In this blog, l’m excited to share with parents about rigour – one of the 3 elements in Kindity’s Humane curriculum framework. For us, rigour is key to making sure that our kids are learning and challenged continuously, and appropriately supported to achieve their academic potential. This rigour however, will only be meaningful if it is self-motivated, where kids understand and see the value in doing well academically.

“rigour… only be meaningful if it is self-motivated, where kids understand and see the value in doing well academically.”

 

Our curriculum integrates academic learning and character-building right from the start, through all age groups including the the Key Stages. We believe that academic success must start from the learners having the right attitude for learning, and the right skills to flourish in a learning community. This not only sets the foundation for learning but complements and reinforces meaningful learning. Since we started our very own Global Citizenship Programme in August last year, kids have been putting these values into practice in the classroom, and parents have also shared stories of their children displaying these values at home and in social settings.

In Term 2 (December to March), our goal is to see a meaningful development of rigour in all the academic areas, especially for the Kindy and Key Stage kids. By documenting, tracking, assessing, and reflecting the kids’ progress with them, Coaches can make sure that lessons continue to be relevant and effective, and they are able to timetable for effective learning support for those who need help.

For the younger kids (Pre-Nursery to Nursery 1 & 2), we do lesson planning from a reflective perspective to ensure that goals set at this level is realistic and relevant. Rigour for the kids includes conducting baseline assessment using our child development observation technique for a new child, setting weekly learning goals, tracking goal attainment in developmental areas like physical, socio-emotional and cognitive skills, as well as the core subjects English, Mandarin, Malay, Math, and Science.