Curriculum Overview
The Pasadena curriculum is built around all students having a range of opportunities to learn with an emphasis on the basics and a strong focus on high levels of achievement to nurture personal excellence.
Overview
The NZ Curriculum provides the learning framework for all schools, irrespective of type, size or location. It gives each school the scope, flexibility and authority to design and shape its school curriculum so that teaching and learning is meaningful and beneficial to its particular students and community.
In turn, our School curriculum allows teachers to make interpretations in response to the particular needs, interests and talent of individuals and groups in their class.
Conceptual Approach
At Pasadena, we teach through a conceptual approach across all subjects in the school. Concept-based learning focuses on the development of transferable ideas (concepts are drawn from a topic or process that can transfer to new situations and contexts).
Inquiry positions the student at the heart of learning, nurturing curiosity and developing essential skills such as questioning, thinking, investigating, analyzing, and generalising (making statements based on understanding). Students are encouraged to make connections based on their prior experiences, seeking patterns and relationships that will inform and extend their thinking and understanding.
An inquiry concept-based classroom moves away from traditional methodologies of coverage and memorisation with a refined focus on thinking and applying new knowledge and understanding
A copy of our Conceptual Curriculum is available here. In addition to these Units of Inquiry, we continue to deliver subject specific curriculum material as necessary.
This framework is supported by the Key Competencies:
- Managing self
- Thinking
- Participating and Contributing
- Using language, symbols and texts
- Relating to others
