A guide to Cambridge Primary

Primary age children laughing

The Cambridge Primary Approach

Welcome to Cambridge Primary. This self-study guide will give you an overview of the programme. It will also guide you through the materials and support available, and tell you where you can find out more.

Cambridge Primary starts learners on an exciting educational journey, setting out what they should be able to know and do at each stage of their primary education. The programme is designed to help learners develop the skills they need to succeed in their primary education and progress to Cambridge Lower Secondary, the next stage of learning.

Five elements lie at the heart of a Cambridge education:

  • international curriculum
  • teaching and learning
  • assessment
  • international recognition
  • global community.

A broad and balanced programme

The programme develops skills and understanding in a wide range of subjects including English, Mathematics and Science. It is designed to help you deliver a broad and balanced curriculum that suits your schools' context, culture and ethos.

We believe education is most effective when curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment are closely aligned. For effective teaching and learning, there needs to be coherence between the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Therefore, we have designed Cambridge Primary around this principle.

Curriculum

The learning objectives in the Cambridge Primary Curriculum Frameworks define the content for teaching and learning.  You can tailor the content to your learners' needs. It is also flexible, and can be taught alongside local and national curricula. You can teach as many or as few subjects as you wish.

Pedagogy

Each subject is supported by an extensive range of high-quality teaching and learning resources, and a choice of assessments. These are all directly aligned to the learning objectives in the Curriculum Frameworks to make sure all aspects of our programme are coherent.

Assessment

We offer a range of optional assessments to help you prove and improve learning:

  • Potential: Our Cambridge CEM baseline and diagnostic assessments help measure and benchmark learners’ potential (Cambridge Primary Insight).
  • Progress: Use Cambridge Primary Progression Tests to check learners’ progress in Stages 3, 4, 5 and 6. They are updated annually and marked in school.
  • Achieve: Monitor individual and group performance at the end of the Cambridge Primary programme using Cambridge Checkpoint tests. See how your learners are performing in comparison to the rest of their class and against an international benchmark. We mark the tests.

Cambridge Primary Progression Tests and Cambridge Primary Checkpoint are developed in parallel with the Curriculum Frameworks. This means you can be sure that your learners will be tested on the content you have covered in the classroom.

The Cambridge Primary Approach

Welcome to Cambridge Primary. This self-study guide will give you an overview of the programme. It will also guide you through the materials and support available, and tell you where you can find out more.

Cambridge Primary starts learners on an exciting educational journey, setting out what they should be able to know and do at each stage of their primary education. The programme is designed to help learners develop the skills they need to succeed in their primary education and progress to Cambridge Lower Secondary, the next stage of learning.

Cambridge Pathway diagram

Five elements lie at the heart of a Cambridge education:

  • international curriculum
  • teaching and learning
  • assessment
  • international recognition
  • global community.

A broad and balanced programme

The programme develops skills and understanding in a wide range of subjects including English, Mathematics and Science. It is designed to help you deliver a broad and balanced curriculum that suits your schools' context, culture and ethos.

We believe education is most effective when curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment are closely aligned. For effective teaching and learning, there needs to be coherence between the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Therefore, we have designed Cambridge Primary around this principle.

Curriculum

The learning objectives in the Cambridge Primary Curriculum Frameworks define the content for teaching and learning.  You can tailor the content to your learners' needs. It is also flexible, and can be taught alongside local and national curricula. You can teach as many or as few subjects as you wish.

Pedagogy

Each subject is supported by an extensive range of high-quality teaching and learning resources, and a choice of assessments. These are all directly aligned to the learning objectives in the Curriculum Frameworks to make sure all aspects of our programme are coherent.

Assessment

We offer a range of optional assessments to help you prove and improve learning:

  • Potential: Our Cambridge CEM baseline and diagnostic assessments help measure and benchmark learners’ potential (Cambridge Primary Insight).
  • Progress: Use Cambridge Primary Progression Tests to check learners’ progress in Stages 3, 4, 5 and 6. They are updated annually and marked in school.
  • Achieve: Monitor individual and group performance at the end of the Cambridge Primary programme using Cambridge Checkpoint tests. See how your learners are performing in comparison to the rest of their class and against an international benchmark. We mark the tests.
Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment diagram

Cambridge Primary Progression Tests and Cambridge Primary Checkpoint are developed in parallel with the Curriculum Frameworks. This means you can be sure that your learners will be tested on the content you have covered in the classroom.

