Our Curriculum

At Chinese Academy we aim to provide our children with an engaging, exciting and empowering Internationalised Curriculum that equips them bilingually for today and tomorrow. Every child is recognised as a unique individual. We celebrate and welcome differences within our diverse school community. Thus, we develop outward looking pupils who are able to engage in learning about themselves and have an understanding of the wider world and its cultures.

Our Internationalised Curriculum is bespoke to the needs of the students at Chinese academy, drawing on our expert knowledge of dynamic UK and international school educational practice. It is constantly evolving to respond to the needs of learners and their interests by enhancing learning experiences and raising awareness from the local area to national and global arenas. It not only focuses on appropriate subject specific knowledge, skills and understanding, but also develops individual and collaborative learning experiences, provides challenges that take them beyond the classroom, a positive growth mindset and allows the children to develop interpersonal skills to become creative, critical thinkers.

We believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and enquiring time in pupils’ lives, where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences and knowledge. We use our Confusion Values to promote positive attitudes to learning and life, equipping children with values and skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success.

Community involvement is an integral part of our curriculum, inviting families and visitors to facilitate learning new skills and sharing experiences such as assemblies, celebration of festivals and attending special events.

Children leave Chinese Academy with a sense of belonging to a tightly knit community where they have the confidence and skills to make decisions, self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners.

Our lessons enable each child to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding to be life-long learners and linguists while ensuring that they are confident in communicating their thoughts and ideas effectively in all settings and situations.

ACADEMICS

Chinese Academy offers a child-centered primary school education in a nurturing and supportive learning environment where children are encouraged to become independent learners.

Through the provision of effective bilingual learning experiences both inside and outside of the classroom, students’ intrinsic motivation for learning will be promoted and their individual potential will be developed.

Subjects

English

Literacy is fundamental to learning, thinking and communicating, and it is embedded in the teaching and learning at CAPS. Our students follow a structured language programme based on the UK National Curriculum, which focuses on the areas of speaking, listening, reading, writing, and presenting.

Chinese

We aim to cultivate positive bilingual habits and cultural awareness in our children. Each lesson throughout the school day has bilingual aspects and children also have a separate Chinese lesson each day.

In recognition that our students bring with them a range of different experiences, we have tailored our curriculum accordingly. Our specialist teachers deliver programmes to Native and Second Language groups, providing each child with the opportunity to develop their reading, writing, speaking and listening at an appropriate pace and level.

Mathematics

Our students follow a structured maths programme based on the Singapore curriculum, which promotes essential mathematical skills and understanding. Our programme aims to develop students as confident, creative users and communicators of mathematics who exercise problem-solving and reasoning skills, and make connections between mathematics and other subjects.

Integrated Inquiry Studies- Project Based Learning

Project Based Learning (PBL) enables students to learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. Our wonderful teachers make learning come alive for students and the learning buzz in each classroom is tremendous.

Students work on a project over an extended period of time and are engaged in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question. They demonstrate their knowledge and skills by creating a public product or presentation for a real audience.

As a result, students develop deep content knowledge as well as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills. We love that Project Based Learning unleashes a contagious, creative energy among students and teachers and underpins our curriculum at CAPS.

Computing Science

Students are taught the principles of information and computation, how digital systems work, and how to put this knowledge to use through programming. Lessons ensure that students become digitally literate – able to use, and express themselves and develop their ideas through information and communication technology – at a level suitable for the future workplace and as active participants in a digital world.

Physical and Health Education

We aim to promote a healthy and active lifestyle, promoting physical, social, and emotional development. Students engage in a variety of games and activities throughout the year, including swimming, games, and fitness activities in twice-weekly PE classes. Our specialist teachers design lessons to develop physical skills alongside the values of respect, cooperation and sportsmanship. Students will engage in competitive sports activities with a further option to participate further in our extensive ECA programme.

Visual & Art

Our curriculum enables every child to learn a range of skills and have access to a wide variety of mediums to create artwork they are proud of. We celebrate children’s achievements and their artwork is displayed around school and on our facebook page.

We encourage students to experience freedom of expression, creativity, subjectivity and explore their individuality. We learn about great artists both in the past and present, and make links with art and cultural change through our enquiry projects.

Music

Lessons are delivered by our specialist music teacher. Our curriculum develops students’ understanding of musical elements, notation, performance and composing through fun and engaging activities. Students have the opportunity to play and rehearse on a variety of musical instruments as well as learn to sing and use their voice expressively.

Teaching and Learning

Be relevant to life

Students will explore the world around them; they will engage in projects and higher order problem-solving tasks that are relevant to real-life situations.

Be differentiated

Each student is unique and has his/her own preferences in learning; differentiation is done through offering options in content and process that cater to each student’s interests and abilities.

Encourage self-expression and discovery

Students are encouraged to communicate and collaborate through interactive learning tasks. They will have opportunities to explore a wide range of tasks across different disciplines.

Be supportive

The school provides a stimulating environment with an abundance of learning aids, multimedia resources and information technology; school staff work closely with parents to facilitate students’ learning.

Be stimulated through intrinsic motivation

Children are endowed with an intrinsic curiosity about the world around them; they will be encouraged to formulate questions, find answers and pursue further investigations on their own.

Be culturally diverse

Students develop global perspectives while being immersed in Chinese culture through continuous exposure to rich traditions from around the world.

Motivation and Achievement

Chinese Academy takes the approach of continuous assessment where in-depth formative and summative assessment on students’ growth and learning are carried out through daily school life. Information collected provides useful reference for teachers and parents in determining educational and intervention strategies.

Assessment takes many forms including anecdotal records, checklists, observations and portfolio. Timely, specific feedback coupled with constructive advice encourages students to set realistic goals for next steps.

Regular testing and monitoring will take place using standardised assessment. Results, in addition to individual goal-setting, will be analysed for planning to meet individual pupil’s needs.