International Baccalaureate

Golden Grove Lutheran Primary School is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, authorised to teach the Primary Years Programme (PYP).

What is an IB PYP School?

Golden Grove Lutheran Primary School strives to develop an internationally minded person through an understanding of what it means to be a learner.
We strive to be Thinkers, Communicators, Inquirers and Risk-takers who are Caring, Principled, Open-minded, Balanced, Knowledgeable and Reflective.

The mission of the International Baccalaureate:

The International Baccalaureate organisation aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the IB works with schools, governments and international organisations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

Learn more about the IB

Teaching and learning through the PYP framework

Learner Profile

‘The aim of the PYP is to develop internationally minded people who recognise their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet and help to create a better and more peaceful world.’ (p4 Making the PYP happen: A curriculum framework for international primary education 2009)
We strive for our learners to be:

• Inquirers
• Knowledgeable
• Thinkers
• Communicators
• Principled
• Open-minded
• Caring
• Courageous
• Balanced
• Reflective

These attributes promote academic rigor and help the student to achieve and experience social-emotional, behavioural, intellectual well-being and international mindedness.

The Written Curriculum
Through the PYP students develop an understanding of important concepts, acquire essential skills and knowledge, develop attitudes and learn to take socially responsible action.
These essential elements are intentionally addressed throughout the teaching and learning programme.

Concepts

We live in an ever-changing world; knowledge is changing students need to be able to view the world with flexibility. Through concept based learning students learn about transferrable ideas that transcend time, place and situation. Concepts allow for engagement with deeper thinking which move students past knowledge into understanding.

The PYP outlines a range of fundamental concepts. They are expressed as key questions propelling the process of inquiry.
These universal concepts drive the research units—called UNITS OF INQUIRY (UOI)
The fundamental concepts are:

• Form: What is it like?
• Function: How does it work?
• Causation: Why is it like it is?
• Change: How is it changing?
• Connection: How is it connected to other things?
• Perspective: What are the points of view?
• Responsibility: What is our responsibility?

Resources: http://www.whatisib.com/concept-based-learning.html

Skills – Approaches to Learning

Skill development is recognised as an important part of the programme. These skills are developed in an authentic way through the units of inquiry.

Learners develop:

• Thinking skills
• Communication skills
• Social skills
• Research skills
• Self-Management skills

These “Approaches To Learning” (ATLs) are skills, strategies and attitudes which are designed to help students learn how to learn. Our approach is for teachers and students to work together to support self-regulated learning.
Approaches to Learning (ATLs) are embedded implicity into our classroom culture. They develop and shape our students’ attitudes towards learning. This enables our students to work to co-construct knowledge with their peers and teachers. The students and teachers connect their approaches to learning with their approaches to teaching, to create and foster a social-constructivist environment.
The ATLs are woven into the attributes of the Learner Profile and support learner agency, thus creating a rich, holistic and reflective learning experience. The skills our students develop provide a solid foundation for learning throughout their lives.

Attitudes

The enhanced PYP incorporates the attitudes within the descriptors of the attributes of the learner profile. It discusses a student’s disposition which combines their learner profile attributes, skills and the way they approach learning.

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” -Winston Churchill

• Appreciation
• Commitment
• Confidence
• Cooperation
• Creativity
• Curiosity
• Empathy
• Enthusiasm
• Independence
• Integrity
• Respect
• Tolerance

Source: http://www.tigs.nsw.edu.au/primary-years-programme-pyp

Learning Dispositions

As a student develops the learner profile attributes, the skills of learning (approaches to learning) and their ways of taking action, they grow in their disposition, their qualities of mind and character, as learners who are curious, engaged and active inquirers. The PYP framework provides the building blocks for positive learning dispositions through the essential elements. Students are engaged in setting goals, self-monitoring and assessing and reflecting on their growth.

In the enhanced PYP, the attitudes have been removed from the 5 essential elements

Action

Students are encouraged to reflect, to make informed choices and to take action that will help their peers, school and the wider community. This is how students demonstrate a deeper sense of learning by applying their knowledge to service and positive action.

Knowledge

Six transdisciplinary themes provide the framework for exploration and construction of knowledge and understanding. A discipline is a subject. Transdisciplinary learning involves interconnecting and applying understanding across traditional subject areas. At GGLPS, the framework of the PYP is used to organise the Australian Curriculum within the 6 transdisciplinary themes, bringing together traditional subjects, making connecting between and across them and bringing about holistic learning.
“To be truly educated, a student must also make connections across the discipline, discover ways to integrate the separate subjects, and ultimately relate what they learn to life” (Boyer 1995)

The six transdisciplinary themes are:

• 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

http://www.ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/

PYP Exhibition

In Year 6, students conduct an extended, in-depth inquiry based on real-life issues or challenges. The inquiry is transdisciplinary and celebrates the culmination of a child’s PYP learning experience before they progress into their secondary education.

In Term 4, students present their research, investigation and resulting action to the whole school community.
Recent research into the impact of the PYP exhibition found it to be a “valuable and pivotal experience in the life of the schools, families and students who were involved.”