Cross-Disciplinary Curriculum
We have always believed that academics, the visual and performing arts, music, and sport are equally important in education, as symbolised by the College Crest.
These areas of excellence are underpinned by a STEAM framework that encourages cross-disciplinary education, providing breadth and variety to the curriculum.
Our Curriculum
We cover the National Primary Schools Curriculum from the Department of Education. This includes the core subjects of English, Maths, Irish, SESE (History, Geography, and Science), Religion, Physical Education, Music, Visual & Performing Arts, and SPHE.
We add to the National Primary Curriculum with our own extensive curriculum provided by specialist teachers in French, Music, Art, Dance, and Drama. Our students also attend weekly coding classes from J5.
Music has a very important place in Alexandra College - you will hear music from the Junior School Hall at most times of the day. Each class is allocated a singing period as well as a weekly music class where they explore music through the Orff Approach, a developmental approach to teaching music which encourages creativity and offers a hands-on experience of music to every child.
We also have a Junior School Choir and Orchestra, as well as offering co-curricular instrumental lessons and solo singing lessons.
Our PE curriculum in the Junior School covers a wide variety of physical activities. The children are encouraged to participate in as many sports as they can, with the main focus being on the fun to be found in learning new skills and discovering abilities.
Each class participates in over 2 hours of games and activities each week, and from J2 to J6 our activities include both team and individual sports such as athletics, basketball, badminton, dance, hockey, tennis and more.
Being creative and using their imaginations is fundamental to the healthy development of childrens' minds and spirits, and collaboration, communication and cooperation are the cornerstones of educational Drama at Alex.
Students learn performance skills, creativity, improvisation and public speaking during our co-curricular Drama classes in the Junior School.
Creativity and the Arts play a fundamental role in the Froebelian ethos of education. The Visual Arts enables girls to make sense of and express their world in tangible, visible form. We actively encourage the girls to engage with all of the art that is around them both in school and in the wider community.
Art and crafts are used throughout our curriculum to enhance the girls' work, allowing them to explore a wide variety of materials and techniques including drawing, painting, printing, 3D construction, and working with clay and fibre. We have a specialist teacher in Art whose background in graphic design lends an extra aspect to how art is presented to our students.
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths. As educators, we understand that learning in science and maths is enhanced by creative pursuits. Through our STEAM framework, we recognise and encourage the use of technology in the school and provide yet another avenue through which students can explore their learning and develop their potential.
The use of computers has become an integral part of every day life for all of us. In the Junior School we recognise the importance of developing the girls' understanding of how technology and computers work, as well as their ability to think of the wider world and question the ways in which technology is used.
Through project-based, collaborative learning, our students hone their computational thinking skills by solving problems and inventing new designs.
Learning Support
In Alexandra College Junior School, we have a very strong Learning Support programme. The class teachers and the Learning Support teachers work very closely together to optimise the teaching and learning process to enable students with learning difficulties to achieve their full potential in literacy and numeracy. Students work individually or in small groups with the Learning Support teachers who are aided by a wide range of up-to-date resources and continuous professional development.
Our programme is based on the following principles:
- Inclusion and respect for all, irrespective of their ability level
- Early identification and timely intervention
- Direction of resources towards students in greatest need
- Teaching the Touch-type Read and Spell (TTRS) Programme to students whose learning is enhanced by assistive technologies
- Collaboration between class teacher, Learning Support team, educational psychologists and parents