Yochisha’s Educational Policy
Yochisha Elementary’s integrated approach to education emphasizes having a single homeroom teacher to oversee the general progress of their students over our 6-year curriculum, while employing multiple specialized instructors to focus more on the particular aspects of their learning.
Homeroom Teachers
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01Helping Students Grow throughout All Six Years
One of the most important features of how Yochisha Elementary approaches education is that the homeroom teacher remains with the same class for all six years. Every child’s growth and intellectual development is unique. Through the six-year system, the homeroom teacher can oversee their development for a student’s entire time in elementary school, giving them more insight and time to understand each individual. During this time of shared experience and mentoring, the children develop lifelong friendships with their teachers and each other.
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02Flexible Education that Encourages Independence in Students
The homeroom teachers have a great deal of freedom over the content of their classes, so their teaching materials and methods may differ year by year and class by class. This allows homeroom teachers to engage fully with the needs of a class and develop teaching methods and lessons that encourage their students’ independence. Teachers are also committed to building trust with students while managing their classrooms. Students are also encouraged to learn independently as they encounter intellectually stimulating ideas throughout their studies.
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03Developing Learning Opportunities in Both Small and Large Group Settings
At Yochisha Elementary, there are 36 children in each class (24 boys and 12 girls) and four classes in each grade. In some subjects, classes are further divided into two or three smaller groups to allow for even more individualized attention for students.
However, we do not believe that all classes should be small. To give students more autonomy in the school, sports days and other school-wide competitions are organized on an inter-class basis. On these occasions, the larger groups allow students to work on their social skills and ability to tackle challenges as a team. Yochisha Elementary works to mix together opportunities to collaborate in both small and large group-settings as appropriate to the occasion.
Class Subjects
Some parents may be concerned that having the same homeroom teacher for the entire six years of elementary school may limit their child’s opportunities to interact with a variety of teachers. Yochisha Elementary makes up for this by implementing a well-developed curriculum of class subjects. The homeroom teachers are responsible for Japanese, social studies, mathematics, general studies, and some physical education; whereas other subjects are taught by specialized instructors who have expertise in their respective discipline.
In the 2023 academic year, the school had 50 full-time teachers (including 24 specialized instructors), 24 part-time teachers (covering science, music, arts & crafts, physical education, English, IT, calligraphy, and general studies), and one librarian on staff. This large pool of teachers enables us to offer subjects typically reserved for later grades from the first year of the our students’ education (with the exception of science and calligraphy).