The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) develops internationally-minded students. At ISUtrecht we encourage students to become life-long learners and equip them with the academic and life skills to enable them to actively choose to be world citizens.
Learner Profile
The PYP places the student at the heart of everything we do. Building on their own background, knowledge, language(s) and experiences we are committed to develop internationally-minded students. Using an inquiring and concept-based approach to educate students we also model the learner profile attributes to develop culturally competent students.
Inquiry based learning
The PYP framework emphasises the central principal of student agency. This means that students have voice, choice and ownership for their own learning. When students have agency the relationship between the students and the teacher becomes a partnership.
The curriculum is mapped out through transdisciplinary units of inquiry. These units can have multiple subject focuses, such as social studies or science. Mathematics and language are always a key focus within the units of inquiry. Mathematics and language can be planned as stand alone units or be fully integrated in the units of inquiry.
Programme of Inquiry and Phases at ISUtrecht
Please view the ISUtrecht whole school Programme of Inquiry for the 2022-2023 academic year. From this document you will a get a general idea of how the Units of Inquiry work throughout the whole of the primary years with recurring transdisciplinary themes.
Once you had a look at the whole school programme, you can look at your child(ren)’s grade level programme for the 2022-23 academic year:
- KG, cycle 1 (As KG is a 2-year programme, we work with cycle 1 and cycle 2 Units of Inquiry)
- Grade 1
- Grade 2
- Grade 3
- Grade 4
- Grade 5
You might also find it interesting to look at the developmental phases for:
- Language
- Mathematics
- Dutch Language Acquisition (geared towards beginners and intermediate Dutch learners)
- Dutch Advanced (geared towards native and near native speakers)
- Personal, Social and Physical Education
- Social studies
- Science
- Arts
Primary teacher articles and Instagram accounts
If you want to know what inquiry-based learning looks like in our school, please read articles by:
- The inquiry cycle and taking action, Brandi Brittain
- Language Ambassadors in grade 1, Helen Absalom
- The grade 5 Exhibition, Ingrid Schmoutziguer
- Differentiating in the classroom, Charlotte Smith and Iria Asanaki
- Learning environments, Megan Tregoning
Of course, you can also follow our primary teachers on Instagram: @missmegan_isutrecht, @msmaria_isutrecht; @pypcoordinator_isutrecht; mrkris_isutrecht; missbrandi_isutrecht, or our whole school account: @international_school_utrecht.
More information about the IB
For more information on the Primary Years Programme and the International Baccalaureate, please also view the IB website.