Academics
Quality Education
At Hurlyvale Pre-Primary School, the educational programme is designed around themes, encouraging and stimulating the children to learn about their environment through their natural enquiring and inquisitive minds.
At our school, we subscribe to two main Curricula, the CAPS, which is the Department of Education curriculum and the ISASA (Independent Schools Association of South Africa), which is the private school curriculum. We have used a combination of the two curricula, which we find gives us a sound foundation to build our own unique education programme. We also make use of the R Maths system, which originates from the Western Cape Department of Education as well as the Lego six bricks which is an excellent resource too.
We hear a lot about 21st century skills and developing these in our children. But what does this mean and how does it fit into our Curriculum? With the massive increased exposure to technology we are all experiencing, children need the skills to sort, analyse and understand vast amounts of data. Coding prepares them with these skills, allowing them to bring innovative solutions to life and prosper in a career that may seem far in the future, but the future is now! The world we live in requires creativity and innovation, it requires learners who are able to think and above all use technology. Our coding and robotics programme aims at preparing our learners to problem-solve, think critically, work in groups and function in a technologically driven world.
How does coding look in the Pre Primary/Pre School Phase? Although we will be using devices and systems to programme and build, coding starts way before we get to this stage. We have started with unplugged coding- that is coding without using any technology. We do this because there are certain concepts that a child needs to master before they can code using devices.
We use these six terms with our children and give them various activities to practise these concepts. Algorithm: which is giving an instruction to get a specific result. Sequencing: To complete a task in a specific order Loop: Something that gets repeated on a loop until the outcome is realised. Breaking up: Breaking up a problem into more manageable bits Branching: Following a route based on certain conditions De-bugging: Looking for problems and then fixing the problem
We always begin teaching any new concepts in a concrete manner and then move on to a semi-concrete manner. Only when we have done a lot of concrete exercises with our little ones, do we move on to actually designing and operating the Robotics sets.
Our coding and robotics programme aims at preparing our learners to problem-solve, think critically, work in groups and function in a technologically driven world.
In the Pre Primary/Pre School Phase, we will be using devices and systems to programme and build. Only when we have done a lot of concrete exercises with our little ones, do we move on to actually designing and operating the Robotics sets.