Primary School

Discover the essence of academic excellence at our Primary Section, where we harmoniously integrate a blended curriculum system. The renowned Cambridge Primary curriculum and engaging International Primary Curriculum (IPC), for students aged 5 to 11 years, to facilitate teaching and learning.

We pride ourselves as the first primary school in Ghana to offer the IPC for students aged 5 to 11 years, which seeks to furnish students with aptitude for academic and personal achievements through numerous stimulating learning opportunities.

At Little Blessings International School, we are committed to providing our students with the highest quality education that prepares them for success in a globalized world. After careful consideration and extensive research, we have adopted the Cambridge Curriculum in our Primary section for several compelling reasons:

1. Internationally Recognized Standards: The Cambridge Curriculum is renowned worldwide for its rigorous academic standards and comprehensive approach to education. This ensures our students receive a globally competitive education that is respected by universities and employers around the world.
2. Holistic Development: Beyond academic excellence, the Cambridge Curriculum emphasizes the development of critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and creativity. It fosters independent learning and equips students with the skills they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
3. Flexibility and Adaptability: The curriculum offers a wide range of subjects and allows for flexible teaching methods, enabling us to tailor our approach to meet the unique needs and interests of each student. This personalized learning experience helps every child reach their full potential. LBIS students are taught English as a first language, Mathematics and Science at the Primary stage.
4. Strong Foundation for Future Success: The Cambridge qualifications, including Cambridge checkpoint, IGCSE and A-Levels, provide a solid foundation for higher education and future career opportunities. They are recognized by top universities and colleges worldwide, giving our students a significant advantage in their academic and professional journeys no matter where they find themselves.
5. Commitment to Quality and Continuous Improvement: The Cambridge Curriculum is continuously reviewed and updated to reflect the latest educational research and best practices. This commitment to excellence aligns with our own dedication to providing a high-quality education that evolves with the times.

Cambridge Learner Attributes

Our decision to adopt the Cambridge Curriculum is guided by its commitment to fostering a well-rounded education. Central to this approach are the Cambridge Learner Attributes, which shape students into confident, responsible, reflective, innovative, and engaged individuals. Here’s how these attributes benefit our students:

• Confident: Cambridge learners are confident in working with new ideas and information. They are confident in taking calculated risks and do not allow anyone to take them for granted. They are very keen to evaluate and explore ideas in a structured and critical way.
• Responsible: Cambridge students are responsible and take ownership of their learning. They set targets for themselves and hold on to their intellectual integrity. The students are supportive and collaborative. They are respectful of others and understand that their actions have impacts on others as well as on their environment.
• Reflective: Cambridge students recognize themselves as learners. They are concerned with the products and processes of their learning and develop the strategies that can help them to be lifelong learners.
• Innovative: Cambridge Learner attributes strengthens students’ innovative framework by bringing a play into the curriculum and creating unique connections to the courses.
• Engaged: Attributes of a Cambridge learner prepares them to make a significant difference in their lives as well as in the society, by encouraging them to be engaged intellectually and socially.

The diversified Cambridge curriculum gives our students the opportunity to indulge into a more collaborative environment thus giving them regular chances to share their knowledge and thoughts in front of their peers.

By adopting the Cambridge Curriculum, we are ensuring that Little Blessings International School remains at the forefront of educational excellence, preparing our students not only for academic success but also for lifelong learning and achievement.

International Primary Curriculum (IPC)

Little Blessings International School follows the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) for children aged 5 – 11 years which is the curriculum of choice of over 1,800 schools in 90 countries around the world. Based on the English National Curriculum, the IPC is a set of rigorous and holistic subjects and personal and international learning goals. Connecting learning across these goals, are more than 130 theme and topic-based units of learning.

 

Subject goals in the IPC curriculum include:

Mathematics

Language Arts (English)

Science

Geography

History

Art

Physical Education

Information & Communication Technology (ICT)

Design, Technology & Innovation

Music

Health & Wellbeing

 

The IPC provides quality international education and sets a strong foundation for future learning.
Its core values are to focus on a combination of academic, personal and international learning for children worldwide, combined with innovative and exciting ways to learn.

Every IPC unit follows a set process – The process to facilitate learning:

 

Entry Point – WOW factor, the hook to get the children engaged, motivated and inspired

Knowledge Harvest – Finding out what the children already know, want to know (taking ownership of their learning) and what they think they know (highlighting any misconceptions). The Knowledge Harvest also helps with teachers forward planning.

