International Primary Curriculum - anyones childs school follow this?

[asecretlemonadedrinker]

I have moved and am moving DSs school in Sept. It's a brand new school (sept 2010) and very forward thinking (IMO) and we went to a parents talk tonight and were told they were going to follow IPC. I had never even heard of this. Any opinions on IPC? Anyones childs go to a school where they follow this? Thanks :)

I think that DD's school do for part of the time. They have renamed it "discovery time" and it seems that a lot of the teaching is topic based an involves a mixture of subjects all at once. For instance they did chocolate and got geography, history science, design, etc into the topic which lasted for a half term. I was a bit dubious at first but it seems to be working well and the children enjoy it.

Sounds like the topic based approach we used when I started teaching 25 years ago (which children responded to very well and were far more motivated than with the traditional subject based apporoach the National Curriculum pushes.)

So now it's a new fangled forward thinking method is it?

The words reinventing and wheel come to mind

OK, so I admit I'm biased. We use it and, as a teacher, I loathe it. But you're a parent and, if your children's teachers are able to make it work and the school has sufficient funds in its budget to finance the 10 grand or so it has cost us to run themes which are badly-planned and thin versions of things which most good teachers have been doing for years, then fine.
Knowing what I know about it from the chalk-face, no I would not be happy if my DC's primary school had introduced it while they were there. Thankfully, they're past all that now.

Ours is using it and it seems to work well. The whole school seems to do the same topic each term, and a lot of the lessons are connected to that. I like the fact it links to the real world, connects education to something real so that the kids can see relevance in what they're learning. DS's teacher's very pro. I can see that lots of good teachers do something similar in a smaller way already, but it seems a good way to have a school work together and share ideas/ resources.

Thanks for the replies. I think I understand what it is now, it seems to make sense and it's how I 'teach' DS at home. I am nervous though as it seems to be so new and pretty untested.

I remembered this:

www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/The-International-Primary-Curriculum-6044216/

Tells you far more about it.

Ours uses it. Each year does a different topic each term. For us it only takes up a bit of the day, the after lunch time, so it doesn't alter the literacy and maths time. It's not new, it was created by Shell international schools I believe. It doesn't look particularly original but I guess our management likes it as we have lots of new teachers with no resources. They are very keen on the 'hook' idea to start new topics off.

Call me a cynic but am not sure that being "keen on the hook idea" quite justifies the expense of this scheme.
You can think of a "hook" quite easily yourself for free.

new teachers with no resources !!
All we had 25 years ago was our own ingenuity and a smelly bander machine but we seemed to cope quite well.

Yes, well, I agree. Frankly our management are shite and imo throw money away rather than use any imagination. But maybe other schools do better with it. I can't see why anyone with half a brain cell needs a preset curriculum. Are teachers really too busy with paperwork to put together their own themes? It's depressing.

Dear MumsNet contributors,
I am a mum and I taught the IPC for several years before joining the organisation. I joined the IPC because it made such a difference to the children I taught. The IPC is an exceptional way for children to learn if teachers and schools use it in the right way. In reference to letseatgrandma, the IPC is not restrictive. Schools have total freedom to use or adapt the learning tasks in a way that is best for their children and their school. Some schools do use it better than others, it?s true, But when used well, the IPC engages children and ignites their desire to learn and because of this and because of its rigour, the IPC has received a lot of very good recognition from Ofsted. You may find the IPC website helpful for more information and for ideas of how schools all over the world are using it to help children learn. The web address is www.greatlearning.com/ipc. I hope this helps.

We use it at the primary school I am a governor at and it has been a real success. Yes we have found that a couple of the projects are a bit "thin" but the staff have augmented the information and it has worked very well. The pupils like the cross curriculum approaches and it has improved extended writing in pupils a lot, as well as their investigative skills.
I am sure that it will work with some schools and not with others, so it is probably a matter of sucking and seeing whether it works.