In 2020, Ivy launched Passion Projects at the school and in doing so became the first school in the country to embrace student-driven learning as a curricular philosophy. Passion Projects at Ivy are inspired by Genius Hour most notably at Google - an hour weekly of self-directed, passion-based, curiosity-driven learning. Students choose what they study, how they study it, and what they create as a result of it. Our Passion Project Showcase, held twice a week, is a beautiful glimpse into the authentic, engaged and motivated learning of our students.
Ivy uses a mastery-based approach to learning, where students build on competencies and skills identified in a specific discipline. With the help of a robust learning support program, students are provided ample opportunities to reduce the number of ‘gaps’ in learning and work on the basic structural principles that are the key to deeper learning for all. Students are assessed three times a year through comprehensive benchmarking that supports learning cohorts and tiered instruction within a classroom. Rather than a traditional factory model of education that teaches designed subject matter at designated speeds, our students are allowed to build competencies at their own pace within meaningful contexts.
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A critical understanding of language, communication and the human experience is essential to build knowledge and at Ivy, we use award-winning curriculums to bring these to life for our students. Our students are provided a solid academic grounding in literacy and communication which allows them to develop the skills needed while reading, writing and understanding history, life science, and social sciences.
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Math at Ivy is collaborative, joyful and intentional. We combine the effectiveness of teaching pedagogies with innovative ideas and use a concrete-pictorial-abstract approach to facilitate transition from pictorial to symbolic understanding. Art and engineering are also often connected to math projects.
When students are designing a city of 10,000 homes in a fixed area, they are using urban design and planning, with considerations of efficiency, sanitation and protection. Science often ties in with both, as modes students use to reflect on the world around them. Building a chicken coop is a way to study the design of an animal habitat, how to prototype and scale models, while also studying the effects of temperature on incubation and hatching. We draw inspiration from the latest research to ensure students develop as confident, competent mathematicians who love problem solving and inquiry.