Explaining the Theme – This help explain what the children will be learning about in each of the subjects that the unit covers. Although children are learning in a thematic way, we do not want them to lose track of becoming mini scientists, artists, historians etc. This also allows them to see how the subjects connect.

Research, Record, Reflect – This is where the block subject learning starts, we have created several research, record and reflect activities for each subject, each activity has been written with specific learning goals in mind, they are clearly identified per task. The tasks can be personalized and adapted; it is the learning goals that they cover that are the main outcome. Time should also be given for reflection and the opportunity to discuss and record answers relating to the reflective question.

Exit Point – A celebration of everything that has been learnt throughout the theme.

There are ideas in every unit for all the above stages. IPC is a tool for teachers to then adapt and personalise and make it work for their children and their school.

Units can last anything between 3-9 weeks long, so the amount of units a class would complete really does depend on which units they select. To help with coverage and breadth of subjects we have created a route planner. This allows teachers to see immediately what coverage per subject they get for knowledge, skills and understanding, by simply dragging and dropping their units into the necessary term.

The Assessment for enhancing  studying toolkit is a fundamental part of the curriculum. Our core documents provide guidance around evaluating knowledge, skills and understanding. The toolkit itself provides rubrics for the identified key skills in a four stage method of ‘Beginning’, ‘Developing’, ‘Mastering’ & ‘Innovating’. There are rubrics in “teacher speak” and “child speak” for every key skill we have identified, along with next steps instruction to help teachers set the necessary goals for children to develop.

The IPC is designed to help children:

• Learn the essential knowledge, skills and understanding of a broad range of curriculum subjects.
• Engage with their learning so that they remain committed to learning throughout their school careers and their lives.
• Develop the personal qualities they need to be good citizens and to respond to the changes over their lifetime.
• Develop a deep sense of their own nationality and culture at the same time as developing a profound respect for the nationalities and cultures of others.
• Recognise and be aware of global issues.
• To be adaptable and open-minded.

 

Our Curriculum is a comprehensive, thematic, creative curriculum, with a clear process of learning and specific learning goals for every subject. It also develops international mindedness and encourages personal learning.

The school primarily trusts that children will be better prepared for life beyond school if they are more internationally aware.

As a school we explain international mindedness as “To have a consciousness of ourselves and others”.

At LBIS, we hope the IPC will help our learners love learning, and become versatile Global Citizens, with the right tools to help them succeed as they progress through life.

 

The Personal Goals of the IPC are:

Adaptable
Communicator
Collaborator
Empathetic
Ethical
Resilient
Respectful
Thinker

 

The 7 Foundations of the IPC are:

• Learner-focused, international and academic dimensions
• Progressive pedagogy
• A process to facilitate learning
• Globally competent learners
• Knowledge, skills and understanding are taught, learned and assessed differently
• Connected learning
• Assessment for improving learning

These goals along with the 7 foundations form the curriculum, and provide a shared vision of the learners we are trying to nurture. The personal goals can be found throughout the units and become a way for f life and part of the language for the learners.

 

Benefits and Values of the IPC

The IPC is a hands-on tool for teachers to support children with their learning. Aside the real-world modules of the IPC, there are also some beliefs about education, teaching, learning and curriculum that direct both the subjects of the IPC and the way it functions.

Learning

Children’s learning is the main purpose of the IPC and helping children learn academically, socially, spiritually, emotionally and physically is what we at LBIS stand for. Learning is planned to be active, in the sense that the content of what their learning is relevant and meaningful to their present lives. Learning is constructed in such a way that, by the time they are done with their primary education children will be able to take responsibility for their own learning.

Teaching

The purpose of teaching is to assist children’s learning in suitable ways. Teaching is always planned to be an enjoyable experience. Teachers are more likely to thrive in helping children learn if they work in collaboration with other teachers and parents. We therefore support our staff with resourceful, current applied and appropriate help.

Implementation

At LBIS we use the IPC to create a functioning curriculum that makes available the most applicable support for teachers and others to progress learning. Our curriculum begins with learning outcomes, which are the KNOWLEDGE children should attain, the SKILLS children should be able to exhibit and the UNDERSTANDING they should improve. These outline what children should be capable of at various stages of their growth.

 

Some of these learning outcomes are assessable and some will require the teacher’s judgment. These can be achieved through a range of assessment or evaluative opportunities. The IPC addresses the development of the learning outcomes in three key areas i.e. the subjects they learn personal development and international understanding.

 

National Curriculum of England

Little Blessings International School also follows the National Curriculum of England. It is a comprehensive and balanced curriculum that prepares students to succeed in their education and life. This rigorous curriculum prepares students academically, emotionally and socially to be ready for whatever comes next.

