Welcome to Abacus Kindergarten
We are one of 22 schools operated by the English Schools Foundation (ESF), the largest provider of English-medium international education in Hong Kong. Our school is located in Clearwater Bay and we offer inspiring learning experiences to children aged 3-5 years old. We are an IB World School and follow the Primary Years Programme (PYP).
Mission Statement
“Our mission is to inspire creative, resilient and independent learners who connect with the world. We challenge every child to flourish, innovate and be responsible global citizens. We will achieve this using our natural environment to provide exciting, play based, inquiry learning. Our personalised programme will be led by exceptional teachers working in partnership with parents.”
ESF Abacus International Kindergarten is an authorised IB World School offering the Primary Years Programme. Our programme caters for K1 and K2 children aged from 3 to 5 years in a morning or afternoon session. We operate two three-hour sessions daily – 8.30 am to 11.30 am and 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm. We cater to children from Clearwater Bay, Sai Kung and the neighbouring New Territories.
Our inquiry based curriculum encourages children to explore relevant concepts and ideas through child-centred play and exploration, real-life experiences and focused learning and teaching activities, allowing them to develop a range of understandings, knowledge and skills in all areas of the curriculum. We have a wonderful team of highly qualified and experienced teaching staff who are both nurturing and knowledgeable about early childhood education. The school has large, bright spaces for learning and play and children spend their time in classrooms, shared areas and the indoor and outdoor play areas working individually, in small groups and in whole class groups. Learning engagements are carefully planned to enable the children to develop a range of life-long skills and our concept based curriculum is organised and delivered through four carefully crafted Units of Inquiry. At Abacus the large outdoor area and an abundance of natural materials are used creatively by staff to encourage children to explore and interact with nature.
Children will spend time learning in their classrooms, the shared area and in the indoor and outdoor play spaces during each session. Your child will work closely with the class teacher and EAs to develop a range of skills, knowledge and understanding in all areas of the curriculum. A range of groupings are used: whole class, small groups and one-to-one to enable all children to learn effectively. Learning is planned to cater for the needs of all children and is differentiated for individual children’s skill levels.
Abacus only employs highly qualified and experienced Teachers and Educational Assistants to facilitate the programme. Their role is to support and challenge children, learning collaboratively with the children through active listening, discussion, and reflection. Children are consistently encouraged to wonder, ask questions, test their own theories and take action around new knowledge they have discovered.
Abacus offers two programmes in both K1 and K2: English and Bilingual.
English
The programme is conducted in English with Chinese as a specialist language, taught by a native Chinese teacher who undertakes specialist sessions, introducing Chinese vocabulary and Chinese customs and festivals. This stream has 25 children in each class with one qualified teacher and two educational assistants.
Bilingual
The bilingual programme is taught by two teachers, one English and the other Chinese, meaning that the children receive instruction in both languages. The teachers plan lessons together and will cover all areas of the curriculum in both languages. There are differentiated sessions for all children covering English Language and Chinese Language, meeting the language needs of each child. Each class also has 25 children, with two qualified teachers and one educational assistant.
Accommodation
We have the capacity for 4 morning and 4 afternoon classes with 25 children in each class. We have large well-resourced and carefully designed classrooms and a large garden and outside play area.
Abacus has a stocked library with resources for children and technology including iPads that the children can use.
* IB World Schools share a common philosophy —a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education—that we believe is important for our students.
For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit http://www.ibo.org