating PYP exhibition
Our IB primary school curriculum incorporates a holistic approach to education