Cambridge Curriculum

Prime School International was one of the first schools to obtain the Cambridge Curriculum certificate in Portugal, together with the teaching equivalence of Portuguese Ministry of Education. This curriculum is considered by us to be the best that fits in with its philosophy, besides its international recognition and great prestige for its student-centered approach.

We have been following this teaching method since 2006, adding to the value of 21st-century education, the investment in the future of our planet through our students.

The Cambridge International Curriculum sets a global standard for education and is recognized by Universities and Employers worldwide. Our curriculum is flexible, challenging and inspiring, culturally sensitive, yet international in approach. Cambridge students develop an informed curiosity and a lasting passion for learning. They also gain the essential skills they need for success at university and in their future careers.

Aims

The overarching aim of the Cambridge Curriculum is to promote a high standard of British Education. 

• Over 10,000 schools in over 160 countries follow the Cambridge International Curriculum.

• The curriculum is international in philosophy and approach, but is flexible to be tailored to local contexts.

• Cambridge students towards Cambridge International qualifications, which are globally accepted and recognized.

• Cambridge students who move between Cambridge Schools, can continue their studies following the same Curriculum.

International Recognition

Over 1,400 Universities worldwide recognize Cambridge qualifications. They are accepted by all British universities, 600 American universities, as well as in many other leading academic destinations, such as Portugal, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, etc. Universities and Employers recognize their qualifications as evidence of academic achievement. They appreciate that the demand for our curriculum and the rigor of our assessments equip students with the tools necessary to flourish in Higher Education.

Preschool -  Start Of A New Life

This stage is about far more than colors and shapes, numbers and letters. This is the stage in which your child lays the foundations for academia, developing his/her independence, confidence, resilience and curiosity. It’s an exciting time for children and parents alike, as school life takes off.

Year 01 -  Light-Touch Learning & Plenty Of Fun!

Leaving Preschool behind and moving onto Year 01, can feel like a major step for a children and his parents. Your child’s Homeroom teacher is there to facilitate this transition, by supporting pupils and their parents. Year 01 teachers comment on how pupils return from their summer break appearing more grown up, wiser and ready for a challenge.

What Will My Child Do In Year 01?

This is the first year of the Cambridge Curriculum. Like all year groups, Year 01 has government statutory schemes of learning to comply with. All children are supported in their development and are given extra support and guidance if needed. There is a Year 01 phonics screening test in June, which helps your child’s Homeroom teacher to identify if he/she is secure in pronouncing and blending graphemes. It also detects if they can read phonically decodable words.

Don’t be concerned about formal evaluation: the Homeroom teacher will assess your child daily and will have identified any areas they need to focus on, well before the test date.

Your child has now entered an important stage of their Primary school experience: Key Stage 1 (KS1) and end-of-year attainment tests known as SATs (Scholastic Assessment Tests) which mark the end of their KS1 journey. It is an emotional time for many parents, as their child prepares for their first formal testing and reaches the end of his/her infancy. While you do need to be mindful of the objectives, it is also important to view it as the wonderful year that it is.

A fun year for your child. The intensity of Year 2 and the focus on grammar, arithmetic, and spelling will seem like a distant memory as the new term starts.

This stage marks the end of Key Stage 1, as your child enters Key Stage 2 and becomes a Junior. If they have attended an Infant school, this will also imply a move to a new school, where they become the youngest year group again.

Graduation to Junior status comes with new independence and responsibility. Many schools will have rules/traditions which apply only to the older half of their pupils. Sometimes this means a change in uniform, and often an earlier start or later finish to the day. It’s also likely that your child’s break times will change, increasing the time he/she spends in the classroom.

This is a year in which teachers work to nurture and encourage the feelings of independent thinking, learning and decision making. Pupils already know the routines for Juniors, they are conscious that they need to do homework and are expected to learn a lot during the year. They are usually autonomous in getting dressed. Read on for our guide to life as a parent of a Year 4 pupil.

This will be a calm and studious year. A year to embed all of the knowledge learned in the previous Key Stage. A year to start the preparations for the transition to secondary school. This is often a year when children mature quite quickly — sometimes even more so than in their final year in Primary. They gain greater independence and confidence from being given more responsibility in their learning.

Year 05 pupils are increasingly encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning: to do their homework, to pack their school bag, to remember their PE kits, developing a sense of responsibility and growing as a result. It is about encouraging independence in preparation for bigger things to come.

For even the most confident of 10-year-olds (and their parents!), the move to Year 06 can be a daunting time, but it really doesn’t have to be. Being in Year 06 truly is the most memorable time in your child’s Primary education. Year 06 is a key moment in your child’s life; they will develop more independence, a huge amount of resilience and, most importantly, it is a time of self-awareness of who they are, as both learners and young adults.

By the time your child is in Year 06, you’re both pros when it comes to homework schedules, PE kits, friendships and knowing the school building inside and out. The move to a completely new school in Year 07, with new rules, a new layout, dozens of unknown children (and seemingly almost as many teachers) can be unnerving; so, we will talk you through what is expected of both parents and children in the first year of Secondary school.

