Astor International School is proud to offer the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) for all students 5-12 years old

Our curriculum is structured around authentic, engaging and internationally relevant IPC Units of Work

Through enquiry-based teaching methods and approaches, students at Astor have the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge while becoming lifelong learners with an open-mindedness towards the perspectives of others.

At Astor, the philosophy of teaching and learning is based on the pedagogy of enquiry and the philosophy found in the International Primary Curriculum.

Striving to be one of the top international schools in Singapore, we want our students to be internationally minded citizens who leave us with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable them to participate actively in an exciting global society and be ready for higher learning.

We value student-centred hands-on enquiry-based learning. We use worksheets to supplement our teaching, but it is not the focus.

We use manipulatives such as counters, beads, cards, pictures, whiteboards, videos etc. to design our lessons activities.

Through these student-centred hands-on enquiry-based activities students have the opportunity to develop their skills and lifelong passion for knowledge.

At Astor International School we teach using the following curriculum

Singapore Maths

British English

International Primary Curriculum (IPC)

Singapore math is designed to allow students to acquire important basic numeracy as well as develop logical reasoning and problem-solving skills in the following areas:

Whole number
Fractions
Decimals
Percentages
Ratio
Rate and Speed
Money
Measurement
Geometry
Statistics

At Astor we link our Math topics to our English and IPC lessons when possible. For example, in a Science IPC like ‘Green Fingers’ or ‘Lets Plant It’ where the theme is plants based, we grown plants and track their growth over time in our measurement and statistics lessons.

Singapore English covers speech, reading and writing skills to develop knowledge, in the following areas:

Listening and viewing
Reading and Viewing
Speaking and Representing
Writing and Representing
Grammar
Vocabulary

At Astor School over the term and year, we cover all the areas above. We take a writing genre like; recounts, narratives, procedure, or expositions and use these genres to link all our writing to reading, listening, speaking and viewing. For example, if we are coving narratives we would be reading and listening to narratives, acting out narratives etc.

International Primary Curriculum (IPC) is a comprehensive, thematic, creative curriculum with a clear process of learning and with specific learning goals for every subject, for international-mindedness and for personal learning.

IPC is set up in units with themes that cover learning areas:

Science
History
Geography
Music
Drama
Physical Education etc.

The recommended length of the unit and the length of the term will determine how many units are completed in each term. We ensure we cover History, Geography and Science equally over an academic year.

How is International Primary Curriculum structured?

International Primary Curriculum (IPC) includes over 130 thematic units and is taught in over 90 countries. It is broken down into 3 Mileposts:

Milepost 1

5 - 7 y.o.

Milepost 2

7 - 9 y.o.

Milepost 3

9 - 12 y.o.

Each unit is designed around one core purpose: improving children’s learning. The units have been designed to nurture children’s personal qualities and develop international mindedness, and at the heart of these units are the IPC Learning Goals.

IPC Learning Goals

The IPC extends knowledge, skills and understanding, develops personal attributes and supports an international perspective in a way that responds to revised ideas about learning. The IPC Subject Learning Goals are the foundation on which the IPC was built. The learning goals cover the knowledge, skills and understanding that children will develop.

Knowledge is what children will know.
Skills is what children will be able to do.
Understanding is what children will understand.

The units are organized around a theme, which helps children to see how subjects are both independent and interdependent enabling them to see the big picture of their learning, make connections through and across different subjects and talk about a theme from multiple perspectives.

An IPC unit could cover the following learning areas: Art, Geography, History, Language Arts, Science, Physical Education, Technology, Music, Society and International.

At Astor we also try to link our IPC topic to our English and math learning objectives, activities and lessons.

RAZUM International School - Our Curriculum

Every IPC unit has a distinct learning process, providing a structured approach to make sure that children’s learning experiences are as stimulating and rigorous as possible.

IPC Learning Process

The Entry Point – is the WOW factor, the hook. It is desired to inspire learning through passion for the theme.
The Knowledge Harvest – is to determine what the children already know and help them to make connections with their previous learning and their real life.
Explain the Theme – this gives the children the ‘big picture’ of their learning

Researching and Recording – each IPC unit has a research activity and a recording activity. Research activities always precede the recording activities. During research activities, children use a variety of methods and work in different group sizes to find out a range of information. During the recording activities, children interpret the learning they have researched and have the opportunity to demonstrate, share and explain their learning in different ways.
Exit Point – the exit point has 2 main purposes:

1. To help children pull together their learning from the unit, and

2. To celebrate the learning that has taken place.

From a teacher’s assessment perspective

Beginning

The student requires support or assistance to understand the knowledge or skill, at times finding it difficult to achieve grade-level expectations.

Developing

The student requires some support or assistance to understand the knowledge or skill at grade level expectation.

Achieving

The student consistently works independently, occasionally requiring support to demonstrate the knowledge or skill at grade level expectations.

Mastering

The student works independently to demonstrate the knowledge or skill at grade level expectations.

Exceeding

The student works independently to demonstrate the knowledge or skill exceeding grade level expectation.

Astor’s Personal Goals

The IPC Personal Goals underpin each unit – they represent the attributes that we believe children will find essential in the 21st Century. They help children to develop those qualities that will enable them to be at ease with the continually changing context of their lives. At Astor our Personal Goals are:

Be Internationally Minded

Knowing who I am, knowing where I fit in the world and respecting all.

Be Responsible

I think about my choices, make good decisions and do the right thing.

Be Collaborative

I try to help others and work as a team.

Be Adaptable

I change my behavior and ideas to suit different situations.

Be Respectful

I treat people and things the way I want to be treated.

Be Reflective

I reflect on what I have learnt and what I would like to change.

Be Curious

I ask why things are as they are and collect evidence to support my ideas.

Be Resilient

I keep trying even when things are difficult.