How our pupils will drive learning at Hiba Academy Nantong

Learning and development are lifelong journeys that begin in earnest during a child’s time in nursery. This is why, at Hiba Academy Nantong, we will see every child as unique and with their own developmental needs. Our bespoke Early Years curriculum will combine the UK’s Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) template with China’s Learning and Development Guide for Children Aged 3-6 and promises an environment in which the whole child can grow, learn and develop. 

We will also deliver flexible classroom activities that enable our pupils to explore and make connections between what they learn and what happens in the real world.

Take mathematics as an example, learning Maths is more than just computation and abstraction. At Hiba Nursery, every subject or activity — from PE to art  — will present an opportunity to learn how maths touches our everyday lives. We can teach our pupils about maths through simple questions, such as “What day is it today”? Our PE teachers may ask our pupils to count how many laps they walked around our outdoor play area. At lunch, a teacher may ask our pupils how many strawberries they ate. Each instance illustrates that we interact with numbers in our everyday life. 

Project-based learning (PBL) is another way that we will educate the whole child. Through PBL, our pupils learn the subject matter of our lessons as they develop soft skills, such as communication, creativity and collaboration.

A recent activity at Hiba Academy Hangzhou particularly illustrates of the power of PBL. A teacher noticed that pupils took an interest in some snails they discovered in the outdoor play area. Their discovery sparked a stimulating conversation about a variety of objects — insects, vegetables and even aeroplanes flying overhead. All of these became possible options for a project. The children ultimately chose to learn more about aeroplanes.

This presented an opportunity for the children to engage in enquiry and develop new skills through writing, drawing, and making crafts. As the project progressed, the subject matter shifted to increasingly practical lessons, such as the baggage check-in process, in-flight emergency protocols and more. The entire project — its subject and its activities — was entirely driven by the pupils’ curiosity, what interested and excited them.

 

By actively involving our pupils in what and how they learn, they become fully invested stakeholders in their education. Our unique model of holistic education will provide meaningful and memorable experiences that make learning fun, practical and relevant to everyday life. This is how we will make learning a lifelong journey for our pupils.