Our School
Junior School
Academics & the IB PYP
Glenlyon Norfolk School is proud to be authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5.
As an IB World Continuum School, we focus on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside. The PYP is an enriched, highly rigorous programme that meets every student where they are and challenges them to do their very best. It reflects well the school’s mission statement: “To challenge and support our students to do their best through truth and courage in learning and in life.” Educating the whole student, the PYP encourages the development of body, mind and spirit in every student.
The IB Primary Years Programme at GNS provides a framework for the delivery and enrichment of the BC provincial curricula. In addition to meeting the province’s learning requirements, the IB PYP encourages a positive attitude to learning by engaging students in meaningful, in-depth inquiries. Students develop an awareness of the process of learning so that they become life-long learners, going beyond traditional subjects into real issues, emphasized through the attributes of the Learner Profile.
At the Junior School, sustained inquiry forms the centre piece of the curriculum. We use structured inquiry into both established bodies of knowledge and complex problems. With this approach, prior knowledge and experience establish the basis for new learning, and students’ curiosity provides the most effective provocation for learning that is engaging, relevant, challenging and significant. The nature of the entire program is transdisciplinary; a key concept is explored across numerous subjects through a variety of different lenses.
The IB Primary Years Programme at GNS provides a framework for the delivery and enrichment of the BC provincial curricula. In addition to meeting the province’s learning requirements, the IB PYP encourages a positive attitude to learning by engaging students in meaningful, in-depth inquiries. Students develop an awareness of the process of learning so that they become life-long learners, going beyond traditional subjects into real issues, emphasized through the attributes of the Learner Profile.
At the Junior School, sustained inquiry forms the centre piece of the curriculum. We use structured inquiry into both established bodies of knowledge and complex problems. With this approach, prior knowledge and experience establish the basis for new learning, and students’ curiosity provides the most effective provocation for learning that is engaging, relevant, challenging and significant. The nature of the entire program is transdisciplinary; a key concept is explored across numerous subjects through a variety of different lenses.
List of 5 items.
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English Language Arts
The development of language is essential to communication as it supports and enhances a student’s ability to construct meaning. Language plays a key role in providing students with the intellectual framework to support conceptual development and critical thinking. At GNS, students engage in daily, meaningful and developmentally appropriate literacy experiences that support their growth in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Language is viewed as a vehicle to support inquiry so, where appropriate, it is integrated into our units of inquiry. -
Additional Languages: French
All students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 5 participate in French classes. Students develop their interpersonal communication skills in an immersion-style environment. Where appropriate, French is integrated into our units of inquiry.
In Junior Kindergarten, Kindergarten, Grade 1 and 2, the focus is on acquiring speaking and listening skills. Reading and writing are introduced in Grade 3 and further developed in Grades 4 and 5.Junior Kindergarten 40 minutes per week Kindergarten 40 minutes per week Grades 1 & 2 70 minutes per week Grades 3 to 5 105 minutes per week -
Mathematics
Mathematics is a highly effective tool used to describe and analyse the world around us and to solve problems. Students need to be competent users of the language of mathematics and see it as a way of thinking as opposed to a series of facts and equations to be memorized. Mathematics is viewed as a vehicle to support inquiry so, where appropriate, it is integrated into our units of inquiry. Specific instruction and exploration in the five strands of mathematics occurs as both part of our mathematics program and through our Programme of Inquiry: Number; Measurement; Patterns and Functions; Data Handling; and Shape and Space. -
Science and Social Studies
All Science and Social Studies is taught through our Programme of Inquiry. Science is viewed as the exploration of the biological, chemical and physical aspects of our natural world, and the relationships between them.
Social Studies guides students towards a deeper understanding of themselves and others and of their place in an increasingly global society. It provides opportunities for students to look at and think about human behaviour realistically, objectively and with sensitivity. Our faculty teach Science and Social Studies in context, exploring content relevant to students. The six Transdisciplinary Themes provide the framework for a highly defined, focused, in-depth Programme of Inquiry. -
Information Technology
Technology is used in the Junior School to enhance learning for our students. We use iPads to challenge students to extend their learning in a variety of ways. In Grades 3, 4 and 5 this year, each student will be issued with an iPad for their exclusive use for the year.
Glenlyon Norfolk School
Junior School (JK to Grade 5)
Middle (Grade 6 to 8) and Senior (Grade 9 to 12) Schools
We wish to acknowledge and respect the Lekwungen-Speaking Peoples on whose traditional territory we stand, and the Songhees, Esquimalt and Wsáneć Peoples whose historical relationships with the land, where we live, work, play and learn, continue to this day.
