Early Years Curriculum

At the Aga Khan Nursery School, Dar es Salaam our teaching is structured by the Early Years part of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP).  The PYP encourages children to actively learn about the social and physical world around them and to become active learners and enquirers.

The PYP recognises that young children need play to in order to explore, experiment, investigate and learn about relationships with others.  Children’s conceptual development, creativity and acquisition of knowledge are carefully nurtured and structured by the teachers by selecting activities and learning experiences for the children.  

The curriculum is carefully structured and planned to support children’s learning through a combination of teacher-pupil initiated activities and play.

We provide a balance between intellectual and social and personal character development.  Each is equally important for success and achievement in learning. Children develop their character and learn through planned and unplanned challenges. Character is an important indicator of success. At Nursery School children are warmly challenged and encouraged to problem solve and work through conflict to enable them to learn and mature.

Five essential elements are interwoven in the teaching and learning children encounter:

• Concepts - This involves how children think and learn about the world.
• Knowledge - At this stage what is worth knowing is defined by children’s interests, experiences and efforts to construct meaning.  Literacy and numeracy are developed in the social and physical environment.
• Skills - To be successful learners children must have skills that include: social, cognitive, research, self-management and communication skills.
• Attitude - A child’s positive attitude is an important indicator of success.
• Action - children need to demonstrate a sense of responsibility, respect for self, others and the environment.
  

Academic learning for young children at Nursery School is about them developing theories of how the world works by thinking, creating, experimenting, exploring and investigating.  We place an emphasis on developing literacy and numeracy along with the skills that are essential for successful adult life as a member of a family, workplace and community.

From the Nursery our children continue with the PYP programme when they progress to the Aga Khan Primary school.