Year 6 PYP Exhibition Workshop for Parents

The Exhibition is the cornerstone of the IB Primary Years Programme. It’s the biggest point in the academic careers of PYP Students, on their final year of the PYP.

ARIS has already started planning for this Academic Year’s PYP Exhibition, as it is a very long and extensive process. It is an assessment unlike any other! Today, our PYP Coordinator, Madam Sandeepa, held an Exhibition Workshop with Year 6 Parents to introduce them to the Exhibition Journey that their children will take through the course of their final PYP Year!

First step was asking the parents what their favourite thing of the PYP is? Most parents talked about the PYP helping their children be open minded, have communication skills and research skills from a very young age. All in all, the PYP propels the Learners’ Agency. The Exhibition is a perfect opportunity for PYP Students to cover a topic that they are passionate about, and express themselves. Exhibition, to the parents, is a display of abilities, demonstration of creativity and a very exciting process.

When we look back at the time when we were at school, how best did we learn? Did we learn best by listening? By discussing with friends? By memorizing? By writing? By doing projects? By teaching others? Or by doing exams? All of us learn differently as was demonstrated today, with parents standing as each of these points were called out. However, as our PYP Coordinator said, if she were to give them an exam right now based on what they retained from her talk, they all got silent. Now, imagine what that level of stress of an exam does to a child?

The Exhibition is not a final exam. The Exhibition does not scrutinize a specific part of what a child has learnt. Through a child’s entire PYP journey, and the acquisition of various skills, attitudes and attributes, the child going through it is constantly learning and the Exhibition is an assessment to see the development in the child, how does the child work with others? How does the child research? The purpose of this is to teach the child lifelong skills like commitment to work, integrity, and acknowledgment of ideas. The Exhibition assesses the process as well as the product, maybe more. The IB mission is to ultimately graduate caring citizens to make the world a better place.

This is similar to our own ARIS Core Values which is that we are a Diverse Community of Learners seeking to Inspire, Empower and Transform for a Better World.

There is an ancient African Proverb that says – “It takes a village to raise a child”. Affirming that is the dire importance of a whole community involvement in nurturing a child’s educational journey. The Mentor, only assumes one part of the role in guiding students during their Exhibition prep. Teachers as well as Parents should guide their students and children through their Exhibition journey and support them. For example, with sensitive topics with strong opinions like Religious wars and alcoholism and substance abuse, it is important to work together as a community to give guidance to our students for the best possible ethical representation of the topic. Guide, Evaluate and Advise are the 3 Magic Words.

So, what do we gather? The Exhibition is intense, tiring, exciting, self-directed, process driven, rewarding and of course, action provoking. As we get ready to start the Exhibition planning and processes, we request parents to sign their Exhibition contract, understanding what it is and entails, and we wish our students the most beautiful learning journey as they get ready to bid the PYP Goodbye.