Principles of education

Connecting learning

Simply memorising information is not the purpose of modern education. What a child learns must have meaning and practical application. For learning to be effective, it must be meaningful; pupils must understand what they are learning and why it is important. Only then can their intrinsic motivation be awakened, which is a guarantee of active lifelong learning.

Pupils need to think about what they are learning, to apply new knowledge in a contextual, complex way, often with a subject-specific overlap. In Key Stage 1, we set monthly themes that link the content of the curriculum into larger units in a meaningful and motivating way for pupils. At the second level, we teach in blocks, convinced that teaching traditionally divided into subjects, without interconnectedness, disconnected from the real world, and focused more on past knowledge, is outdated in today’s rapidly changing world and does not prepare students for the future. We have therefore constructed learning blocks that cover the key areas of social scientific knowledge of the world and focus mainly on the application of knowledge.

Experience is also important in education, a way of acquiring knowledge and especially skills. It is where the pupil shows creativity, initiative, overcomes obstacles and naturally makes mistakes. But also, and this is essential, he or she experiences success. Teachers in our school are partners for the children, their daily goal is not to give them maximum information, but to motivate them, to awaken their interest. The attitude that children develop towards school and learning is the attitude that will accompany them in the rest of their lives. It is undeniable that they will continue to learn in the future, and they need to see learning as something that is meaningful, something that brings pleasure, but also something that requires overcoming obstacles and perseverance.

Bilingualism

At our school English is not just taught in classes; students use it to communicate both in and outside their classrooms. They therefore have the ability to use the language in real-life situations. Through this process the students are able to gradually improve their English in an experiential way. Furthermore, the presence of English native speakers are both support and an inspiration for the students. English isn’t taught solely during English language classes, as a number of other subjects are taught in English from the first grade. We believe that there are ways to support learning of a foreign language, especially in English. Along with fluent conversations, students are led to understand the language through the study of various Anglophone cultures, literature and grammar. We have an extensive English library and an English drama club. We also offer various international study trips in English.

Students who join our grades during the school year can adapt to our style of English-language teaching very quickly. This is due to our individual approach and the fact that we divide the students into different study groups based on their progress in English. As a result, our students have high international exam achievement scores. These are taken at the end of the 4th and 8th grades.

Well-being

Maintaining a positive atmosphere and a friendly climate in our classes and school is our priority. As a result of this, we focus on the overall well-being of our students and staff in general. We perceive well-being to be of high importance to both studying and teaching. This is why we believe that both students and teachers can achieve their full potential only in a friendly and positive atmosphere based on trust and interpersonal relations. We strive to improve the well-being at our school through individual and daily approaches to students and teachers. This way, we can promote empathy, positive motivation, cooperation and an open-minded and friendly climate in our school.

Limited capacity in classes allows our teachers to take an individual approach to every student, thus making it easier to track the students’ progress while fullfiling their needs. We believe that verbal formative evaluations are the best forms of feedback a student can receive in regards improvement, as these give them the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and use them to further improve their results without having a negative mindset. Thanks to this, students feel safer and are motivated to search, try and apply their newly obtained knowledge and skills to future problems.

Regarding social skills, it is our responsibility to set desired positive patterns of behaviour which allows the students to resolve their conflicts or situations themselves. We value the importance of the students’ internal mindsets as they have to be aware of their own personal ambitions and internal motivations, while being able to prevent negative actions and reactions themselves.

Well-being in our school is also supported by the freedom students enjoy on our premises. They are able to take part in numerous activities across different grades. Furthermore, school-wide projects and activities promote cooperation between different age groups as well as building important friendships. Here, teachers are partners with the students, and mutual respect is essential. Teachers and students make sure that everyone adhere to the Codex of Magic Hil.