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Primary Curriculum Overview
The Primary Curriculum is stage based, rather than age based, with all students working at their own pace along a continuum of learning from Early Stage One (Kindergarten) to Stage 3 (Year 6)
| Early Stage 1: |
Kindergarten |
| Stage 1 |
Year 1 and Year 2 |
| Stage 2 |
Year 3 and Year 4 |
| Stage 3 |
Year 5 and Year 6 |
Most students will be working towards the outcomes for their Stage. Some students will be working towards outcomes that are above or below their Stage.
The Australian (NSW) curriculum is divided into six Key Learning areas for primary education (K–6):
- English
- Mathematics
- Science and Technology
- Human Society and its Environment
- Personal Development, Health and Physical Education, and
- Creative and Practical Arts:- Visual Arts, Music, Drama and Dance
In addition,
- Languages other than English (Vietnamese)
- Global Studies – The contemporary world
- Vietnamese culture and people
The curriculum is organised on a transdisciplinary basis to ensure deep understanding and to make 'connectedness' of knowledge clear.
International and national testing
One of the most important questions for parents is always, “How is my child doing?”. A related question is “Compared to what?” . This is a particularly critical question for families away from home, where it is hard to know how systems and standards compare. AIS Saigon students sit the International Schools Assessment from Year 3, the Australian national basic skills testing in literacy and numeracy, and have the opportunity to sit international competitions. This provides benchmarking for contemporary teaching and learning programmes, as well as providing parents with an understanding of their child’s academic progress relative to their contemporaries internationally.
English language programme
AIS Saigon provides a unique English language immersion programme for non-English speaking students, with teachers acutely aware of the needs of both ESL and native English speaking children. For older children whose mother tongue is not English it can be daunting and challenging to be immediately placed in a mainstream classroom. Children learn best when they are happy, feel safe and are comfortable alongside peers. Our goal is to offer ESL students an intensive age-appropriate and ability-based class to gain English language acquisition more quickly and effectively so that they can enter the mainstream classroom with confidence and readiness to learn. The ESL students continue to have support when they join the mainstream class, through our individual ESL program, support lessons and differentiated teaching.
Students in Years 2 - 10 whose native language is not English sit an ESL test to ensure they are placed in the appropriate class.
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