Within the Curriculum

At the BOS we believe opportunities for personal development and ‘character building’ to be so important that we have built them into our curriculum.

Throughout the school this is reflected in our approach to teaching and learning. We strive for classes to be interactive and engaging, giving children and students the opportunities to contribute, to discuss and to question. In this way, we encourage them to think critically and creatively as they build their knowledge, their understanding and their skills.

We also use the classroom to foster a ‘positive mindset’. Following the work of Carol Dweck, we encourage children and students (and adults) to see themselves as a ‘work in progress’ – always growing, developing and improving. Nothing is “too hard”, although it should be challenging; there is nothing that we “can’t do”, but perhaps we “can’t do it yet”.

In addition, we use our curriculum to develop the ‘whole child’ – especially through music, especially singing; drama; sport and arts and crafts. All of these activities are incorporated into the curriculum on a regular basis: weekly, monthly or termly.

The arts and crafts work is displayed around the school and, in the cases of drama and singing, all that hard work culminates in termly productions or concerts. Similarly, sports events are important parts of our calendar. All of these events, much anticipated by the community, give children the opportunity to perform as well as to develop skills such a leadership, team work and communication.
In the secondary school, we take our commitment to personal development as part of the curriculum one step further via our Co-curricular Programme (CCP) On alternate Wednesday’s through the year the secondary school enhances its usual timetable through our Co-curricular Programme.

For Years 6, 7 and 8 this means an opportunity for cross-curricular learning, personal development sessions or workshops. These are often facilitated by outside providers. Over recent years they have included Beyond the Classroom, the Little Medical School and the Science and Education Centre.

For Years 9, 10 and 11 CCP offers an opportunity to undertake community service in Karachi. On ‘CCP days’ our students go out to various charitable organisations to work with people less fortunate than themselves. Organisations have included: the Mobile School, Karachi Vocational Training Centre, Dar-ul-Sukun and Ujala. This is a chance for BOS students to escape the ‘bubble’ in which we live, to gain a better understanding of everyday life in their city and to contribute to improvement of that life. But, as importantly, it helps them to gain a better perspective on their own lives, values and goals.