Relationship with the school, and what is expected:

• The parent/student-teacher/school relationship can feel different in Secondary school. Your child can be taught by up to ten teachers, so you are unlikely to feel you know them as well as their Primary teachers. Your child may find there are some whose style they prefer to others. Try not to be too concerned about this, as it is quite common;
• Your child will be taught by subject specialists who are passionate about their curriculum areas, so don't be surprised if he/she develops an enthusiasm for certain subjects;
• Form tutors (and heads of the year) have a pastoral role, although remember they will be subject teachers as well, so these should be your first port of call for general concerns;
• The school’s website has staff's contact details, and the best way to get in touch is often via e-mail. Subject teachers have full schedules, so may not get a chance to reply until the next day. We recommend contacting the school office if your case is urgent;
• Parents evenings are usually held once a year at Secondary schools, and consist of meetings with your child's teachers to discuss their performance and related issues, and your child is welcome to come along;
• It is important for parents to support and enforce the school's code of conduct and dress code, as this leads to a problem-free relationship for everyone.

For many students, it is only the first or second year of Secondary school, so the notion of studying is still somewhat new and unusual. No-one ever really sits you down and tells you exactly how to do it, so often you  can feel quite lost as to how to go about studying effectively, once your first set of big exams come around. I’ve put together a few tips on how to get the process rolling, and how to develop a stable, long-term, study regime, so you are capable of tackling the IGCSE and A Level exams successfully later on.

How Best to Start Studying?

• Start small: - Because you don’t have any major exams coming up just yet, you don’t need to give yourself a big workload or stress yourself out. Try studying lessons on a daily basis. A regular study in the evening after dinner and homework you finish your homework, pick a subject to try and study. Say you pick Irish, try and spend 20-30 minutes studying an irregular verb like “Abair” in the past, present, and future tense. Obviously only study something you’ve covered in class, there’s no point in tackling something new by yourself.
• Make a plan/timetable: - A study plan or timetable can make it much easier to study, especially before the exams. You can print out a template timetable here. Then fill in each empty box with the times you plan to study (try 20-30 minutes, e.g. 16:00-16:25) and the subjects you’ll study within those times on those days. This makes it easier to commit to studying a certain subject and you’ll save time too because you won’t be fretting about what to study next, it’ll be all laid out in front of you. It’s important to stick to the plan too so that you don’t miss out on studying a certain subject.
• Highlight/Underline: - This is a great way of helping you remember information. Buy yourself a nice bright highlighter and when you’re studying a certain topic, highlight the words or phrases you think are important. This will make the words jump out at you when you revise them next and you’ll remember them more easily. For example, if you’re studying Science, you would highlight a sentence such as “The normal temperature of an adult human body is 37⁰C”, so that this sentence and this piece of information will stick in your mind, because it’s an important thing to remember.
• Practice past exam questions: - This is a really important tip because testing yourself lets you see the topics you need to go over as well as to see if your study is paying off. In the 1st and 2nd year, I recommend just looking at the ordinary level questions.

Year 09 is a pivotal year at school for most young people. Many of them will be growing up through puberty and seeking greater independence from their parents. Within school, it will be the year when they will need to make choices about their education in relation to their further education and employment aspirations.

This information has been written to help young people, parents and teachers weigh up the opportunities and choices available at school from Years 09 to 11, thinking about ongoing study, qualifications, and employment whilst balancing the possible restrictions of having only half a working heart.

When reading this information it is very important to remember that every young person is different. They will all have abilities, challenges, and aspirations that are different from those of their friends. Every teenager should have an opportunity to reach their full potential. That potential is theirs, not their brothers’ and sisters’ or their peers’. Over their years in school, it is very important that everyone involved in their education looks at them as an individual and sets in place the support, opportunities and care that they need to achieve their very best. Every child should have an opportunity to reach their full potential.

Year 10 - Almost There

Our Year 11 students have now reached the most vital stage of their academic careers so far and it gives me great pleasure to be their Achievement Team Leader (ATL) to support and guide them on their journey to outstanding results and opportunities. I will look to continue the outstanding work that previous ATL have done I will expect students to continue their focus towards their studies with maturity, high aspirations, and commitment. Year 11 is one of the most exciting, challenging and important times in your child’s education. This year the students will continue in their journey to achieving IGCSE. The high standards of behavior and conduct, expected from all students at The Prime Schools, continue in Year 11. We expect Year 11 pupils to continue to follow the school Code of Conduct and ‘be in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.’ Students’ behavior and attitudes should reflect the importance of this academic year and should include outstanding attendance and punctuality, engagement in lessons, enthusiasm for learning and a keenness to improve. Year 11 students will also require some resilience – lessons will be challenging and will push students to reach their full potential. Students must learn that they will not always master and understand things the first time. They will make mistakes; it’s learning from these mistakes which will help them achieve their full potential. IGCSE pupils will be expected to extend their learning at home, particularly with practice exam questions and papers, and we thank parents for their support and encouragement with this.