The Papagoya Micro-School
With the first cohort starting in the middle of a global pandemic in June 2020 - we are more convinced than ever, that the Papagoya School is what children need. Using the Pedagogy of Play, being researched and developed by Project Zero and the Lego Foundation, we believe education is on the brink of its biggest transformation yet, and we are thrilled to be at the forefront. The Papagoya School strives to champion this new model of education that empowers children to master the skills they need to be lifelong learners, while driving the change the world needs and to learn to thrive with purpose.
Listen to how our Papagoya children introduce the Micro-School.
Unlike the traditional
The Papagoya Micro- School is a dynamic, energetic and community-minded space where children learn in mixed age groups unlike traditional spaces that have defined grades.
We engage our young learners through creative, purposeful and holistic learning experiences while building out a pioneering school which focuses on learning through the joy of play. The Papagoya School caters to diverse student learning styles and needs, through the application of a wide range of teaching techniques, particularly in mathematics, literacy and in integrated, thematic-based and project-based learning experiences
What is a Micro-School?
Microschools are the result of rethinking the traditional educational model to better prepare children for the future. They are small, private institutions where students are empowered to personalize their own education and are held accountable for their own progress. Often described as large homeschooling networks, they are free from the bureaucracy, standardized tests, and mandatory curriculum that defines today's mainstream education.
Microschools are motivated by a desire to provide much more intensively student-centered education, including personalising the curriculum for each student, often utilizing digital, hands-on, project-based methods and involve the community.
Microschools gained more mainstream attention in 2020, as most traditional schools had to close due to the COVID-19 virus and parents were looking for smaller cohorts of in-person learning.
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Are you associated with any particular school board?Papagoya is a micro-school. While we are not associated with any particular school board we are of the strong belief that the Cambridge IGCSE is a progressive and child centered curriculum. We broadly map our curriculum, learning and expected outcomes for children on the Cambridge IGCSE.
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How is the Papagoya School different from other schools?At Papagoya we are strong proponents of “each child in their own time”. We believe children are all born to learn and will learn at their own pace. We are guides and mentors in a child’s learning journey and work with them to achieve goals. We want children to find joy in learning and to be independent learners with a strong mindset of inquiry - directing their own learning. Hence curriculum for us is an important guide but flexibility within the frameworks is critical to the way we choose to teach.
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Do you have goals, markers or assessments to know a child is on the right learning pathway?As a space we are very aware that understanding and evaluating where are child is in their learning journeys is critical, we do this through a combination of formative assessments throughout the year which are shared during the half-yearly evaluations and parent meetings. By mapping to the IGCSE goals we are able to understand where a child is in their learning journey. However our approach is to ensure we never put any pressure on the child. For the child this would be a very normal part of their day and not packaged as “tests or exams”. As a child gets older we work towards preparing them for more timed assessments. Assessments are only for us to know where a child is and not to put more pressure on the child to live up to an expected level. We believe each child will get there on their own time but assessments and markers provide us, the adults, understanding on where and how to support the child.
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What do you mean by a community driven school?Papagoya is a learning space that has thrived and grown because we keep the child at the center of all we do by ensuring that we have open and honest communication between us and parents. This is possible because we view all adults as contributing members of the community and know that everyone is doing their best for the children. We are a non-judgmental space and openness is never met with scrutiny. We work together in finding solutions through communication. Trust plays a very critical role at Papagoya and allows us to all be confident in performing our roles of Educator, Parent and Organization. We enjoy parent participation either through smaller workshops, working groups like a gardening committee, or giving children life experiences through parents jobs, and bringing together interesting people who can contribute and make our community richer in experiences and worldly understanding.
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What is a parent's involvement in the school?We are very understanding of the fact that most parents are working and have full time jobs. We don’t have demands that take you away from it, but request for participation in activities like field trips, workshops, explorations, bringing in your expertise if it matches a topic we are learning at school, or introducing us to resources and people that would aid our learning journeys at Papagoya. We encourage communication with our educators during the regular running of the school year and participating in various parent events through the year.