Lower Primary – Key Stage One – Years 1 and 2
Year 1: connected, collaborative, creative learning (age 5-6)
Our backgrounds make us who we are, and that’s especially true of BSB’s diverse student community. That’s why we’ve adapted the UK National Curriculum to fit our international context, empowering students to share their unique stories, learn more about the world around them and understand their place in it.
Learning is an exciting, fluid experience in Year 1. Our progressive Units of Discovery bring together science, geography, history, art and PSHE (personal, social and health education), encouraging children to make connections between these subject areas and to ask questions as well as take risks, all while developing their knowledge, skills and understanding.
And of course, explicit teaching of reading, writing and number work builds on their Reception experience, with lots of opportunities for research, collaboration and self-initiated activity, as well as plenty of outdoor learning. We also continue working in partnership with parents, and use the secure online platform Tapestry to share key moments from our day with those at home.
Our Year 1 facilities are inspiring, with separate classrooms for teacher-led and focussed activities centred around a large, collaborative space. Here, children enjoy pop-up creative play areas, and workshops focused on exploration and discovery and small group support work, all on a regular basis. But in all honesty, it’s the young people we work with who are the truly inspirational ones.
Year 2: fostering confidence and independence (age 6-7)
In Year 2, young learners really hit their stride, and we tend to see their confidence and independence reaching new heights. Our job as teaching and learning professionals is to challenge, support and adapt learning in order to inspire, and we often find ourselves equally inspired by the response of the young people in our care.
In any one week within the open classroom which unifies the classroom teaching spaces, children might take on the role of engineers and work together to build a viable bridge, then put together a campaign to save wildlife from developers, before creating a related work of art to complement their arguments. Their hunger for learning is consistently impressive, and the sophistication of their reactions and insights extraordinary.
We have access to the finest educational resources in Year 2, from specialist teachers for French, Music, PE and the Library to interactive whiteboards and individual iPads. As in all year groups, we incorporate technology to inspire, enhance and embed learning rather than as an end in itself.
If you’re considering BSB for your child, take a look at our school on social media or, even better, arrange a visit to see for yourself. We’d love to show you around.