Academic Policies
Academic policies are put in place to strengthen the academic progress for our students. We set out to ensure that all programmes offered are adhered to the minimum high standards of our future-focused curriculum.
Important Reads:
Assessment Policy
The Grange Institution therefore requires that teachers:
- inform students and parents as to how student work is to be assessed
- maintain detailed assessment records and use these to provide valid student progress information to students and parents, both ongoing and at times of formal reporting
- use a range of assessment tools, selecting practices that best promote student learning
- structure assessments to allow all students to demonstrate their personal level of achievement and progress
- value individual student assessment data and adapt classroom planning, teaching and learning in response to the data
Over time, the school will:
- develop success criteria and use performance rubrics for common tasks so that teachers can standardise assessment grading
- maintain and use assessment data for student tracking and reporting and also for further curriculum planning and delivery
Language Policy
We aim to provide a language-rich environment where opportunities are provided for students to develop their full potential in English, as well as an additional language.
- ensure that English, being the primary language of instruction, is used as the main language of communication not just for instructional purposes but for interaction purposes between the school, students and parents
- provide additional English language support for students who need to rapidly improve their English in order to access our curriculum and to benefit from it
- provide in addition to the learning of English, the opportunity for all students to either learn Mandarin as a foreign language, or for our native Japanese students to continue to maintain their Japanese mother tongue acquisition
- seek effective and valid ways to benchmark the proficiency levels of our students in their language acquisition and to use the assessment data to continually improve the standard of our language programs to specific student needs, thus enabling students to progress at their optimal rate.
- All students will be continually assessed on their Reading skills through the PM Benchmark system, and assessed on their Writing ability through a series of writing assessments throughout the year.
- Students in the Additional English Language programme will be continually assessed on their Vocabulary using the Dolch List and their Reading skills through the PM Benchmark system.
- Students in the Mandarin Foreign Language programme will be assessed annually using the Youth Chinese Test (YCT) which is an external benchmarking assessment.
- Students in the Japanese Mother Tongue programme will use materials and assessments published by the education bureau in Japan.
Digital Literacy Policy
Technology is very much a part of all of daily routines. Hence, at The Grange, we seek to ensure that students continue to gain meaningful access to technology to enhance the development of important 21st century self-management, collaboration, thinking, research and communication skills. Our digital citizenship curriculum is designed to empower students to learn how to think critically and ethically in their use of technology in their learning; to respect cyber safety and understand how to minimise risks for themselves and others; to identify what information is important online, and to use technology as a tool to showcase their skills and talents. Learning experiences are made richer by the appropriate use of technology and these skills are directly transferable to all aspects of learning at the school. Digital literacy has evolved beyond the basic computing skills and require our students to develop to know how to access, analyse, create and share information with target audiences using different tools and platforms. At The Grange, we have introduced a Coding curriculum using Scratch developed by MIT. This initiative aligns with our Cre8tors-in-Action educational philosophy where we believe this is an invaluable skill that the students can take into the future workplace.
The Grange Institution therefore requires that teachers:
- incorporate technology where authentic opportunities exist within the learning process
- use technology responsibly so that its usage does not isolate students and limit important socialisation and interactions between the students and their peers
- be mindful of the amount of time students devote to the use of electronic screen time in their planning and execution of the lessons
- teach students not just how to use, but also when to use technology
- expose students to a range of digital apps and tools they can use to make them better digital communicators