What is the International Baccalaureate Organization?
“The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a non-profit educational foundation, motivated by its mission, focused on the student. Our four programs for students aged 3 to 10 help develop the intellectual, personal, emotional, and social skills to live, learn, and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Founded in 1968, we currently work with 3,662 schools in 146 countries to develop and offer four challenging programs to over 1,132,000 students aged 3 to 19 years.” To learn more, please click www.ibo.org
The mission statement of the International Baccalaureate Organization
The International Baccalaureate Organization 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 organizations 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.
What are the beliefs and values that drive the International Baccalaureate Programs?
The aim of all IB programs, PYP, MYP, and Diploma, is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet help to create a better and more peaceful world through action.
The Primary Years Program (PYP) at J. C. E.
J.C.E. became an International Baccalaureate candidate school in 2011 and in August 2014 received official I.B. World School status. The entire school community has embraced the IB ideals to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world.
Through the exploration of the six IB transdisciplinary themes, students develop inquiry skills to become global citizens and “learners for life.” Our students become internationally-minded by developing the ten IB attributes of the learner profile which are: inquirer, knowledgeable, balanced, open-minded, principled, risk-taker, caring, reflective, thinker, and communicator.
J.C.E. students receive a well-rounded education by attending Spanish, Art, Music, and Physical Education classes during their school day. Through these weekly classes, students in grades K-5 have the opportunity to develop the IB Attitudes such as creativity, respect, cooperation, and confidence.
Students are encouraged to put their learning into action at J. Colin English Elementary. A main component of the IB PYP is the Action Cycle where children choose, act, and reflect on what they have learned through their units of inquiry. These actions show the internalization of learning. Even a small act can make a big impact.
What are our students learning?
Units of inquiry are developed using the six transdisciplinary themes of IB which are: How we organize ourselves, Who we are, Sharing the planet, How the world works, Where we are in place and time, and How we express ourselves. Each unit of inquiry lasts four to six weeks and allows for a variety of classroom subjects to be integrated, which allows students to make connections in their learning.