Our approach to curriculum makes standards come alive for students by connecting learning to real-world issues and needs. Verita ensures that all students meet rigorous curriculum objectives and standards while in parallel providing exciting learning opportunities. Units of learning, real-life case studies, projects, fieldwork, and service-learning inspire students to think and work as professionals do, contributing high-quality work that is presented to audiences beyond the classroom.
We believe that through enquiry, active learning, and the development of emotional intelligence in a safe environment, all students are capable of mastery of knowledge, skills and understanding.
Our
Vision
Inspiring global minds and hearts for a compassionate and sustainable world.
Our
Mission
We are committed to growing global learners with social, emotional, ethical and critical thinking skills that guide them towards meaningful lives.
High-Quality Teaching and
Learning at Verita
High-quality learning is an engaging and challenging process stemming from our natural curiosity. It builds on the learners’ prior knowledge and experiences in order to transport them from the known to the new. It occurs in a safe and supportive environment that facilitates academic, social and emotional growth, stimulating and empowering learners to become active participants in their own learning. It is a transdisciplinary journey that requires differentiation and ownership while allowing all stakeholders to develop a greater level of skill, knowledge and understanding.
Global Citizenship
Our definition
Global citizenship at Verita means nurturing a sense of curiosity and an understanding of what makes a sustainable wider world in which diversity and respect is key for all people. It stems from building our community on values of kindness, acceptance, empathy and inclusion. It requires each one of us to take a stance against social injustice and work for an equitable, peaceful interconnected world in which everyone feels truly responsible and empowered to make a difference.
Learning
Environment
At Verita, the learning environment is characterised by purposeful, focussed activity in a kind and caring, yet challenging, environment.
Our
Promise
We will nurture the imagination in the early years in order to build a foundation for abstract thinking.
We awaken a student’s genuine enthusiasm, an interest in the WORLD, (a love of learning) and a sense of purpose in life.
We commit to nurturing creativity, happiness, critical–thinking and self-reliance.
We strive to help students make the transition from external motivation to self-motivation.
We will put a strong focus on respect, responsibility and compassion.
We foster each child’s full potential.
We emphasize the child’s relationship to the natural world.
We are guided by a curriculum not driven by standardized testing.
We integrate the arts, music and movement into the entire curriculum.
We teach decision making and problem-solving.
We will assist each student’s acquisition of a sense of personal responsibility.
We strengthen leadership potential and effectiveness.
We devote ourselves to growing a community of many nationalities, races, religions, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds.
We Believe that Students Learn
Through Enquiry
Enquiry-based learning is an approach to education in which students are fully engaged by asking questions, reaching for answers, making bigger-picture connections, reflecting on learning, and taking action. At VIS we use the Fieldwork Education learning cycle to guide students through the enquiry process, taking them from the known to the new.
The main idea of enquiry-based learning is to offer the chance to learn through a collective experience of doing, creating, building, exploring, and investigating. Through enquiry projects, students learn to manage time and activities, how to distribute tasks effectively, share information, and be responsible for the production and presentation of researched material. The follow-up phase provides for critically thinking about the outcomes of students’ enquiries.
It’s vital that students see and value learning as a dynamic process where they are constantly making connections and moving on to the next step. If students are challenged by the next step and empowered to set realistic goals, they will continue to move on with greater enthusiasm and wonder.
We Believe that Learning Should be
Active, Challenging and Meaningful
Through the creative implementation of our curriculum frameworks, students are given opportunities to be active learners. Throughout their learning journey at VIS, students are given opportunities to be scientists, urban planners, historians, and activists, investigating real community problems and collaborating with peers to develop creative, actionable solutions. Students at all levels are pushed and supported to do more than they think they can.
With our active learning approach, students apply their skills and knowledge to real-world issues and problems and make a positive change in their communities through service-learning projects. They see the relevance of their learning and are motivated by understanding that learning has a purpose.
We Believe that Emotional Intelligence and Self Mastery
is as Important as Cognitive Intelligence
It is essential for students to develop a deep mastery of self, which involves learning and integrating their own learning processes, social skills, and strategies for resilience and well-being. We assist our students in cultivating tools of emotional self-regulation and create cognitive strategies that create healthy empowering habits of mind.
As we attain more self-mastery we understand and have a better awareness of our bodies and thought processes and how they connect to a personal sense of balance and resilience. Our overarching long term goal is to create a new paradigm of self-mastery in our students that build and sustains wellness and wisdom that lasts a lifetime.
We Believe that Students Learn Best
in an Empathetic and Caring Environment
At VIS, we know that learning is fostered best in communities where students’ and teachers’ ideas are respected and where there is mutual trust. This is why our learning groups are small where caring educators look after the progress of students, acting as an advocate for each child.
In all subject areas, teachers differentiate instruction and maintain high expectations in order to bring out the best in all students and cultivate a culture of high achievement for all.
We also create an environment where older students mentor younger ones, and students feel physically and emotionally safe.
We Believe in Mastery
of Knowledge and Skills
Our strong beliefs in how students should be educated, lead to mastery of knowledge and skills.
As students progress through each year group, they demonstrate proficiency and deeper understanding showing year level mastery in a body of knowledge and skills within each discipline. Students are able to apply their learning and transfer knowledge and skills to meaningful tasks at school and beyond. Every aspect of Verita encourages both children and adults to become increasingly responsible for directing their own personal and collective learning.
Our approaches to teaching and learning assists students to think critically, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize complex ideas and consider multiple perspectives. In turn, they learn to communicate clearly, write, speak, and present ideas effectively in a variety of media.
Throughout the entire learning adventure at VIS, students learn to become effective, life-long learners, developing the mindsets and skills for success in college, career, and life.
