Teaching and Learning at Benton Junior College
Our Program of Inquiry is based on the International Baccalaureate's Primary Years Program. Class teachers facilitate a comprehensive and challenging inquiry based approach to learning with particular focus on Literacy and Numeracy.
The Primary Years Programme (PYP) of the International Baccalaureate emphasises five essential elements of the curriculum, which are the concepts, knowledge, skills, attitudes and action. The concepts, as follows, shape and drive the units of inquiry, enabling genuine understanding of important ideas:
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?
REFLECTION: How do we know?
Classroom programs are enhanced with timetabled specialist programs in Physical Education, Music, Art, ICT and LOTE (Japanese). Learning technologies are integrated throughout the school in all areas of the curriculum.
Theme based whole school days, excursions/incursions, Reading Recovery, House Sports days, Values education, Perceptual Motor Programs, Camps, School concerts, Musical productions, Instrumental programs, Peninsula Connections (Giftedness program) and interschool/district sports further enrich the curriculum.
THE INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE
What is the International Baccalaureate?
The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring your people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is designed for students aged 3 to 12. It focuses on the total growth of the developing child, touching hearts as well as minds and encompassing social, physical, emotional and cultural needs in addition to academic development.
The PYP draws on research and best practice from a range of national systems with a wealth of knowledge and experience from international schools to create a relevant, engaging, challenging and significant educational framework for all children.
THE PRIMARY YEARS PROGRAM
Preparing active, caring & lifelong learners.
At the heart of the programme's philosophy is a commitment to structured, purposeful inquiry as the leading vehicle for learning.
Six transdisciplinary themes of global significance provide the framework for exploration and study:
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Who we are
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Where we are in place and time
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How we express ourselves
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How we organise ourselves
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How the world works
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Sharing the planet
Teachers are guided by these six transdisciplinary themes and they design unite of inquiry that both transcend and articulate concentionsl subject boundaries.
The programme encompasses the following subject areas:
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Language - English and LOTE
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Social Studies
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Mathematics
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Arts
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Science
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Personal, Social and Physical Education
FIVE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS
concepts, knowledge, skills, attitudes & action
The five essential elements are incorporated into this framework, so that students are given the opportunity to:
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gain knowledge that is relevant and of global significance
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develop an understanding of concepts, which allows them to make connections throughout their learning
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acquire transdisciplinary and disciplinary skills
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develop attitudes that will lead to international-mindedness
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take action as a consequence of their learning
