Anglo PYP Curriculum Pack

How do we define curriculum at the Anglo?

A curriculum is an overall plan for learning that is broad, balanced and coherent. It describes the entire learning experience in a school.

(PYP: From principles into practice/Learning community/Glossary)

What is involved in curriculum design for PYP schools?

At a minimum:

Transdisciplinary programme of inquiry - a whole school vision for learning
Unit planning and reflecting
Subject concepts, knowledge and skills that support transdisciplinary learning and the development of conceptual understandings (Scope and Sequence documentation)
Creating inclusive and supportive learning environments
Designing and moderating assessment processes and tasks

Where does our curriculum come from?

The backbone of our curriculum is our Transdisciplinary Programme of Inquiry (POI) It was fully reviewed in May 2022 with the participation of all staff in the PYP section and following IB guidelines. Smaller changes and adjustments were made later during 2023 as we participated in the Transdisciplinary theme Pilot from the IB. Our POI is based on the Colombian National Curriculum guidelines and all our Scope and Sequence documentation.

Each subject area has a learning progression highlighting the progression and content for each area. Those have been collaboratively developed by the school, taking into account research in the field and best PYP practices

Mathematics: Comes from the Common Core Standards US and was cross referenced with PYP Scope and sequence.
Language - English: Was developed mainly based on the UK curriculum, adjusted to second language learners. Aspects of PM Benchmark were added and this was cross referenced with the IB PYP Language Scope and Sequence.
Language - Spanish: Follows guidelines from Colombian minister of education and cross referenced with IB PYP Scope and Sequence
Science, Social Studies, World religions, PE : Designed following Colombian requirements or “Derechos básicos del aprendizaje” and PYP Scope and Sequence. Designed according to the needs of our specific units of inquiry. We looked at some models from New Zealand, Australia and the US when designing outcomes.
Arts: Completely designed by our Arts team taking into account different curriculum standards, our units of inquiry and PYP Arts Scope and Sequence
Wellness: Designed at the Anglo based on our definition of high quality learning and teaching, IB guidance and Colombian requirements.
ATL: Designed at the Anglo based on IB guidance.

Colegio Anglo Colombiano - Programme of Inquiry

The work of Ernest Boyer (Boyer 1995) has been seminal to the development of the PYP. Boyer proposed that students explore a set of themes that represents shared human experiences. He referred to these as “core commonalities”. Debate and discussion, representing multiple perspectives, about this idea of human commonalities have led to the selection of six transdisciplinary themes that are considered essential in the context of a programme of international education.