PYP Coffee Morning with Dr Fatma Odaymat

ARIS has come a long way, with of course, a longer way to go yet. At Coffee Morning with Dr. Fatma Odaymat at ARIS Primary Campus today, there was a deep insight to what the ARIS Story is truly about, what we have achieved and what is our way forward.

The main mission and vision of ARIS is to motivate students to attain their fullest potential through “broad-based, world-class curricula that promote critical thinking, foster self-motivation, and encourage self-development.” That said, she said that, soon, the mission of ARIS will change according to the students’ views.

As educationalists, we have ideas and visions for the standards and the mission of the school, but there is also a lot that we are still not aware of. So, it is imperative that we recognize who we are as a community, as we grow and evolve. What do we do that integrates ideas by our students, by our staff and by our parents? For that, parents must also fill the Evaluation link that has already been sent to their emails.

An exercise that we wish to conduct is that the students will write on a sheet of paper, which will be put up in the hallways, of how they define ARIS and what they want ARIS to be. To this, the PYP Coordinator Madam Sandeepa added that students were already given the classic ‘In Your Shoes’ exercise where they were asked to imagine that if they were Dr. Fatma, what would they like to do for ARIS?

Our pride and our main focus are our students, and one of the biggest pillars of ARIS is that of Inclusive Education. Every child deserves a world class education; every child, no matter the ability or affordability, deserves an International IB Education and as an Inclusive Education International school, it is our responsibility to integrate them. ARIS is the only International School in Ghana that houses an All Inclusive Policy, with a total of 6 educators across Primary and Secondary campuses focused on Specialized Education Needs. This, of course, came with the humble acknowledgment that there is still a lot more to be done.

Dr. Fatma also explained that ARIS’s main policy of education is that every student is able to achieve their best potential, to the best of their ability, as per their individual language and learning capabilities. For example, a child can only be able to get a C in Math (at their best) and yet be able to perform exceptionally in another subject. One cannot expect a child with SEN, for example, a dyslexic child, to get an A at English writing. Targets, thus, are set according to the child’s best abilities for the most optimal results in Student Performance.

Supporting this view is our already standing ARIS Educational Model. Dr. Fatma stated that, the heart of every single thing that we do here is for the students, their experience and their performance. The Classroom is at the center. With an ever evolving education structure, the concept of singular learning, evaluation and assessment methods is obsolete. Instead, Teachers (now Facilitators) are approaching personalized approaches for every student, as every single child has varying learning abilities.

The outer circle of the ARIS Educational Learning is Effective Classroom Practices. Teaching and Learning approaches are constantly researched upon and rapidly changing to make sure that the child reaps the benefits. Therefore, it is not out of the ordinary to see vast ranging curriculums and educators adapting to the groups that they are teaching, as they incorporate changes to their methodology. Dr. Fatma recalls the old African proverb – “It takes a village to raise a child”; ARIS truly is an indication of that as it puts emphasis on the importance of community.

Speaking of community, what lies on the outer circle of that is the ‘Conductive Organizational Conditions’. Going back to a community for the best environment for the child’s learning; the importance of collaboration, staff development, student involvement & support and the use of data and reflection were also talked about. ARIS values open mindedness, learning among the staff and parent and the power of research and collaboration as it grows and builds relationships with outside schools, ministries and bigger communities. In all ways, with data collection, meetings, planning, workshops, seminars, and so on, the core and purpose of it all is the students’ personalized learning for them to reach their fullest potential.

In the presence of the ARIS Education Model, it is not unusual for there to be behavioral hurdles as well that the ARIS Community faces. Questionable behavior is the child’s way of showing that he or she might need something else. Every child has to have the right environment for them to learn.

With this, Dr. Fatma went to the IB Educational Model, which similar to the ARIS Educational Model, puts not just the student, but also teachers and parents at the center. With the Inquiry based and trans-disciplinary learning, the entire point of these models is to ensure that cognitive abilities are developed, such that they are able to apply the learning in their classrooms to the world around them. They do not cram or get spoon-fed information through blackboards and textbooks; instead it’s a process of learning how to learn to become life-long learners.

For all of this to run, attitudes and approaches play an imperative role. This includes appreciation of each other’s work, commitment, confidence, cooperation, creativity, curiosity, empathy, enthusiasm, independence, integrity, respect and last but not least tolerance. If we instill these attitudes and approaches as inherent values to our children, then why don’t we adopt them too, to improve planning and collaboration? For that, social, communication, research, thinking and self-management skills also play a huge role which applies to the 3 pillars of the school community – child, teacher, and parent.

The ‘Magic Words’ as Dr. Fatma calls it is Reflection and Action – apply what we learn to our own lives and others, as ‘Service’ slowly becomes a core value.

ARIS, an IB World School, has grown through these values and constant research. Now, we are growing more on the level of ICT Integration to education – with apps and software like Seesaw, Managebac, Mathletics and more. We have really embraced the value of Life Long Learning, through ARISVersity. We are AISA Members, and are expanding our activities and facilities across both campuses. This also includes literacy and language promotion with Early Years Bilingual program and a total of 7 languages being taught at ARIS so far. Special Educational Needs has also grown to further support our model of education.

Moreover, we have PYP, MYP, IGCSE, and DP integrated to our international curriculum; and encourage our students to be global citizens as we celebrate diverse events and celebrations. We have also grown as a Teacher training and Education Research Center.

With all of this, we hope, in the next 5 years, to increase our service to our communities through CAS, ARIS Cares and Training and Partnership with other schools. The focus remains on world class teaching, and continuous research and date collection on students’ experience and performance as to improve the quality of education. With next year being our 15th Anniversary, we aim to take a step forward in this plan by having ARIS Cares being the theme.

We all want to be the hero that we needed when we were younger. ARIS is just the right one, right now.