At The Harbour School, we believe that in order to become productive and helpful world citizens it is imperative that children have a significant sense of themselves in time, space and community. This requires a serious grasp of history, civics, and culture.

P4 students build a model of Stonehenge for Social Studies.

We begin this study in P1, as children study themselves, their families, and their community, as well as learning beginning mapping skills. In P2, children use the city of Hong Kong as the focus for studying geography and landforms, consolidating mapping skills, stepping back in time, and learning about trade. In P3, children explore their world as they learn and experience world geography, folk tales, music, political systems, weather, and many other aspects of the various continents. P4 children begin with early man, then study the history of China and Asia through the Ming Dynasty. In P5, children study Western Civilization beginning with the Fertile Crescent, proceeding through Egypt, Greece and Rome, and then learning about Europe through the Renaissance. In Year 6/7, students learn about exploration, colonization, rebellion, and war… but then focus on modern solutions and approaches.

In many years, there are school-wide “culminating activities” that allow students to show other students, parents and teachers what they have learned. For example, Primary 3 conducts a World’s Fair, including information about and performances from all over the world. (Primary 2 students participate in this Fair by creating a Hong Kong booth.) Year 5 holds a Renaissance Faire for the school, while Year 6/7 holds a “TED-type” Conference at a local hotel, presenting solutions to problems they have explored. As much as possible, we use interactive or hands-on games, materials or projects to immerse students in the topic being studied. In addition, we attempt to integrate writing activities, discussion, and the arts with the social studies themes.

Similarly, science teaches children to think in a logical manner, to make testable hypotheses, and to test these hypotheses to arrive at conclusions. More than a conglomeration of facts, science is a way of thinking and behaving. At The Harbour School, we use the Delta Science Units, which are hands-on, experimental science curricula, to explore one life science, one physical science, and one earth science each year. While the Delta Science Units form the base of the study, the curriculum is extended by each teacher to include related or additional experimentation or research.