Developing the Cambridge Learner Attributes

The concept of a ‘Cambridge learner’ helps us communicate attributes we believe are important for learners in the modern world. We recognise that a meaningful curriculum is more than a collection of subjects. Learners need to develop a set of academic skills, life skills and attitudes to be successful. Cambridge learners are:

Confident in working with information and ideas – their own and those of others

Responsible for themselves, responsive to and respectful of others

Reflective as learners, developing their ability to learn

Innovative and equipped for new and future challenges

Engaged intellectually and socially, ready to make a difference

Cambridge Learner attributes diagram

Primary age girl in green top reading a book

Cambridge Support and Training

We believe that supporting teachers in their professional development leads to improved outcomes for learners. Good-quality training and reflective practice are essential parts of a teacher’s professional life.

You can choose from a number of different resources and professional development opportunities for teachers according to your experience and needs:

Education briefs and animations Explore important themes in education and why they’re important.

Getting started with guides Learn about different teaching and learning concepts, like assessment for learning, mentoring and metacognition.

Professional Development courses Find the right course that meets your needs and connect with teachers around the world to engage in dialogue beyond your classrooms.

Evaluation tools and services

Cambridge Teacher and School Leader standards Use our standards of effective teaching and leadership to evaluate your current practice and diagnose your professional development needs.

Cambridge Teacher Standards
Cambridge School Leader Standards

School Self-Evaluation service Use evidence and stakeholder data to review your school’s performance, identifying both strengths and ways of becoming more effective .

Cambridge School Self-Evaluation Domains

Community

Our School Support Hub contains a community area where Cambridge teachers worldwide can share ideas or simply ask questions. We have introduced forums for each subject. The subject forums are moderated by us, so if you post questions specifically for Cambridge International we will answer them.

The Cambridge Primary subject forums:

  • host interesting discussions on different aspects of teaching
  • are supported by expert Primary moderators
  • provide opportunities to talk to over 30 000 Cambridge teachers around the world
  • contain discussion topics clearly visible in ‘threads’, so it is easier to follow a conversation.

To participate in discussions in our Cambridge Primary subject forums, go to the Forums page on our School Support Hub. You can use the same username and password for both the School Support Hub and the Cambridge Primary Support Site.

For more information contact us: info@cambridgeinternational.org

Stay updated on exciting changes and additions to the Cambridge Primary programme on the Messages page of our support site.

Cambridge Support and Training

We believe that supporting teachers in their professional development leads to improved outcomes for learners. Good-quality training and reflective practice are essential parts of a teacher’s professional life.

You can choose from a number of different training and professional development opportunities for teachers according to your experience and needs:

Education briefs and animations Explore important themes in education and why they’re important.

Getting started with guides Learn about different teaching and learning concepts, like assessment for learning, mentoring and metacognition.

Professional Development courses Find the right course that meets your needs and connect with teachers around the world to engage in dialogue beyond your classrooms.

Evaluation tools and services

Cambridge Teacher and School Leader standards Use our standards of effective teaching and leadership to evaluate your current practice and diagnose your professional development needs.

Cambridge Teacher Standards
Cambridge School Leader Standards

School Self-Evaluation service Use evidence and stakeholder data to review your school’s performance, identifying both strengths and ways of becoming more effective .

Cambridge School Self-Evaluation Domains

Community

Our School Support Hub contains a community area where Cambridge teachers worldwide can share ideas or simply ask questions. We have introduced forums for each subject. The subject forums are moderated by us, so if you post questions specifically for Cambridge International we will answer them.

The Cambridge Primary subject forums:

  • host interesting discussions on different aspects of teaching
  • are supported by expert Primary moderators
  • provide opportunities to talk to over 30 000 Cambridge teachers around the world
  • contain discussion topics clearly visible in ‘threads’, so it is easier to follow a conversation.

To participate in discussions in our Cambridge Primary subject forums, go to the Forums page on our School Support Hub. You can use the same username and password for both the School Support Hub and the Cambridge Primary Support Site.

For more information contact us: info@cambridgeinternational.org

Stay updated on exciting changes and additions to the Cambridge Primary programme on the Messages page of our support site.