IB Middle Years Programme (MYP)

Students learn across eight subject areas concurrently, developing strong disciplinary knowledge through their subjects. They apply and strengthen this through occasional interdisciplinary units, in which students learn and are assessed across different subject groups.

Personal Project

The MYP experience culminates in Grade 9-10 with a student-led Personal Project. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to develop their passions and interests and demonstrate the skills and knowledge they have learned over the course of their MYP studies. The personal project also provides good preparation for the IB Diploma Programme's Extended Essay component. The Personal Project exhibition in spring is an enjoyable and informative showcase of CA student interests and inquiries.

Service Learning
IB Learners are expected to develop a sense of service and action throughout their academic careers. This is particularly encouraged in the MYP, where many service projects, both in-class and beyond, are available. It is expected that students maintain a consistent participation in service and that they reflect on their learning throughput the year.

Interdisciplinary Learning

One of the key features of the MYP is its emphasis on interdisciplinary teaching and learning. The skills learned and experiences had through interdisciplinary learning allow learners to make connections between the knowledge domains in order to better understand the interconnected world around them. Interdisciplinary learning in the MYP can happen at many levels. It can be done as simply as one discipline borrowing skills and/or knowledge from another discipline or as complex as an entire interdisciplinary unit. MYP students will experience an interdisciplinary units at each year level of the MYP as they are seen as essential learning experiences.

Inquiry-based Learning & Assessment

A philosophy of inquiry is the foundation of the MYP. Inquiry learning can be described as critical, reflective thought that is future-focused, considers consequences and is based on the application and evaluation of a solid foundation of knowledge, skills and concepts. An inquiry-based education is knowledge-rich, yet asks students to think critically and reflect with purpose on their learning. This language of inquiry is clearly evident in the assessment objectives and achievement-level descriptors.

Each subject has four assessment criteria that are descriptive outcomes of the objectives of the course. These are published by the IB and are used in all IB World schools offering the MYP.

All assessment tasks are accompanied by a descriptive assessment rubric that outlines the requirements of the task and a task-specific clarification that provides guidance on expectations for success.

Assessed tasks are graded by applying these criterion descriptors, and an achievement level (from 1-8) is awarded for the task.

To determine a student's final course grade, a best-fit approach is used. This considers the total evidence of a student's learning provided by their assessed work. It focuses on the trend in their learning and so does not penalise students for poorer early performances. Averages of scores are not used in MYP.

Assessment in the MYP is a growth-driven process. Formative assessments are opportunities for students to learn, develop their skills, make mistakes and gain feedback for improvement. Summative assessments are used to generate achievement levels for the criteria.

At the end of the reporting period, the best-fit achievement levels are totalled for each of the four assessment criteria. This gives a total score, with a maximum of 32 points. This score is then compared to the grade boundaries and checked against the overall descriptors below.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

The Approaches to Teaching and Learning (ATL) recognize that we are educating the whole student, and that by helping students develop transferable life-long skills they can experience success beyond the school. The five ATL’s, listed below are taught through the units of inquiry and through the wider curriculum, are organized into clusters of skills:

• Thinking Skills

• Communication Skills

• Social Skills

• Self-Management Skills

• Research Skills