Junior Phase Orientation

Information for Prospective Parents

Unified Approach

Our collaborative approach emphasises the vital partnership between our school team and parents. Working together ensures that each child’s unique needs are met through an integrated approach involving teachers, therapists, and families. This unified approach fosters a supportive environment where every child can thrive.

Our objective is to build a strong foundation for learning and encourage personal, social, and emotional development by creating a happy, non-threatening, and positive school environment. We focus on developing each pupil’s potential so they are empowered to become the best they can be.

Our team approach consists of qualified, highly skilled, dedicated, and caring personnel who, together with our parents and guardians, are passionate about making a difference for each child. Our team consists of:

  • Class Teachers and Assistants
  • Occupational Therapy Assistant
  • Speech Therapist
  • Music Therapist
  • The executive team

 

Parents and teachers form the core of a child’s support team, working in close partnership to nurture the child’s growth and development. Parents provide essential insights into the child’s unique needs, experiences, and strengths, while teachers apply their expertise to create an educational environment that fosters learning and progress. Together, they make a cohesive support system that ensures the child receives consistent guidance, encouragement, and care at home and school.

Curriculum

We strive to establish a fundamental grounding in Numeracy, Literacy, and Life Skills. We aim to encourage independence in various basic daily living skills, such as dressing, personal hygiene, cookery, organisational skills, and communication.

The Junior phase curriculum follows the Differentiated Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (DCAPS). This flexible curriculum focuses on core skills: English, Mathematics, and Life Skills. A complete perceptual programme that establishes the pupil’s readiness for formal learning is embedded within our teaching.

Our curriculum includes the following:

English Curriculum

Language is a tool for communication. It is also a cultural and aesthetic means commonly shared among people to make better sense of the world they live in. Learning to use language effectively enables pupils to acquire knowledge, to express their identity, feelings and ideas, to interact with others, and to manage their world. It also provides pupils with a rich, powerful and deeply rooted set of images and ideas that can be used to make their world better and clearer than it is.

Specific skills:

  • Listening and speaking
  • Reading and viewing
  • Handwriting and writing
  • Language structure and conventions

Mathematics curriculum

The Mathematics curriculum teaches knowledge and skills in the classroom and applies them in the real world.

Specific skills include the following:

  • Numbers, operations and relationships
  • Patterns, functions and algebra
  • Space and shape
  • Measurement
  • Data handling

Life Skills

Life Skills as a subject aims to guide and prepare pupils for life and its possibilities, including equipping them for meaningful and successful living in a rapidly changing society.

The learning programme includes:

  • Health promotion
  • Social development
  • Personal development
  • Physical development and movement
  • Functional communication
  • Personal hygiene
  • Functional life skills
  • Organisational skills
  • Art and crafts
  • Science and Geography

Sport

Our sports programme is incorporated into the school day.

IDP (Individual Development Programme)

An IDP consists of four individualised goals for each pupil. The goals are chosen to have the most significant impact on learning and are divided into short-term and long-term goals. These goals are followed over a year. Feedback is given through a “Learning Journey” and review meetings at midyear and year end. IDP goals are revised collaboratively by the parents and teachers.

Assessment

Assessment in the Junior Phase is school-based and continuous, informed by the DCAPS assessment criteria. Detailed reports based on the DCAPS assessment criteria are shared with parents at the end of the second and last terms.

Homework

Homework may be given at the teacher’s discretion, Mondays to Thursdays.

  • Pupils receive readers for reading as well as sight words for homework each day. Parents need to listen or share the reading experience with their child in a positive way. We try to encourage the pupils to read as much as possible.
  • Pupils will be given pragmatic activities, including practical exploring within their immediate environment.

Uniform

  • The pupils must wear the correct school uniform daily unless otherwise stipulated by WhatsApp, email, newsletter, and term plan.
  • Attention to appropriate grooming and wearing of the correct uniform encourages self-respect and discipline.

Excursions

  • Day trips will be organised during the term and will relate as closely as possible to the theme being taught.
  • Shopping outings are encouraged to address money-handling skills and good social skills.

Morning Duties

  • Teachers are on morning duty from 07h00 – 07h45. The junior pupils gather in the reading room before school.

Communication

  • Class WhatsApp groups are established for general communication about classroom and school activities. For more personal matters, please contact the teacher privately.
  • Open communication is essential. If a problem occurs, it is important for parents to discuss the issue with the teacher. If the problem is unresolved, the deputy or HOD is then the next step, followed, if need be, by a discussion with the principal.

Therapy

All therapy in the Junior phase aims to develop the optimal functionality of each pupil. Included in the school fees are group Speech Therapy sessions, group Occupational Therapy sessions, and Music Therapy sessions. All other therapies can be arranged with individual therapists at their private fees.

Partnerships

The unified approach of parents and teachers working together forms the cornerstone of a child’s success. Combining their unique insights and expertise creates a cohesive support system that nurtures the child’s academic, social, and emotional development. This partnership ensures that every child is given the guidance, encouragement, and resources needed to reach their full potential, fostering a well-rounded, confident, and capable individual. Together, parents and teachers empower pupils to reach their full potential, both in school and beyond.

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