Curriculum
We already talked a little about our curriculum and about the pedagogy which makes it unique. In your days and ours as learners, our teachers chalked and talked, and learning was focused on how much knowledge content could be absorbed. Today, at Kiddie Quest School, our pedagogy focuses less on the mass or volume of content, but on the depth of understanding and application of relevant content, teaching children to effectively apply knowledge through creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication, not just in the classroom, but in the world where they spend more of their time.
Academics are just a small part of what children’s learning experience should comprise. This, like other schools is something we practiced for a time, according to the dictates of society. Today, as a school, we are focused more on education than academics, as we appreciate that there are a number of skills that children need to survive and thrive in the real world. Developing these skills and attaining grade and age level-mastery requires more than just teaching subjects and achieving good grades, but by implementing carefully designed co-curricular and extra-curricular activities to enrich the overall learning experience of the children.
Nursery School
Our 4 classes of preschool implement a Hybrid Curriculum made up of a Montessori pedagogy blended with a typical EYFS (Early Years and Foundation School) learning curriculum designed to enrich the educational experience of the child. This allows our children to experience the fullness of a “practical-to-theory approach” to learning as well as the “Theory-to-practical approach”; they get the best of both worlds. A typical Montessori pedagogy focuses more on the development of practical and sensory skills which allow children to develop self-reliance and an ownership of their learning process.
The learning environment is designed to eliminate colours and aesthetics as these can be seen as distractive elements in a child’s learning. However, we have realized from research and experience that Maria Montessori never intended her discovery and development to become a curriculum but simply a teaching strategy that allowed teachers to reach learners who had certain difficulties meeting their milestones. We have therefore blended the curriculum such that our children achieve all the milestones laid out by the Montessori Method and those laid out by the EYFS, thus allowing our children benefit immensely from both worlds. At the end of Nursery school our children progress to Primary school as self-reliant, independent, self-confident and academically sound pupils.
Nursery school typically comprises the following cohorts:
- Practical Life
- Sensorial
- Art & Craft
- Cultural Life
- Language (Literacy)
- Mathematics (Numeracy)
Primary School
Our primary curriculum is also hybridized. It comprises the British (Cambridge) curriculum and the Nigerian curriculum. The pedagogy, however, is as important to us as the content. It is crucial for us to determine the more improved ways to continue delivering the content of the curriculum to ensure that children get the richest educational experience possible.
The goal, as we say here, is to uncover the curriculum and not just cover it. In the second term of Year 6 (May/June) our children sit for the Pearson Edexcel Examinations, conducted by the international examination body, Pearson Edexcel, and in the third term (July) they return to write the Lagos State Placement Examination conducted by the Lagos state government for all primary schools in Lagos. This examination allows our children to obtain the government issued First School Leaving Certificate, which is vital for any future intentions of being a part of government at the leadership level. Edexcel examinations are based on the British curriculum and our children begin their journey at the start of Key stage 2, in the Year 4 class.
Recess
Children are encouraged to observe recess either in-doors or outdoors. There are a number of play equipment placed in the safe play area for the much younger children, which the grassed field can be used by the older children for football, handball, other recess games and recreational activities.
Core 1 Cohorts
- Numeracy
- Literacy
- I.C.T
- Coding
- Robotics
- Science
Core 2 Cohorts (Humanities)
- History
- Christian Education
- Citizenship
- Geography
Enrichment Cohorts
- Music
- Art
- Yoruba
- French
- P.H.E