Schools of Early Learning are now an International Baccalaureate Candidate School
Announcement posted by School of Early Learning 21 Mar 2018
The only childcare in Australia to seek this prestigious and rigorous international recognition
Schools of Early Learning: Moving towards International recognition
The WA Family owned and operated Schools of Early Learning (SOEL) have just announced that they are now an International Baccalaureate (IB) candidate school.
“This is a very exciting time for us as a family, for our wonderful educators and for the families and children who use our services”, said Dr Brett Thomson, SOEL Commercial Director.
“We are pleased to announce that Schools of Early Learning is a candidate school* for the PYP. We are pursuing authorisation as an International Baccalaureate World School. IB World Schools share a common philosophy- a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education- that we believe is important for our children.”
Dr Thomson says that the Schools of Early Learning will be the only Child Care Centres in Australia implementing the IB Primary Years Programme, and only the second in Australasia.
“Embracing the PYP continues our commitment to ensuring the validity and integrity of our pedagogical practice, making sure we can continue to offer world class Early Childhood Education and Care to the families of Perth.”
The International Baccalaureate provides SOEL with an international link to schools with similar educational philosophies, to educators researching children’s learning and to tools that strengthen educators’ abilities to listen to children, respect their dignity and rights, support their agency, nurture their curiosity, develop their resilience and enable them to take responsible, thoughtful action.
SOEL has a storied and deep history in Early Childhood Education and Care in Western Australia, with the matriarch of the family, Bernadette Giambazi, opening the first centre in Nedlands in 1974.
“It has been a long and fulfilling journey and we are always moving forward. Having the International Baccalaureate PYP programme embedded in every room at every centre gives us an additional recognition and validation in what we do, how we do it and indeed why we do the things we do.”
“We have always been very proud of our commitment to children and their families. Our vision is ‘Children breaking new ground’ and we help our children do that by really listening to them and promoting their Agency and voices in their environments. This is very much in-line with the IB philosophy, something that drew us to it in the first place.”
Dr Thomson says that undertaking the additional registration, accreditation and ongoing auditing that IB requires, will provide external validation of the quality of SOEL’s educational programme and overall pedagogical practice.
“These systems will help up demonstrate that the educational opportunities we provide are valid, reliable, current and rigorous. We are also advocating for the recognition of early childhood education and care services as a vital step in children’s learning, a point that is continuously supported in the current research. We will be the only Child Care in Australia offering the International Baccalaureate programme confirming our place as a world leader in Early Childhood Education and Care.”
“We are excited by the opportunities these initiatives provide SOEL to continue to strengthen our practice, and what this means for the children and families of WA who use our services”
* Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme (DP), or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes visit http://www.ibo.org.