International Baccalaureate in the Junior School

Wayne Revitt Head of Junior School

The Penrhos Junior School is now a Candidate School for the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) Primary Years Program (PYP).

Why, you might ask? We want your children to find the fun in learning, to make their own adventure and be a force for good in the wider world. Importantly, there are no ceilings with our approach – and I hope the following background on the IB PYP helps you understand how we will facilitate this for your daughter(s), with a new framework for teaching and learning.

As a candidate school, this means we will commence the authorisation process administered by the IBO; then we are able to call ourselves an IB World School and can officially deliver the IB Primary Years Program. This process can take anything up to two years and results in a high-quality program for families.

The new Penrhos Strategic Plan, soon to be released to the whole school community, is well aligned with the philosophy of the IB. In fact, the combination of the IB, the Penrhos Round Square Program and the College Strategic Plan form a strong, well rounded and progressive education for our students.

The International Baccalaureate Organisation aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the IBO works with schools, governments and international organisations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment. These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right. Our teaching and learning programs will incorporate both the WA curriculum (School Curriculum and Standards Authority) and the International Baccalaureate. Recognised around the world, an IB education is valued in an increasingly global context. With a focus on each student as a whole person, the IB PYP addresses not only academic development; but also social, emotional and physical growth of our students.

An IB education has a focus on the awareness of different cultural perspectives. It considers what the global impact could be if schools successfully develop leaders who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right; and how that might positively benefit a world where conflict regularly emerges from cultural, religious, economic, and political differences.

The Primary Years Program

The PYP is designed for students aged from three to 12. It focuses on encouraging children to be interested and motivated in their own learning by helping them to investigate subjects that they have a natural curiosity about. Students are encouraged to make connections between disparate sources of information and increase their understanding of how the world works.

This inquiry-based approach enables pupils to build on their existing knowledge, with an emphasis on learning how to learn. The PYP curriculum is designed to ensure that children continue with a strong grounding in the traditional basics of literacy and numeracy, while placing emphasis on communication skills, problem-solving skills, teamwork, and the ability to apply learning to new situations.

For Penrhos, implementing the Primary Years Program won’t change our strong evidence-based literacy and numeracy (single subject) programs. We believe that explicit instruction is important and ongoing assessment of literacy and numeracy development is paramount in providing an excellent education. We will continue to communicate the progress of your daughter(s) with our regular formal and informal assessment and reporting schedule.

PYP learners know how to take ownership of their learning, collaborate with others and deepen understanding. They become self-regulated learners who can act on constructive feedback and explore their wonderings about people and events. With six transdisciplinary themes, students strengthen their learning through conceptual understandings, building knowledge and skills between subject areas.

IB learners are:

• encouraged to think critically and solve complex problems • drive their own learning • more culturally aware through the development of a second language • able to engage with people in an increasingly globalised and rapidly changing world.

The IB PYP is committed to the development of students according to the IB learner profile. The profile aims to develop learners who are:

• Inquirers • Knowledgeable • Thinkers • Communicators • Principled • Open-minded • Caring • Risk-takers • Balanced • Reflective

Six transdisciplinary themes

All units of inquiry come under the following six transdisciplinary themes of global significance. These themes enable our staff to teach the relevant subjects; for example health, science, technology or humanities - in the one unit of inquiry.

This approach is more authentic, enables the interests and the curiosity of our students to be honoured and is simply good practice. This is also not unusual for our staff – many of our year groups are already adopting an inquiry approach. The PYP provides a comprehensive framework for this, moving forward. The PYP themes:

- Who we are - Where we are in place and time - How we express ourselves - How the world works - How we organise ourselves - Sharing the planet

These themes are mapped against the Western Australian Curriculum to ensure curriculum content prescribed by the Department of Education is covered. We believe the PYP allows us to do this in a richer, more vibrant way, that places your child at the centre of their learning.

As we implement these themes at Penrhos, you will see these clearly displayed in classrooms, so we are all aware of the learning taking place in each year group. You may well have some expertise in a particular unit of inquiry; if so, please connect with your class teacher. As a Penrhos parent, you are an integral part of our learning community.

The IB PYP and Wellbeing

A study by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) found that students in the IB Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) demonstrated consistently higher levels of wellbeing than those educated outside the program.

The IB commissioned ACER to investigate the impact of the IB PYP analysed data from PYP and similar non-PYP schools. 56 PYP schools around Australia contributed data. The report concluded that the higher levels of wellbeing displayed by PYP students compared with their non-PYP peers conferred an advantage equivalent to around three months of additional development.

We will provide seminars for our families on the IB PYP in 2023. I hope that by providing you with the information above, you have further insight into the benefit of the IB PYP. We will continue to work together and provide you with ongoing updates into next year and beyond.

The future looks bright!