Primrose School
‘Every child is a potential genius…’
Unique learning experience for the child
Primrose School, a unit of The Mother’s Service Society, Venkata Nagar, is a unique learning experience for the child. It incorporates innovative teaching methods used in the USA which enable early mastery of reading and writing skills. Children can easily read books even of higher levels by the age of five.
The extensive use of computer, video films and CD Rom programmes on computer in each classroom ensures that children love to learn.
The student-teacher ratio is kept very low to enable the teacher to work with small groups of 4-5 children at a time while the others are absorbed in learning games or recreational play. The most effective ratio is five students per teacher during pre-school, LKG and UKG and fifteen students per teacher during standards 1 to 5.
The Method
A highly successful alternative approach to education has been evolved in the USA by the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, founded by the eminent educationist Dr. Glenn Doman. Doman’s work is based on the conviction that learning is a natural instinctive urge in young children that is very often neglected due to a lack of exposure or compulsory teaching.
The most important aspect of the approach is the attitude of the teacher, which should be that learning is a form of play which fosters the blossoming of the child’s natural development. Children naturally love to learn, and learning should and can be made interesting, enjoyable, and fun.
No two children have the same gifts, talents, abilities, interests, or emotional makeup. One of the keys to building a good self-image is to allow each child to develop his or her gifts to the fullest. At Primrose, we give each of our children the same attention and care and yet at the same time bring out their unique talents.
Beginning at the lowest level in pre-KG, an extensive use of flash cards containing English and Tamil words and general knowledge subjects enables the child to absorb large amounts of information. Audio visuals, including video films on nature, science, language development, etc. and computers using multimedia CDs to teach sciences, geography, English, Tamil, Hindi, French and history are important learning tools in every classroom.
In Primrose School, despite the brief time exposure, very average children are able to read simple Tamil and English stories by the end of 15 months in lower Kindergarten, or around 4 or 4.5 years of age. During the same period, the children also learn to recognize all the states of India, the geography of the country, the continents, peoples of the world and a wide range of plant and animal species.
The unique aspect of our school is not a different syllabus from other schools, but a different METHOD in teaching it. We aim to be a School where learning is an uninterrupted stream of discovery and joy.
Computer-aided Education
Fresh learning opportunities through library period, creative story-writing, multimedia presentations on computers in science, geography, literature, and foreign languages give a rich content to our curriculum. At the UKG level, the child is introduced to computers gradually in the area of maths and reading. By the 1st standard, each child is given 1.5 hours per day divided into two sessions on his own computer with lessons in reading comprehension, creative writing, mathematics, science, foreign languages and the environment.
Each child is encouraged to go at his own speed and graduate to the next level whenever he has completed the present level.
We believe computers enhance the learning process in the following ways:
Thinking processes
Computer-based technologies provide support for thinking processes and for acquiring problem-solving skills.
Self-esteem:
Technology is something children want to master. Learning to use computers enhances the children’s self-esteem and makes them excited about coming to school.
Preparation for future:
Technology prepares students for the future. Both higher education and the world of work will be infused with technology in future.
Skill development:
Students, even at the primary school level, are able to acquire an impressive level of skills with a broad range of computer software. They can handle more complex assignments and do more with higher-order skills because of the supports and capabilities provided by technology.
Artistic creativity:
Children become enthralled with the creative arts offered by the computer in the areas of designing web pages, greeting cards, colourful reports and homework assignments using their natural artistic skills.
