Primary

The junior phase celebrates childhood, full of expectation, excitement and inquiry, Sentinel Kalumbila School builds on the natural enthusiasm of children to ensure that all achieve their best. The pupils are encouraged to develop a love of learning. They experience the joy of aiming high and achieving well, both within the academic curriculum and beyond.

The junior phase has a challenging, broad and balanced curriculum. Emphasis is given to developing key skills in English and Mathematics. These act as a solid foundation for future learning. Subjects taught include Art, English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science, ICT, Physical Education, Music, Creative Technology Studies and Personal Social Health Education.

Each class is under the direction of a class teacher who takes academic and pastoral responsibility for the children in his or her class.

Careful assessment and monitoring ensures that each child fulfills her or his full potential. Teaching styles are dynamic and flexible to match individual learning styles and to develop a true love of learning.

Literacy

The study of English equips pupils with the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. We aim to engender a pupil’s love of English for its own sake, developing their confidence with, and enjoyment of, reading, writing and the spoken word.

Subject teachers assess the pupils in their speaking and listening, reading and writing through regular class activities. In addition, spelling and reading assessments take place annually. Handwriting is also monitored. Spelling tests and grammar and punctuation exercises contribute to the English diet. Questioning is a key aspect of regular lessons and the various texts remains the foundation for a variety of spoken and written work in Years 2 to 7.

In the senior classes pupils are encouraged to be creative in their written work, focusing mainly on writing with an intended purpose. Reading tests the pupil’s ability to comprehend surface and implicit meanings.

Across the school during English lessons, class discussion, individual, paired and group activities take place. As a school, we strongly believe in active learning. There is a focus on identifying and generating criteria for different forms of work, so that pupils have a ‘toolbox’ of skills from which they may select appropriately.

Mathematics

We believe that, Mathematics occupies a central place in the school curriculum. In teaching Mathematics, we aim at helping students develop knowledge of the subject and its use in everyday life and different subject areas. Mathematics is used to not only enhance the students’ understanding of the world around them but also prepares them for further education. At Sentinel Kalumbila School, Mathematics is recognized as one of the sciences and is used in everyday life, therefore, we portray it to our students as being practical and relevant in their everyday lives and it is integrated with other areas of the curriculum. Whenever possible it is linked to the students’ environment and their own experiences. It is through Mathematics that our students are being prepared to deal effectively with the varied transactions of everyday life and to make sense of the mass of information. It is essential, therefore, that our students see Mathematics as relevant to their lives.

At Sentinel Kalumbila, students are encouraged to develop their own Mathematical strategies for solving problems by using their knowledge of one area to explore another and enhance their growth of reasoning. Access to concrete materials that are considered necessary for students at all class levels from infants through to Year 7. Also, different techniques and strategies to take care of each student’s needs are employed, enabling them to be confident in manipulating numbers and be able to see patterns.

Science

Science helps pupils to unlock their full potential. Teachers use instructional strategies that require higher-order thinking skills to help students develop a deeper conceptual understanding of Science concepts. With the use of inquiry-based teaching and learning approach, our teachers assist students to discover and learn science concepts through a series of guided discussions, experiments, and hands-on activities. Our students work in collaborative groups to interactively solve problems and explore challenges. Our teachers use project-based teaching and learning approaches which builds student’s practical skills, problem solving skills and mental skills. Integrating Information and Technology Studies (I.C.T) in teaching Science allows collaboration between our teachers and students. Creating digital resources, presentations, and projects makes classroom activities resemble the real world.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Social studies provides coordinated, systematic study of History, Geography, Civic Education and Religious Education.

At Sentinel Kalumbila School, the purpose of primary Social Studies is to enable students to understand, participate in, and make informed decisions about their world. The teaching and learning processes within social studies are uniquely organized to develop these capacities beginning with youngest learners in our school.

We believe that social studies is important because it teaches students fundamental concepts of culture, economics and politics skills to groom them into educated, productive citizens. It also centers around understanding how the world works on a social level.