The thematic approach incorporates real-life themes based on children’s abilities and interests to help children gain a deeper understanding of their surroundings. It is an integrated learning activity that brings together and connects the six major learning domains, namely language, physical fitness and health, early mathematics, self and society and arts and creativity, to encourage children to explore learning content related to the themes and to actively engage in discovery learning, thereby achieving a balanced and holistic development.
The project approach is an in-depth exploration of a topic that is child-directed. Children are involved in research, analysis, discussion and information organisation, and are empowered to take part in hands-on activities and exploration, through which they will develop confidence, expression skills and self-motivation to learn, as well as broaden their horizons.
Project activities that link to the everyday life themes in picture books are held to trigger children’s interests in learning. Children are also guided to create plays by extracting content from picture books and based on their life experiences. Our teachers infuse the drama teaching approach with the picture book teaching approach to nurture children’s listening, speaking, reading, writing, composing, speaking and acting skills, and develop their confidence in performing drama.
Elements of spiritual education are integrated into our curriculum to bring religion into the classroom. We also focus on moral education, with the launch of the “Little Angel Programme”, to enable both children and parents to learn about their relationship with themselves, others, the environment and nature. In concert with our school mission to provide life education with Christian values, we help children develop positive behaviour and promote their whole-person development.
In the 2021-2022 school year, we have received a funding of $93,000 from the Quality Education Fund for the activity “A Different Life through Picture-Book & Drama Teaching”. Through picture book and drama teaching, as well as the “Little Angel” life experience programme, we nurture in children the virtues of “kindness”, “joy”, “peace, “gratitude” and “cherishing”, providing children with hands-on experience to explore, express and create, and thus achieving “A Different Life”.
We have experienced native-speaking English teachers and Putonghua teachers, whose mother tongue is Putonghua, to enhance children’s biliterate and trilingual abilities. Through engaging children in story-telling, games, singing sessions and other interactive, fun classroom activities, our teachers create an immersive language-rich environment to teach children phonics, vocabulary and sentence structures. Our English teachers also start conversations, share stories and draw with children in a natural setting during group sessions to strengthen children’s listening and speaking skills, and thus create an environment favourable for learning English.
We give children ownership over their play. Free play allows children to develop autonomy, problem-solving skills and creativity. Children are born to have an innate need to “play”. According to the Kindergarten Education Guide 2017 of the Education Bureau, children should have opportunities to participate in free play every day at school. In light of this, we provide with children a range of activities that allow them to learn through play in a rule-free, autonomous, unobstructed environment, such as “Fun Play Friday” and other fun activities. In free play, children can choose everything – they have the freedom to choose their play materials, set their own rules and choose who to play with. Free play allows children to unleash their creativity and develop problem-solving skills. It also helps develop their confidence and promotes their social skills.
The picture book teaching approach uses storybooks with attractive pictures and interesting content. By introducing the language use and the real-life themes in the book, children can develop a deeper understanding of the story. Children are then guided to write a play based on their life experiences. Our teachers infuse the drama teaching approach with the picture book teaching approach to nurture children’s listening, speaking, reading, writing, composing, speaking and acting skills, and develop their confidence in performing drama.
Children in each grade are asked to bring in objects related to a particular theme to show their peers, such as books, toys or everyday items. During the activity, they are encouraged to share their knowledge and experiences with their peers. The benefits of this activity are mainly to enable children to put their self-expression skills to use, develop confidence and a self-directed learning attitude.
“Arts and Living” invites children to explore and experiment with art. Children are encouraged to create their artwork using their knowledge and ideas. This learning mode that encourages self-discovery is effective in enhancing children’s interests in learning. A school-based art programme in support of art education was launched this year. The variety of training programmes equipped teachers with the necessary techniques in teaching children art and unleashing their art potential. Two children’s art exhibitions were held in the 2021-2022 year. An art gallery displaying the beautiful artworks of students and teachers, as well as the artworks created by both parents and their child, was set up on campus. We hope to infuse art into children’s everyday life, making their childhood colourful and nurturing confidence in them.
Children’s art exhibition at the 20th thanksgiving worship service
The Kindergarten Curriculum Guide (2017) suggests the importance of “Physical Fitness and Health” to children’s development. Physical fitness lessons taught by teachers who received relevant training are provided in our school to help children develop a strong, healthy body and to develop their interest in taking part in physical activities. Our students can take part in physical fitness activities on both indoor and outdoor sports grounds, which allow ample space for them to work their bodies and provide them with opportunities to get close to nature.