Paving the way forward

Virtual Reality set to become a central feature of Vernus International School’s curriculum as the school moves into year 2 with a strong parent community in Dubai Silicon Oasis.

Vernus International School continues to create new and exciting ways to deliver the rigors of the US Curriculum. This year, children will be immersed in virtual reality experiences, as the school has developed teacher guides, aligned to the California Curriculum. Vernus recognises that in today’s world, children need a variety of skills and dispositions to succeed in future employment, higher education, and to be positive, active members of society.

Virtual Reality allows teachers to immerse their students in immersive experiences of the natural world. In a single VR experience, students can visit Petra and experience a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Children can also see where the Nabataean people lived around the 6th century BC. This strategy is designed to get students to formulate questions instead of answering them. This will promote lateral thinking and curiosity. The school has already adopted a project based learning approach to the curriculum, and the virtual reality experiences will complement the popular approach.

The teacher guides are separated into sensory and learning experiences so the children develop a range of critical thinking, and literacy skills, and most importantly, have fun.

Commenting on the school’s popularity moving into year 2, founding principal, Heath Bailey, said: “We’re excited about the new academic year, and the curriculum experiences that children will get. Virtual Reality allows children to be immersed in experiences that are memorable, and they bring the curriculum to life. We’ve aligned these experiences to the California Curriculum, and our project based learning approach so that there is genuine rigour in the curriculum and resources. This 360 approach to learning has proven to be popular with local parents, who have long sought a different type of education, and one that focussed on life skills, creativity, and true innovation through project based learning.”

The Vernus Passport captures the core pillars of literacy, learning, and life skills, mapped to the California State Standards, infused with project based learning, and enriched with dimensions that enable children to develop strong character traits. This model underpins everything the school does starting from curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning perspective.