Learning at LCPS
We are excited about the future of Academics at LCPS which now offers the Cambridge Primary syllabus. We are blessed with a fantastic staff of teachers who are dedicated and passionate about education and who strive to instill into students an excellent foundation upon which to build their future years of schooling.
This encourages children to be innovative, reflective and engaged with every lesson. Collaboration between peers also plays a key part in this, as it encourages our students to celebrate diversity and learn to work together.
Our staff has recently attended development training sessions in order to familiarize themselves with an Active Learning teaching approach. This includes concepts such as self assessment, peer assessment and meaningful feedback between student and teacher.
The Foundation Phase (ECD A – Grade 2)
We offer Early Childhood Development. Children joining us for ECD need to be turning four by the middle of that year.
Grade 1 is for children aged 5 – 6 years and Grade 2 is for children aged 6 – 7 years.
Our teachers are highly qualified and experienced, with a mix of both young and mature staff, offering a good balance for pupils. Our classrooms are spacious and equipped with a variety of games, visual media and educational toys.
Early Childhood Development A
Open 5 days a week, this class enables children to interact socially, to explore their surroundings and learn the routines of the school. Gross motor activities help to build core muscles and enable children to become familiar with their body image. Fine motor skills are introduced through experience with paint, cutting out, printing, building, and sorting. They will then develop a larger vocabulary through stories and discussions.
Early Childhood Development B
Here we continue gross motor co-ordination improving posture and core muscles so that writing becomes easier when it is introduced later in the year. They learn to cross the mid-line and move from left to right. Listening skills are developed through stories, discussions and following directions. Children learn to work in groups and co-operate with one another. Letterland and Numberland stories are introduced in the Second Term. Fine motor skills are further developed as they discover new media like paints, wax, charcoal, sand, water, twisters and later pencil. Cutting, folding, threading and gluing are all part of the ECD experiences. Children are encouraged to experiment and to use their imaginations through free or directed play as well as art and crafts. Pre-reading, pre-number and pre-writing activities help to prepare the children for the more formal learning required in Grade 1. This is the foundation year for all future education.
In Grade 1 & 2, we begin the formal introduction to reading and writing. We follow the Ministry of Education of Zimbabwe prescribed syllabus for core and content subjects. Our Maths and English scheme is based on the well-recognised Letterland and Numberland scheme, which is briefly introduced in Grade 0. These lay solid foundations for the concepts taught right up to Grade 7.
We do not write any formal exams or tests in Grade 1 and Grade 2, as the children are still very young. We rather assess class work, and write reports each term on pupil’s individual progress.
Intermediate Group (Grade 3 – 5)
We follow the Ministry of Education of Zimbabwe prescribed syllabus for all core subjects and these subjects are taught by the class teacher who is trained to cater to the needs of the age group. Any extra subjects like Music, Shona, Computers and Physical Education, are taught by specialist teachers.
Class examinations are completed twice a year in June and November. The exams allow the teachers to accurately assess how the children are managing with all their academic subjects. Specialist tests such as the Schonell and Vernon Schemes are used to test the children’s spelling, reading, comprehension and mathematics ages to ensure they are at their right level.
Any child that struggles in the core subjects is referred to the Progress Centre, where our Remedial Teacher is able to provide them with one on one attention.
In Grade 4 the children are invited to go on an overnight camping trip to Kuimba Shiri.
Senior Group
Our qualified teachers work towards covering all content set out in the local syllabus. The content taught is based on topical issues and projects that teachers add. The classes are kept small in both Grade 6 and 7 to allow for individual attention.
At this stage, teaching is directed towards preparing the children towards the examinations they will take in Grade 7:
- Chisz Examination
- Zimsec Examination
The children also do regular class exams in June and November which are set by their teachers to assess their progress.
Our Grade 6 & 7 classes go on educational trips during the year which focus on teamwork, team building, leadership, co-operation. For the Grade 7 classes, some of the trips extend to learning about environmental education, conversation, and preservation of our natural resources.
General Activities
Our Infants participate in the 1st Term Athletics Sports Day; Grandparent’s Day in the 2nd Term and Swimming Gala in the 3rd Term
All Infant classes are involved in plays at the end of the year and Grade 0 has a Graduation ceremony to mark their entry into “Big School”.
During the course of the year, several class trips are organized to further enhance the children’s education. All children from Grade 0 – 7 have lessons in Music, Shona, Computers, Swimming and Physical Education as part of the core curriculum.
Supported Learning
We have in place the DEN (Department of Educational Needs) which provides extra support for any child that is struggling to keep up in the main stream class. In the DEN an Individual Education Program is drawn up for each child. If the child is in need of remediation then a short plan of action is set at the start of the program. Additionally the National Institute of Learning Development program is available from qualified educational therapists that work in tandem with the DEN. We constantly assess children to measure their progress. We work at strengthening their weaknesses and building on their strengths to enable every child to reach their full potential.
We look forward to seeing the development of each individual child at Lomagundi College Primary School.
ZIMSEC is an autonomous parastatal under the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. It is an internationally accredited examinations board. Its syllabuses were evaluated by the National Academic Recognition and Information Centre (NARIC) in the UK, and found to be equivalent to the General Certificate of Education Standard offered in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, United States of America and the other English speaking countries, hence the internationally recognized qualifications conferred by the Council.
The aim of ZIMSEC is to offer an excellent, value driven, educational assessment and responsive awarding systems. Through maximum capacity utilization, the Council is gearing itself to continually exceed expectations. ZIMSEC carries out quality assessment to guarantee the quality of manpower for national development. It identifies potential talents, competencies and skills for future leaders of industry, commerce and government; feeds institutions of higher learning and the employment sector. ZIMSEC sets standards for levels of academic expertise of Zimbabwean nationals for use locally and internationally.
The Cambridge IGCSE curriculum offers a variety of routes for learners with a wide range of abilities, including those whose first language is not English. It helps schools build a curriculum around their specific needs. Starting from a foundation of core subjects, it is easy to add breadth and cross-curricular perspectives. Encouraging learners to engage with a variety of subjects, and make connections between them, is fundamental to our approach.
For schools, Cambridge IGCSE offers a flexible and stimulating curriculum, supported with excellent resources and training. For learners, Cambridge IGCSE helps improve performance by developing skills in creative thinking, enquiry and problem solving. It is the perfect springboard to advanced study.
Cambridge qualifications are accepted and valued by many leading universities and employers around the world.
The ATS is made up of Independent Primary and Secondary Trust Schools which are run by a Board of Governors. Heads of ATS schools are eligible for membership of The Conference of Heads of Independent Schools in Zimbabwe (CHISZ).
Each member school seeks to complement the work done in Government and other non-Government schools and co-operate wherever possible, yet retain its independence. These schools provide choice for parents, with every school being different, yet all are committed to a holistic, balanced education. They are united by the common Vision, Values and Mission of the Association.
- To parents and prospective parents, we encourage you to look in particular at the items under the ‘Parents’ tag.
- To educators, we invite you to see if you share a common philosophy with us and would wish to partner with us.
- To schools wishing to join the ATS, we suggest you view the ‘ATS’ and ‘Ethos’ tags first.
- To all, do keep returning to view updates and further articles.