A key concern in regards to your child’s journey here at Escola Internacional de Alphaville is to help them respond to these questions with clarity and confidence. In addition to academic rigour and a caring, compassionate approach to education, we also place emphasis on providing students of each year level an abundance of engaging, innovative and unique learning experiences. The aim is to promote self-reflection, to have students understand who they are, to understand their potential, to be empowered when making life choices, whether they choose to remain in Brazil or seek opportunities abroad. We know that our comprehensive bilingual curriculum will really broaden their horizons.
The pedagogical proposal at Escola Internacional de Alphaville is innovative. It fully takes into account the fact that our students need to develop skills and competencies to be young citizens prepared for an unknown future. Our educational innovations are underpinned by socio-constructivism, and our pluralistic view ensures that students are the protagonists of their learning. We respect the identity of each and every student, and we understand that each child has their individual needs, but importantly, we know that the celebration of diversity lays the fertile ground upon which global citizens grow.
Our teachers, too, are active protagonists of the teaching-learning cycle. They encourage students to be autonomous, responsible learners who can identify issues, explore possibilities, propose solutions, hypothesize, justify their thinking and validate their reached conclusions. There is also a focus on promoting transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary learning, where students make connections within, between and beyond the boundaries of subject areas.
In the unceasing pursuit of innovation to better prepare our students for global citizenship, we recently became certified as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, authorised to offer the Primary Years Programme (PYP) for children aged 3 to 12. We are also in the process of implementing the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), and the IB Diploma Programme (DP). Once authorised, we will be the only Brazilian school of bilingual education to offer the three IB programmes - the IB Continuum.
The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world.
At Escola Internacional de Alphaville, your child’s journey of knowledge and self-discovery begins at Kids, our early childhood learning segment.
Our bilingual programme commences in the early childhood learning segment, Kids 1 to Kids 4, with total immersion in English. This way, learning the second language happens naturally from authentic communicative interactions. In this sense, students are meaningfully exposed to English in the context of a caring environment where they can develop the emotional skills essential at this phase of their lives.
Students of all ages enjoy weekly music classes in Portuguese as they reach into aspects of Brazilian culture, essential in promoting the recognition and preservation of their heritage.
Learning and play are viewed together as one concept. Both occur naturally and so learning and play provide the basis for the construction of the Kids curriculum, where emphasis is placed on the development of autonomy, self-confidence, interpersonal relationships, and the nurturing of intellectual curiosity and interest for knowledge.
Following Kids 5 is the primary years of schooling (here in Brazil called Ensino Fundamental). This is a very important time in the life of a child, the biliteracy process, where students learn to read and write in both English and Portuguese. At Escola Internacional de Alphaville, we call this segment Juniors. It starts with Juniors 1 up to Juniors 5, the end of primary school.
In Juniors, we seek to provide our students with learning experiences designed to further develop their interpersonal relationship skills, promote open-mindedness, give incentive to work in collaboration and encourage them to share what they know.
Middle school begins after Juniors 5, with Teens 6 through to Teens 9.
At this phase, students are about to go through some serious cognitive, affective and physical transformations as they grow into adolescence. Yet, they begin their Teens journey fairly well developed intellectually and already have a firm idea of what it means to be principled. At Escola Internacional de Alphaville, we know that a child’s arrival at Teens is the time to really challenge their perspectives of the world they live in, albeit in the context of a compassionate learning environment. It is the time to engage with big concepts and new ideas. In Teens, students commence the much anticipated Global Studies subject where they learn more about the world and reflect upon how to transform it into a better place for all. Students are also challenged to create interdisciplinary projects, drawing knowledge from science, technology, arts and math, and Teens 9 students also engage with the Entrepreneurship and Life Project.
High School, celebrates the culmination of a child’s learning journey at Escola Internacional de Alphaville. Our graduating students are empowered with choice which is not bound by profession or frontiers. Students boast the capacity to make significant future life choices and graduate fully prepared to take on whatever challenges life may pose.
High School is a time when students consolidate their vast repertoire of knowledge, and engage in deep reflection while making connections across subject areas. It is a time to place value on the acquisition of a second or third language, to appreciate the diversity of cultures. It is the time for introspection, self-recognition, responsibility and maturity. Students begin to value a certain balance in their lives, and begin to recognise the power of grit and resilience to overcome challenges.
