Curriculum

The Lower School offers both an International Pathway, with an emphasis on academic English, and a Bilingual Pathway, with an emphasis on both academic English and German.

Our holistic program balances the development of concepts, skills and character. We focus on the total growth of your child including their social, physical, emotional and cultural needs while offering academic excellence.

Guided inquiry, collaboration and communication are central to our approach to teaching and learning and we provide an environment for your child that fosters the development of problem solving and critical thinking while they master core subject content.

What will my child learn?

Assessment

Teachers use a combination of formative and summative assessments to gather data, inform their teaching, and monitor student progress. Formative assessments are ongoing and refer to a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson or unit. Examples of formative assessments include observations, exit tickets, daily work and individual conferencing. Summative assessments evaluate students’ learning at the end of a unit of study by comparing it to a teaching standard. Examples of summative assessments include end of unit projects or portfolios, end of unit assessments and standardized tests.

Literacy Assessment

Mathematics Assessment

Science and Social Studies Assessment

External Assesssments

Core Subjects - International

Literacy - Early Childhood

(Preschool to Kindergarten)

Literacy - Grades 1-5

Mathematics - Early Childhood

(Preschool to Kindergarten)

Mathematics - Grades 1-5

Science and Social Studies

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)

Personal and Social Education

Information Technology

Core Subjects - Bilingual

Literacy - Early Childhood (Bilingual)

Mathematics - Early Childhood (Bilingual)

Science and Social Studies (Bilingual)

Personal and Social Education (Bilingual)

Literacy - Grades 1-2 (Bilingual)

Mathematics - Grades 1-2 (Bilingual)

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Bilingual

Information Technology (Bilingual)

Single Subjects

German

Student Support

Inclusion

ZIS welcomes and celebrates diversity among our student population for the mutual benefit of all. We support an inclusive model of education that serves a managed number of students representing a full range of learning profiles including mild, moderate and intensive needs. The goal of our inclusive model is to provide high quality and challenging learning experiences purposefully meeting the needs of all learners. The whole community shares common rights and responsibilities, working collaboratively towards fulfilling the ZIS Mission, Learning Principles, and Character Standards.

See the Inclusion at ZIS document linked from the Community Portal in the School Service/Links section for more information.

The ZIS Student Support program provides support for students who can successfully learn in our school environment. Students are expected to meet curricular objectives, although these may be modified and tailored to suit the student’s specific needs and abilities. Student Support may include in-class support, individual or small group instruction, monitoring of students in the mainstream, and support for teachers in terms of differentiated instruction. Thus, emphasis is placed on a whole school approach, whereby teachers implement individualized strategies to help all students learn successfully. The nature and scope of such differentiated instruction varies with the age, diagnosis, linguistic background and abilities of the students.

ZIS tuition fees do not include charges or fees for any of the following which may be recommended or required by the school: more extensive diagnostic assessments, speech, language or occupational therapy.

Learning Support

Learning Support teachers collaborate with classroom teachers to support student learning. Learning Support is designed to provide support for students with diagnosed mild-moderate learning, attention and behavioral difficulties as well as students with identified short-term learning needs. Students are supported in a variety of settings and groupings, working on individualized goals aligned to their Individual Education Plan or their short-term learning needs.

English as an Additional Language (EAL)

The EAL program is designed to provide academic and social support for non-native speakers of English. The primary purpose of the program is to ensure that all students become proficient in English and achieve academic success. The EAL program helps students participate in mainstream classes to the best of their language proficiency. Therefore, language skills and strategies are integrated with content area and subject matter whenever possible. The second purpose of the program is to promote bilingualism and cultural pluralism. Based on the latest research regarding language and cognitive development, parents are encouraged to help their children maintain and develop their mother tongues. The diverse linguistic and rich cultural backgrounds brought to our school by the non-native English speakers enrich the learning opportunities for all students.

Students who are beginning learners of English need intensive support in order to:

learn basic survival English.
become oriented into a new school culture.
alleviate anxiety and frustration.
progress from basic survival English to more complex forms of academic communication to allow for success in mainstream classes.
develop confidence and independence.
receive appropriate academic and social support.

Students who are learning English are offered support in individualized or small group sessions or within the homeroom class, dependent on need. They are supported by both the homeroom teacher and EAL teacher.

Intensive Learning Provision

This provision is for students with intensive needs who have a diagnosed cognitive or developmental disability, medical need that requires modified and individualized curricular expectations, and functional skills development. Typically students have a mild to moderate learning disability that will require specialized instruction in functional academics, life skills, adaptive behavior skills, social skills and emotional support. Students have an increased staff/ student ratio and are in co taught classes, small groups or have individual teaching for most of their school day. Students have a modified programme offering the appropriate maximum level of inclusion in regular classes

Behavior, Social and Emotional Support

Within Student Support there is a structure to support students with behavior, social or emotional needs. This structure is overseen by the Counselors and Vice Principal in collaboration with the Student Support teachers and Homeroom teachers.

Home Learning

Children learn through play, community interactions and family life. They need balanced lives with free time and the chance to practise structuring their own time.

Due to this, the only regular home learning requirement is reading. Research supports a strong correlation between students who read regularly and their overall academic development. Reading at home includes – being read to, children reading by themselves or with parents, and children discussing the content of the text read.

Differentiated home learning tasks may be given based on specific educational need. The decision to give such individual tasks will be made by the teacher. Additionally, in order to support German language acquisition, students may be asked to engage in language practice or reading at home.

We encourage children to participate in the Swiss community, join our wide after school activities program, play sport, play an instrument, learn to swim, cook, shop with parents, discuss current events at home, visit museums and participate in cultural events.