Why Choose Us?
A New & Novel Design to Education
Grandmaster is the preferred academic brand for primary and secondary education because it offers non- traditional, creative, vibrant and transformative learning ecosystems and environments responsive to 21st century requirements for young people. It runs on the philosophy that learning and development are more than subjects. Students are human beings first before they are doctors, engineers, performers or entrepreneurs. Consequently, there is a major and equal focus on personal characteristics development and approach to learning.
Non-Traditional Approaches to Curriculum Programming
The curriculum is discipline based giving rich content and knowledge base for students to learn and explore. It breaks the boundaries of narrow subject boundaries to give students opportunities for sustained learning, explore new subjects and free them from teacher dominance. Finally, it offers a Learning Zone Design to learning which is not single class, facilitators and fragmented timetable bound. Students are the centre and focus of learning, therefore 80% of the time they are learning on their own, with peers and getting support from the teacher whenever they need it. The teacher/facilitator is not the dominant figure in the learning space, but students. The Academy takes time to carve each child’s path so that they have impact in spaces they occupy today and tomorrow at Grandmaster, home, nation and beyond.
21st Century Curriculum
The Academy follows a 21st curriculum that is grounded in four pillars that have prime focus on holistic development in both academic disciplines and personal characteristics of the student. To achieve this goal, the Academy implements a broad based curriculum beyond what is offered and examined by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MOPSE), one that defines the core and elective subjects or courses and their mastery; develops 21st century prime competencies such as design thinking, creativity and innovation and areas of social and emotional intelligence that make them responsible citizens. The curriculum is structured around three areas, namely, core, electives and personal and character development.
CORE defines the student inclination to learning area in case of primary school and chosen subjects in secondary school.
ELECTIVES defines cross interest and out of chosen discipline that the child may choose to learn for interest sake.
PERSONAL, SPIRITUAL, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT and SELF IMPROVEMENT – This area develops students into responsible citizens and general characteristics of the 21st century, among them collaboration, design thinking, critical and independent thinking, social and emotional intelligence.
We Build Tomorrow's Future Today
The following major disciplines inform the subjects on the curriculum as defined by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education:
- Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
- Creative Arts and Performance
- Language and Communication
- Business Commerce and Economics
- Social Sciences
- Personal & Spiritual Character Development
- Self-Improvement
The subjects that emerge from these disciplines are many, rich and support the child’s interests and preferred careers in case of secondary school students and strong foundations for later choices. Parental aspirations for their children to learn are easily, flexibly and readily developed and offered for the major learning disciplines.
This broad based curriculum is richer and provides a strong base for their personal living, understanding others, their environment and building careers of the future. The curriculum is built around four pillars of 21st century education articulated by UNESCO, namely, learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, learning to live with others and learning to be. From these four pillars, students will be trained and educated on how to learn and what to learn about themselves, their environment and dynamic technological advancement by developing critical tools for navigating the environment such as design thinking, critical and creative thinking, communication and collaboration. Future careers require holistic programming that focusses on the interdisciplinary and problem solving nature of inquiry around those four pillars that has capacity for exploring new knowledge, technologies and spaces.
3.1. LEARNING TO KNOW – This is the foundation for careers of the future in both content and process. Students are allowed to cross subject boundaries in building their careers of the future than to focus on narrow traditional subjects. Students develop expertise in this pillar.
3.2. LEARNING TO DO – This learning to do is putting “learning to know” into practice through both the content, processes and competencies developed. The pillar’s focus is development of content, skills and competencies such as, design thinking critical for problem solving, critical thinking, creativity and innovativeness that emerge from the learning to know pillar so that the content processes and competencies developed from learning to know do not remain dormant. Students will at all levels interact with a curriculum that gives them opportunities to be creative and innovative and to produce products in terms of things, successful performance on standardized tests and examinations, competitions in whatever form and at whatever level. Students get to know what and how professionals in the discipline deal with and what knowledge, skills, competencies and attitudes are necessary for success in future careers. This is the productive and engagement zone for the student.
3.3. LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER AND WITH OTHERS – Students will need to learn about people that inhabit the world and how they build current and future societies, technologies and careers. They need to learn how to participate in creating the current and future societies, knowledge, and technologies from a cultural and diverse perspective because no man is an island. Learning to live, engaging and understanding others, participating in projects, celebrating achievements, presenting propositions, defending opinions, discerning facts from opinions and sources of information is the core business of learning to live together and with others. In this pillar they learn to be both highly social and emotional intelligent because 21st century environments place premium on collaboration, problem solving in team activities; all that rely on understanding self and others. The social science curriculum has much to do with this pillar.
3.4. LEARNING TO BE – Students need to learn and understand that “being” is a continuous and life long process and is beyond learning subject content. The students have to learn to develop themselves because schools do not provide all the knowledge and skills. Some of the skills are developed through self-development and a quest to understand their environment on their own. Learning to be, therefore, cannot be an event, it’s a lifelong process. Therefore, the Academy personal, spiritual, character and self-improvement discipline will support students in this area. The curriculum will, therefore, develop in students’ skills and competencies on “learning to be.”
4. PARENTAL ASPIRATIONS are INTEGRAL to STUDENT LEARNING and PROGRAMMING – The Academy listens to parents’ aspirations and involve them in programming for their child every semester and periodically when necessary. There is therefore, room for active parental participation in their child’s learning.