21 Oct

What does the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme look like at St. Mary’s?

St. Mary’s offers the 3 year programme, the IBMYP 3. 6th graders are MYP 1 students, 7th graders are in the MYP 2, and 8th graders are in the MYP 3.

St. Mary’s has been authorized by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) to offer the MYP3 since 2008.

We will begin a self-study this year and in the spring of 2017, expect to have an evaluation visit from the IB Organization.

The IB philosophy embraces teaching to maximize student learning. The St. Mary’s educational framework helps us focus teaching and learning around four key international areas while we nurture God’s children and grow together as a faith community. These four key areas are: Communication, International-mindedness, Intercultural awareness and Holistic Learning.

Communication means the students are learning to express themselves by speaking, reading, writing, and using multimedia in English (Language and Literature) and in one or two other languages (Language Acquisition).

International mindedness means we know and act as part of a global community. We think beyond St. Mary’s and Richmond, VA to see how we fit into the world, and what our responsibilities are to the rest of the world.

Intercultural awareness means we challenge our students and ourselves to consider multiple perspectives as we learn.

Holistic learning means that the curriculum enables the child to develop the ten “IB Learner Profile Attributes”, which are:
1. Balanced
2. Caring
3. A communicator
4. An inquirer
5. Knowledgeable
6. Open minded
7. Principled
8. Reflective
9. A risk taker
10. A thinker

In addition, all disciplines are inter-connected. Teachers plan together to ensure that some lessons are taught together by two or more subject teachers, and connections with the other disciplines are frequently made.
For more information, please visit the following site: http://www.ibo.org/en/programmes/middle-years-programme/