Pre-School and Kindergarten at PAIS, (Nursery, KG 1, KG2, and KG3) is a stimulating programme for young children from 2 – 5 years of age to help them develop and learn.
The programme has been designed to instill a positive attitude toward learning in a safe and relaxed, child-centered environment. Led by a team of experienced and dedicated Early Childhood specialists, the children ‘learn through doing’ to become active and confident participants in an immersive English environment. Through this carefully constructed learning environment the children are provided with an engaging and challenging range of learning experiences, designed for the development of social, cognitive, emotional, physical and creative skills. These are the key areas that reflect the development of the ‘whole child’, relating to all children, regardless of gender, background or culture.
Academically, language and literacy are placed at the center of our carefully devised Nursery and Kindergarten programme. This focus provides excellent opportunities for children to develop their language and literacy skills, often through song and movement. Each child will have multiple opportunities to communicate, collaborate, make choices, obtain and apply knowledge, and solve problems. The children also learn how to develop their mathematical and scientific ways of thinking, frequently involving physical activities; typically through trying things out and playing with ideas. Other subjects such as PE, Music and Thai also provide wider opportunities to learn and develop, and through inquiry-based exploration and play, the children develop important conceptual ideas about the world we live in.
As a whole each level of the programme provides a rich and productive educational experience for the children, for each stage of their development. As the children grow stronger, they become ready to take their place in the more formalized environment of the Grade 1 – 5 classrooms in the Primary section of the school.
The Primary years at PAIS, Grades 1 – 5, offer a vibrant learning child-centered learning environment, designed to enhance children’s curiosity and creativity and deliver a high-quality, and engaging international education.
During these vital years, we aim to meet the students’ learning needs through modern and innovative methods of teaching and learning. PAIS uses international curriculum standards to ensure that children are learning at an appropriate level throughout their time at our school. Each grade level is working towards specific educational objectives, as developed by international educational experts. The main core of our curriculum is based upon the standards for US Common Core State Standards for English and Mathematics, with an extra emphasis on reading, as that is the door that unlocks so much further academic success. In addition, students also learn Science, Thai, Physical Education (including swimming), Visual Arts, Music, Social Studies and World Languages (Chinese or Arabic). Each syllabus is carefully crafted, and reviewed annually, to expand opportunities for inquiry-based learning, personal growth and academic development, which connects students to the real world, and builds their conceptual understanding across all subject areas.
Rather than just delivering knowledge directly to children, we are committed to developing the students’ conceptual understanding. Conceptual understanding is important because it allows students to apply their skills and knowledge in new situations, to generate new ideas, and to find solutions to problems they’ve never encountered before. Students are guided to actively explore and discover for themselves to understand how things work, and why they are the way they are, rather than settling for superficial knowledge about names, dates and events.
The overall aim of the Primary years is to lay the foundations to support the students as they grow. This growth is defined in terms of being well-rounded, both academically and morally, and well-prepared for the challenges ahead in MYP (Middle Years Programme) and the IB DP (International Baccalaureate Diploma Program). This route is widely acclaimed to prepare students to succeed internationally at university level, in their careers, and in life.
