Sinarmas World Academy BEST Pathways
Personalised Education with Precision
Starting the 2022/23 school year, Sinarmas World Academy (SWA) is ready to bring a different vibe into teaching and learning activities for its students— through the BEST Pathways programme which was introduced directly by the school during the orientation session for new students and parents, Friday, August 5, 2022, taking place at the Trini Dewi Theatre, Sinarmas World Academy. This programme has a focus on four academic pathways, namely Business, Engineering, Science & Technology, and Arts.
BEST Pathways itself is a programme specifically designed by SWA to support each student to gain knowledge and develop abilities according to their interests and talents—with the ultimate goal of preparing school graduates who are not only successful academically, but also have a lot of experience for their next journey, namely college and career path.
“Through BEST Pathways, SWA is committed to providing support at a personal level so that every child gets a learning experience that is in accordance with their chosen field,” said Deddy Djaja Ria, General Manager of Sinarmas World Academy, in the orientation session. Very carefully designed that takes into account many aspects of children’s learning and development, later this programme will be integrated gradually so that it has a different approach between age levels.
Deddy gave an example, that at an early age, the approach taken will be integrated with the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, a play-based learning curriculum. At this stage, each child will have the same opportunity to try various activities that are presented in the classroom.
“Starting from introducing literacy and numbers, exploring outdoor activities, to utilizing advanced technology and using it to create something new, at this stage SWA encourages every child to be involved in all activities while looking for things that become their interests and talents,” said Deddy.
Continuing in the elementary school stage, this programme will be implemented by studying and analyzing the progress of each student to then become a database used by the academic team to provide additional support according to what each student needs personally. The additional support mentioned will be implemented in the final period each day, or what SWA calls the “9th Period”, which can be chosen by each student differently according to their needs or skills.
“For the 9th Period, the school will provide recommendations to parents regarding the best subjects that suit their children. For example, if there is a child who is not good at English, in this last period, the school will recommend him to take English. On the other hand, if there are children who are very proficient in mathematics, the school will recommend them to take upper level mathematics for the Olympics so that they can hone their skills even more," explained Deddy.
The implementation of the BEST Pathways programme will reach the final phase when children enter the middle and high school age range. At this stage, each student will be introduced in detail to the four academic pathways mentioned earlier: Business, Engineering, Science & Technology, and Arts. Of course, each academic path will require a different combination of subjects and directions.
Confused to choose? No need to worry, because SWA also provides counselors who specifically provide support for each student to choose subjects, extracurriculars, to certifications outside of school that match their talents and interests. Equal support will be provided for students whopreviously studied at SWA, as well as students who have recently transferred from another school to SWA.
Deddy also added that at this stage, the lesson selection process also involved parents. This is intended so that communication between schools, parents, and children is well established so that all can agree and have one common goal for the child's future.
Not only in the early stages, during learning at this level, counselors at SWA will also actively help each student personally to prepare an academic profile for each child to enter college— including to provide guidance and direction on how to get a scholarship according to their chosen university. This process makes the path and way of learning that each student takes will feel unique and different from one another.
In accordance with SWA’S vision to shape the future as a dynamic and global learning community, BEST Pathways is also a programme that continues to grow and evolve from time to time. “Combining the academic database of students and graduates, as well as the world’s developments every year, the school will also continue to learn and grow to be able to provide the most relevant support for today, and even anticipate the needs of students in the future,” concluded Deddy.
In the future, SWA plans to introduce this programme more widely to prospective parents who need modern, inclusive, and dynamic educational support for their children. “Through the BEST Pathways adapted in the teaching and learning system, SWA helps students personally to provide more mature preparation in maximizing the right target area of learning, so that every student who graduates from SWA can become a person who not only shows good academic performance good, but also to be the one who excels in his field,” concluded Deddy.