The National Curriculum of England is designed to stimulate and improve children’s knowledge and understanding. This approach to learning highlights the significance of a skills-based curriculum where learning relates to real life experience through a cross curricular approach. Happiness, Success, Well-being and standards are of great regard at LBIS.

 

The Core subjects are:

Mathematics

English

Science

 

The Foundation subjects are:

Art and Design

PSHE

Computing and IT

Design and Technology

Languages (French)

Geography

History

Music

Physical Education

 

The National Curriculum of England is recognised internationally as one of the best curriculums around, which gives children a good start in life. It structures learning in a way that guides students through a variety of subjects including not only ‘core’ subjects such as maths, science, and literature, but also the arts, humanities, and more. Starting in the early years, students focus on the fundamentals of their subjects, and as students’ progress, the curriculum dives deeper into these subjects, exploring not only the more nuanced and complex aspects of the subjects, but also how they relate to other areas of study.

The National Curriculum of England is a great, internationally-accepted structure that provides a first-class educational framework for students. It is uniquely suited for students who plan to attend a British university or families that often move.

As one of the longest-running international curricula, the British Curriculum has been tried and tested and has shown to be a successful education system. This outstanding record of success, along with a well-defined system of quality oversight for schools and students, should provide parents with a sense of confidence that their child will be receiving one of the best educations available.

 

Age of student	IPC	Year Group	National Curriculum of England
Age 5- 6	Mile Post 1	Year 1	Key Stage 1
Age 6-7	Mile Post 1	Year 2	Key Stage 1
Age 7-8	Mile Post 2	Year 3	Lower Key Stage 2
Age 8- 9	Mile Post 2	Year 4	Lower Key Stage 2
Age 9-10	Mile Post 3	Year 5	Upper Key Stage 2
Age 10-11	Mile Post 3	Year 6	Upper Key Stage 2

The table above shows the relations between the ages of students, the National Curriculum of England and the International Primary Curriculum.

 

National Curriculum of England	IPC
Core Subjects	Core Subjects
Mathematics	Mathematics
English	Language Arts (English)
Science	Science
Foundation Subjects	Foundation Subjects
History	History
Geography	Geography
Art & Design	Art
Music	Music
Design and Technology	Design, Technology & Innovation
PE	PE
ICT	ICT and Computing
PSHE	Health & Well-being
Languages (French)	Primary Languages (French)

The table above shows the relations between the subjects taught with the National Curriculum of England and the International Primary Curriculum.

 

The IPC is also very comparable to the International Baccalaureate (IB PYP) as they are both globally recognised and provide an inquiry-based, thematic, cross-curricular, and creative approach to learning.

The International Primary Curriculum (IPC) is a skills-based process with precise learning goals for each subject, with similar characteristics to the PYP IB program. Students are assisted to attain strong inquiry skills, interpersonal skills, and adjustment skills, which are of vital importance for international students.

The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) is based on individual – and group-initiated inquiry-based tasks. The PYP provides a learning structure and gives teachers the duty to develop their own line of enquiry. All the foundation subjects are integrated, with maths and English taught independently.

Why have we chosen IPC?

LBIS has chosen IPC because it has  a comprehensible process to enable learning and specific learning goals for every subject, for international mindedness and for personal learning. We trust the IPC will help our learners enjoy learning, and become well rounded Global Citizens, with the right  tools to help them flourish as they move forward  through life.

Little Blessings International School is part of the International Curriculum family. We encourage our primary students to follow the eight IPC goals which remind us how to live our lives productively, and students are recognised and rewarded for demonstrating them throughout the school day.

OUR APPROACH

RESPECT	We are polite and kind to everyone. We communicate with composure, courtesy, and respect.
ADAPTABILITY	We welcome new ideas and we accept change. We accept all cultures into the classroom and seek out the unique views of each person from cultures different to our own.
RESILIENCE	We stick to the task until we have completed it. We keep trying and don’t give up easily.
MORALITY	We choose to do the right thing and respect the fact that people have different viewpoints.
COMMUNICATION	We express ourselves clearly to a range of audiences and also listen to other people.
ENQUIRY	We ask practical questions about why things are the way they are and carry out investigations to find out the answers. We have good research skills.
CO-OPERATION	We understand that we all have different roles to play in a team. We take turns and share.
THOUGHTFULNESS	We encourage our students to think before they do anything. We constantly put ourselves in other’s shoes and try to think about what we have left out in any circumstance and reflect on our own actions.