BROADHURST PRIMARY SCHOOL Claimed

Vision

The leading Thinking School that creates, together with the family, a caring, collaborative environment of learning and experience in which every child reaches and expands their potential and has the courage to make a difference in the future.

Mission

To deliver a progressive, holistic education applying Thinking Tools and methodologies to create critical thinkers who are reflective and responsive to global changes and trends.

Philosophy

The School’s philosophy is driven by its vision statement and revolves around the principle that all children are different. They have different personalities, different abilities and different backgrounds. Lesson material and lessons themselves are aimed at the different levels of competency within the classroom. The material presented is skill-based and the children are taught critical thinking strategies from a very early age. The emphasis is an interactive, child-centered approach with the teacher as facilitator. At all times the teachers are encouraged to use the varied resources at the school to enhance the delivery of the lessons. All children are allowed to work to their maximum ability. The teaching methodology at Broadhurst School is dynamic and up to date and reports indicate that our children have no difficulty in making the transition from one school to another throughout the world.

Broadhurst education is “skills” based and apart from the basic skills of Number, Reading and Writing, children are taught critical thinking skills, which involve a variety of cognitive processes. The emphasis of the school is not on providing children with volumes of facts but rather to equip the children with the skills to identify critical information, record it effectively and apply it appropriately. In Mathematics, carefully prepared material, along with skilled facilitating, allows the child to develop mathematical concepts and strategies.

The children are required to be respectful, polite and courteous. The children are expected to wear the correct uniform at all times and to adhere to the rules of the school. It is only within a friendly, happy and disciplined environment, that effective learning can take place. Children are different and the diverse curriculum at the school allows for this difference. The Afternoon activities programme allows the children access to a diverse range of activities.

Values

The Broadhurst Family

Child-centred, caring: nurturing, community, togetherness, collaboration, global citizen, sustainability.

Integrity

Accountability: introspection, honesty, transparency, self-discipline, reliability.

Passion

Fun, delight, adventurous, fanatical, enthusiasm, commitment, internal motivation.

Excellence

Quality, educating, diligence.

Diversity

Open-mindedness, tolerance, inclusion, appreciative of differences.

Thinking Skills & Child Development

Supplementary to the curriculum, the Skill Coordinator for BPS ensured the implementation of the following Thinking Skills throughout the curriculum.

The Thinking skills on offer are:

• Dr De Bono’s Thinking Tools and Six Thinking Hats
• Dr Hyerle’s Thinking Maps
• Carol Dwerk’s Growth Mindsets

The Six Thinking Hats method is based on world authority Dr. Edward De Bono’s extensive experience of the teaching of thinking across different ages and abilities. Essentially the Six Thinking Hats is a simple concept which allows the thinker to do one thing at a time. The child is able to separate emotion from logic, creativity from emotion and so on. The Six Thinking Hats give children new choices, and helps them to make better and faster decisions. This method can be used by groups of children to explore issues and possibilities in a constructive and collaborative way. The Six Thinking Hats are life-long thinking tools that encourage the child to think comprehensively, productively and creatively in a rapidly changing world.

Hyerle’s Thinking Maps have been developed as a visual teaching tool and are based on thorough and well accepted academic study and cognitive research. Eight map types provide a common visual thinking language and develop specific cognitive processes that can be applied to all curriculum areas by all ability levels. The Thinking Maps enable the child to transform information into knowledge, think and reason with depth, and directly apply their thinking to complex tasks.

Mindsets have been introduced.

External assessment of pupils: The School subscribes membership to the IEB/ACER that annually offers International Benchmark Tests (IBTs), which our pupils write in Standards Three, Six and Seven. These Australian based IBTs are used globally to assess English, Mathematics and Science. Other subjects taught at the School include Social Sciences, French, Setswana, Conversational Setswana, Music, Computing and Physical Education.

Broadhurst School has initiated an ongoing expansion and upgrading programme. The fully air-conditioned facilities include an Audio Visual room, a Computer Laboratory, 16 newly renovated classrooms, an impressive Library, an indoor Sports Hall and Main Hall, Science Laboratory, a Music Room, a Language Block, an Occupational Therapy Room and a Learning Support Room. The Sports facilities include an 8 lane swimming pool, netball/tennis courts and a fully-grassed field.