Pastoral Care

The Senior Primary is uniquely positioned between the initial learning years of the Junior Primary and the ‘polishing’ years preparing for Senior School. Our focus is on developing the whole person, producing confident and balanced young girls with assured identities. Through this approach, girls gain a sense of belonging, self-respect and dignity. Kingsmead has a comprehensive pastoral care system, ensuring that this criterion is met, through our initiatives such as LEAD (Leadership, Emotional and Academic Development), whereby each Grade 4-7 students is taken close care of, by a LEAD teacher. SEL (Social, Emotional Well-being) lessons form part of our curriculum too which brings opportunities to create emotional, social and spiritual interactions amongst our students.

Thinking in the Junior School

As an internationally recognized Centre of Excellence, Kingsmead College Junior School earned its status as an Advanced Thinking School from the University of Exeter (UK) in 2018 – the first in South Africa.

Our pedagogy is based on a Growth Mindset philosophy and teaching students cognitive tools that support their individual learning.

Our cognitive-education tool kit consists of:

  • 16 Habits of Mind

    Developing dispositions towards life-long learning

  • 8 Thinking Maps

    Using graphic organisers for effective thinking processes

  • Blooms’ Revised Taxonomy

    Practicing higher-order thinking skills

  • TASC – Thinking Actively in a Social Context

    Engaging in processes for collaborative problem solving

These tools are skills for life-long learning at school and beyond.

To find out more about this, please download our brochure

At Kingsmead we have based our philosophy of teaching and learning on latest educational trends, best practice and the evidence of proven pedagogies that align with our mission and vision for our students. Complimenting one another within the threads of our curriculum is influence from Habits of Mind, Thinking Maps, Harvard Thinking Routines, Carol Dwecks’s teachings on a Growth Mindset, Reggio Emilio and International Baccalaureate. Experiences lay the foundation for all future learning. Our unique approach to creating learning experiences is driven by recognising each child’s potential and knowing that each is a masterpiece.

In the Junior Primary the processes of learning and teaching is designed to recognise each individuals emergent pathways of development. Learning is supported and encouraged by allowing discovery, interpretation, play, curiosity and expression to take place. By offering rigorous opportunities to inquire and make meaning of the world around them, students begin to ask questions, compare, wonder, take risks, solve problems and come up with wonderous creations and ideas.

In the Senior Primary we have broken away from the traditional silos of content and isolated subjects, where instead a transformative emphasis is placed on the teaching of concepts and equipping of skills that are relevant and embedded within authentic contexts. A collaborative environment is encouraged by pairing complimentary subjects, such as Earth Sciences (Science and Geography) and English History (English and History) to expose our students to the world around them through a transdisciplinary approach. Through this we provoke reflection and thinking. We have specific Inquiry-Based Learning weeks, in which the traditional timetable is collapsed and students explore and investigate a concept, question or challenge and collaborate across all subjects. This continuous integration and connection of prior learning with new knowledge and experiences breaks beyond the boundaries of traditional learning, but rather supports and enriches learning.

At Kingsmead Junior School we encourage our students to have agency of their own learning and the view between student and teacher is viewed as a partnership. Students take initiative, express interest and wonderings, make choices and are aware of their goals as they actively engage, reflect upon and evolve their own learning.

  • 16 Habits of Mind

    Developing dispositions towards life-long learning

  • 8 Thinking Maps

    Using graphic organisers for effective thinking processes

  • Blooms’ Revised Taxonomy

    Practicing higher-order thinking skills

  • TASC – Thinking Actively in a Social Context

    Engaging in processes for collaborative problem solving

These tools are skills for life-long learning at school and beyond.

To find out more about this, please download our brochure

Technology

Technology plays a vital role in streamlining most aspects of modern day living and the need for an adequate understanding and utilisation of technology has become obvious from the early stages of our children’s development.
 

Technology in the Junior School

The Junior School is committed to advancing the use of technology and we are continuously reviewing the effective use of technology integration in our school. Our Junior School IT lab is equipped with HP Desktops, which operate on the Windows operating system, and is also fitted with a full bank of iPads which are utilised during Digital Literacy lessons. Our Junior Primary classes (Pre-Primary – Grade 3) are each supplied with a bank of school devices in order to integrate the use of technology across the curriculum to enhance the learning experience in the classroom. Teaching venues are all equipped with interactive whiteboards and data projectors to further enrich lessons and learning allowing our academic staff to incorporate online resources and activities during teaching. The Junior School offers computer-based learning and interaction from as early as Grade 0.

During Digital Literacy lessons, Microsoft Skills are covered extensively through project based activities, including Excel, PowerPoint, Word, as well as cross device application of skills on Apple iPads in the Senior Primary Phase. This enables the accelerated and progressive development of ICT skills in the Windows environment and using MS Office software and other applications. In addition, The Junior School offers computer-based learning with visually stimulating interactive e-Learning programmes such as ‘Read Theory’, ‘Sora’, ‘Reading Eggs’ and ‘Mathletics’, to name a few, which not only develops skills in Language, Mathematics and keyboarding, but also open students minds to learning through the use of technology. All Grade 4 – 7 students receive Microsoft Teams login credentials. Our staff and students are proficient in accessing all core notes, lessons and activities distributed via TEAMs and OneNote. Microsoft Teams allows students to easily upload assignments and work in one place, collaborate with peers during projects and assignments and learn and beyond the barriers of the classroom.

The inclusion of Coding across the grades in the Junior School is to encourage students to develop their computation skills; thinking both critically and creatively. Coding is introduced in the Junior Primary Phase using multiple coding devices, such as Bee Bots, Coding Mice, code-a-pillar, Sphero Balls, as well as unplugged coding activities and coding applications. Moving through to the Senior Primary Phase, our students are challenged yet able to write their own code using various platforms and coding devices made available. The benefits of integrating coding into our curriculum are endless; creativity, team work, problem solving and resilience. Grade 6 and 7 students are expected to bring their own iPads to school which are used throughout the school day. These devices have proven to enhance the learning experience and provide an invaluable learning tool for our students. All Senior Primary students have internet access and all devices are managed through our school firewall, which allows for safe monitoring of all students on campus.