The curriculum has been designed keeping in mind our religion and culture. It is based on the National curriculum but is blended with themes emphasized in the international curricula along with activities to promote physical and moral development so as to enhance tolerance and religious harmony. We have focused largely on English, Math, Urdu, Islamiat, Arabic, Fine Arts, History, Geography and the Sciences. We have introduced a system of result oriented exercises that are based on a scientific method. We focus on sensoral exercises, practical life experiences, reading and writing and exploratory talks to enhance the learning process.
Sensoral exercises: this entails building imagination and strengthening concepts with Montessori material to teach children to use their sense of touch, feeling, taste and smell as a key to basic understanding of reality. After the children have been initiated into the process of sensitization, we will reinforce this concept into higher classes.
Practical life experiences: Children learn freely with adult help how to become independent by practically doing small tasks such as buttoning, tying, cleaning, washing their hands, learning to keep things in their proper place e.t.c. They are taught etiquettes and good manners keeping in mind our Islamic values.
Math: Children are taught how to perform counting, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division exercises with the help of Montessori mathematical material such as rods, beads, spindles, cubes, cards and counters which teach them to visualize the whole structure of the numerical system. The computer is used as a tool to enhance their interest in math and to provide mathematical games and challenges.
English Language: Children are provided with worksheets and work books to encourage reading and writing. Word games, focus on phonetics, pictures and shapes, digital books, computers are used to synthesize the knowledge of English Language and Literature.
Geography:The child's attention is brought on maps and globes. Experiments are conducted to show different natural phenomena like flooding, volcanoes, rain e.t.c. An awareness of different cultures is presented through photographs, maps, folk tales to illustrate the needs and characteristics of different people to help the child appreciate talents and beauty of diverse cultures.
History: The children show a special interest in history and they certainly need to learn lessons from it. We have comprehensive texts that focus on primarily Pakistan's history and also some world history.
Islamiat: We have excellent teachers for Islamic studies who integrate worksheets with duas, ahadith and Muslim stories and songs in the Islamiat curriculum in order to increase the knowledge of children and to motivate them to become good, Muslim human beings.
Urdu: This subject is paid a lot of attention as it is the mother tongue of Pakistan. We try to retain the purity of Urdu and discourage mixing of languages. Special attention is paid to accent and sentence structure.
Arabic: Arabic is introduced at the level of grade 5. We are currently following the syllabus provided by the Punjab Board.
Music/Art: Poems, nursery rhymes and songs enable the child to learn in a joyful environment. The society of Choti Zereen is art based and the children of this region take a special interest in all art based activities.
A scientific system of reporting the progress of a child on a monthly basis has been devised. Reports are based on:
Auditory discrimination
Auditory memory
Visual discrimination
Visual memory
Visual perception
Phonological awareness
Word finding
Verbal comprehension
Semantic knowledge
Grammar(syntax and morphology)
Social communication
Spatial awareness
Gross and fine motor skills
Text book knowledge
FOCUS ON SPEECH AND COMMUNICATION
A team at the Open University, led by Professor Neil Mercer, now of University of Cambridge, investigated collaborative talk in the late 80's amongst children. The research showed that the talk between kids was not productive. This is a problem amongst many children as well as teenagers today. We plan to work on the communication skills of children on several levels keeping in mind certain modules that are often neglected. Exploratory talk would be encouraged with the expectation of challenge where the competition is between ideas not individuals. Long exchanges between students leading to the children giving their views and seeking them from other kids will enhance their communication abilities and give rise to speculative abilities.
FOCUS ON CREATIVE WRITING
The general trend in modern education is creativity. It is this aspect of a person that has led to inventions and great new technology. We encourage the child to dream and imagine; to think like no one else has; to be pioneers in this World. We have introduced creative writing journals in English Language to augment the imagination, self expression and writing skills of students.
HOW INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY CAN BE USD AS A TOOL FOR EDUCATION
ICT has become one of the basic building blocks of modern society. It can play an effective role as part of the core of education, alongside reading, writing and numbers. ICT can help young people in playing a positive role in modern society and enable them to contribute to the nation as responsible and valuable citizens. If ICT is successful in developing software and material to enhance and assist education according to the culture, national sentiments and religion of a country, it is a fantastic tool in the field of education. It can revolutionalize the existing system of education in Pakistan by the introduction of multi media, e-learning and distance education programs. How ever, it can only be successful if a comprehensive program is designed for the professional development of teachers also. We have developed a system whereby training of teachers becomes an ongoing, consistent process. Our teachers shall be in constant touch with new methodology of teaching, improving class instruction, organization, evaluation and enhancement of creativity.
INTERNET
The internet is a driving force for development as well as innovation in most countries. It exposes people to all sorts of cultures and programs designed for the uplift of educational schemes. It is used as an effective medium to enhance the knowledge of the child. This means that the students of this school are exposed to concepts of science and technology which they would other wise have difficulty in comprehending. Imagine them watching the heart beating and pumping blood rather than just reading about the cardiovascular system of the human body.
AUDIO VISUAL AIDS TO COMPLEMENT THE CURRICULUM
A DVD collection in the library is used to complement the content of the textbook. This collection has been taken from The National Geographic and B.B.C documentaries. It has been studied carefully before integration into the curriculum. The topics of this collection range from natural phenomena to ancient civilizations; life in the ocean to space and the secrets of the universe.
