The best of tools don’t just shape and chisel, but also refine the coarsest of granite.
Welcome to the Early Learning Center at Api School. Our approach to education of young children recognizes the potential and ability of children to communicate their understandings and inner thoughts and feelings using many diﬀerent languages, a ‘hundred languages,’ a metaphor, as ways of expression which may include words, movement, painting, drawing, sculpture, shadow play, music, dramatic play, reaching beyond dominant conceptions of language. We hold the image of the child who possesses innate curiosity to wonder and to ask questions, who searches for meaning and the interconnectedness of their surroundings and experiences. We endeavor to foster children’s learning through the development of all their
‘languages’ which are expressive, communicative, symbolic, cognitive, ethical, metaphorical, logical, imaginative, and relational by creating an environment to support this way of thinking.
We believe such a perspective renders the education of and scholarly study of young learners through their languages, thoughts, actions and interactions as vantage points to emphasize and to focus on the ever recyclable human resources of listening, curiosity and imagination to enable literacy and language for all participants of a learning community.
The fresh outlook on the minds and messages of children inspire the adults constantly. As the children help us reframe “Worlds” and “Words,” it is our hope in our Early Learning Center that we continue to co-construct spaces for learning for speakers of every conceivable ‘language’ and for each to recognize and build on such experiences across the life span.
Api has Learning Support Programmes to ensure that help is at hand for pupils who need it. These programmes, which provide learning support for pupils who enter Grade 1 with either weak literacy or numeracy skills, ensure that pupils are able to keep up with core subjects like English and Mathematics. Learning Support Programmes include daily lessons with smaller groups of pupils taught during morning or evening hours by specially trained teachers. These programmes use structured teaching approaches that meet the learning needs of these pupils.
Evaluating progress is essential to staying on target. Most schools rely on traditional educational methods of giving tests periodically to evaluate what children have learned. At Api, we opt for broader areas of assessing and evaluating a child’s progress to reach a speciﬁc goal, evaluation is simpliﬁed: “Did we get from Point A to Point B? If not, let’s ﬁgure out why, make adjustments, and try again. If so, let’s move on!”
Most of our evaluations are based on observation and reﬂection, an everyday, ongoing process. In addition to observation, our children’s progress is being monitored constantly at school, through the steady stream of homework assignments, quizzes, tests, projects, record of behavioral changes and standardized tests.
We use standardized tests because they are required to gauge a child’s periodic educational progress. We are aware, however, that standardized tests can only measure how well our children score on subject matter taught in the school. Standardized tests are also primarily an indication of how much a child has memorized, not an indication of his ability to learn. Finally, a standardized test is not always an eﬀective tool for setting goals! Three major tests are conducted in each semester in addition to unit tests. Prior to giving Semestral Examinations students undergo MOCK Exams to be familiar with the formatting, and pattern of test and subdue the phobia for test.