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Your Journey to Black Belt
At Kuroten, we realise that there is a massive difference between a 6 year old and a 12 year old. There is also a big difference between a 12 year old and an adult. For this reason we teach 3 different syllabuses.
Infant Syllabus
6-7 years
Our Infant syllabus is for children generally aged 6 - 7 years old. The cubs work towards infant grades which are represented by white belts with coloured stripes running through them. There are 4 infant belts to earn which all build up to a junior 9th kyu red belt. Children of this age need to have a visual representation of continuous progress to help them stay motivated. This syllabus is designed to help them gain the skills that they need to grade for a junior belt but breaks it down into stages, so that they can still achieve this whilst their coordination, focus, memory and listening skills improve.
Junior Syllabus
7 – 15 years
Our Junior syllabus for children aged 7 - 15 years helps children begin to learn karate at a level appropriate to them. Juniors have 9 kyu grade belts ranging from red to black. Our junior grades all have a white stripe going through the centre of their belt to indicate that they hold a junior grade.
The syllabus contains a lot of what we teach adults, however children are not expected to learn it as quickly, so the junior grading system also allows us to take into account a child’s age whilst assessing them. There is less contact than in an adult class and we omit certain techniques and information from their training until they are old enough to safely understand and process it all.
Adult Syllabus
15 years +
Adults still have a grading sheet that they bring to every class, allowing us to sign off techniques and mark progress, however they don’t receive interim stripes on their belt. Adults really appreciate being able to see what they need to learn and what they need to practise outside of the dojo. Once they have all of their techniques signed off they are invited to grade.
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Like the juniors our adults have 9 kyu grade belts before reaching black belt, however they are awarded full colour belts. Adults are expected to learn our full syllabus, we do however make accommodations for health conditions and take age into consideration. It is not unusual for us to have adults starting karate for the first time with us when they are in their 50s or 60s, so we appreciate there will be a difference in fitness from those in their 20s.
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Students who have moved up from our cadet class are reassessed as an adult; generally students ask to keep their junior belt until they have reached the equivalent adult grade and they are ready to take an adult grading.
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Gradings are normally held within class time up to the grade of 1st Kyu brown belt, these are formal occasions with a grading panel. However the rest of the class get behind anyone who is grading, supporting them throughout, cheering them on and encouraging them every step of the way.
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All black belt gradings are held at the weekend with a panel of instructors.
Infant & Junior Continuous Assessment
Infant, junior and cadet gradings are conducted by continuous assessment up until the grade of Junior purple belt. The students have a grading sheet that they bring to every class. Once a student can perform a technique to the required level without any assistance, we will sign it off of their sheet. The techniques are broken down into different colours indicating the level of difficulty, some techniques are written in red, some in yellow, some in green etc. Once a student has all of the red techniques signed off they receive a red stripe on their belt, once they have all the yellow things signed off they receive a yellow stripe etc.
These are all milestones that are celebrated within the club and help children to see continued progression and keep them motivated and practising at home. Once they have all of their techniques signed off they will be awarded their belt and certificate during their next class!
Junior and cadet belt gradings from brown belt and above are formal assessments and held outside of normal class time, generally at the weekend.
