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Overview

 

        Star River is committed to providing domestic and Sino-U.S. integrated curriculum for students from Grades 1-9 in its Junior Department. We additionally aim to cultivate individuality, personality, and educational ability through classes and extracurricular activities. We hope for our students to become outstanding young adults with both national and international vision.

        The teaching activities in our Junior Department are designed to cover compulsory education and meet the standards and basic requirements of public primary and junior high schools throughout Shanghai. The coursework places students at the center of its focus through a cooperative and experiential learning environment that encourages inquiry, critical thinking, and the development of creativity through academic pursuits.

        We use a homeroom class system for grades 1-3 in primary school, which utilizes both foreign teachers and Chinese teachers as homeroom teachers. The two cooperate in teaching non-art classes and managing classroom dynamics to create a comprehensive bilingual learning environment for the children. The main subjects for fourth through sixth grades will be taught in in a stratified structure with various class levels to fit different students’ abilities.

        Rich dialogue, interesting content, and independent choices inside and outside class activities are major features of the teaching activities in the Junior Department at Star River. Each semester students have the opportunity to choose to participate in various activities or associations so that they can improve and develop to the full range of their individual potential. These activities can further help students develop their interests, improve their academic ability, and push them to reach their potential.

 

Curriculum

 

Course options: various subject modules +various subjects + various levels of learning

        The courses in SSBS junior department mainly consist of three modules: Chinese curriculum, Sino-US integrated curriculum, and practical activity curriculum. Among them, the Sino-US integrated curriculum includes compulsory courses and elective courses. Students choose elective courses according to their individual learning ability and interests.

        The curriculum system in the junior department covers English, Mathematics, Chinese, Society, Science, Geography, History, Sports, Music, Art, Computer, Ideological and Ethical Growth and other subjects, fully covering content in domestic compulsory education. Such a diverse curriculum ensures that students have much to choose from.

        As students advance in both grade and learning level, the majority of school curricula will be based upon students' learning ability and potential. Academic departments will implement a stratified course system for teaching organization purposes. The curriculum encourages students to tackle increasingly challenging coursework and pursue related courses of personal interest.

 

Taking students as the center: generating interest + "spiral uprising" + interest cultivating

        The junior department curriculum in SSBS focuses on creating a suitable environment for students at different stages, treating students as the core component in developing their educational ability.

        In addition to the standard English and Chinese curriculum in language courses, we have also initiated special reading, writing and presentation courses for students so as to cultivate more targeted training and showcase students’ individual talents. Mathematics curriculum provides cumulative skill-building and applicable material, tailored to the characteristics of students' cognitive levels. The course greatly enhances the students' mathematical knowledge and skills, promoting the development of students' critical thinking skills while cultivating students’ interest in mathematics. Other subjects are also set up following these principles.

        As students advance academically and personally in the junior middle school, many new kinds of subjects will be gradually introduced. The primary school curriculum will be subdivided into social history and geography, and the science courses will be divided into physical, chemical, and biological courses. Thus, we can further develop students' specialization in specific areas after achieving more general knowledge.