IB Diploma Programme at St Julian's

A careers guidance programme, a personal student futures' advisor and a tutor and support tutor are used to assist students with career and university counselling and to help with personal, academic and social issues.  Various programmes exist to prepare students for university life, including visits by university admissions teams and specialists in other areas.  

Experience has shown that IB Diploma holders gain admission to universities of their choice throughout the world.  These include prominent institutions in the UK’s Russell group, such as Imperial, UCL, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Oxford, King’s College, Warwick & LSE; top-ranked N. American universities like Harvard, U.Pennsylvania, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown;  Stanford, McGill; York & Toronto; and EU universities such as Erasmus, Rotterdam; Sorbonne; Delft; Bocconi; Louvain; Parsons, Paris & Navarra.

Since 2011, St Julian's IB graduates have attended the following universities:

PORTUGAL: Univ. Católica; Faculdade. Belas Artes; Univ. Lisboa; IADE; Instítuto Superior Técnico; Univ. Lusíada; Univ. Nova; Egas Moniz

UK: Aberdeen; Bath; Bournemouth;  Brighton; Bristol; Cambridge; Cardiff; City; Edinburgh; Essex; Exeter; Glasgow; Goldsmith’s; Hull York Medical;  Imperial; Kent; Kings College; Kingston; Lancaster; Leeds; Leicester; LSE; Manchester; Newcastle; Nottingham; Oxford Brooks; Reading;  Royal Holloway; Royal Veterinary College; Sheffield; SOAS;  Southampton; Stirling; Surrey; University of Arts, London; University College London; Warwick ; Westminster; York   

USA: Boston University; Dickinson College; Emory University; Georgia Tech; George Washington University; Johns Hopkins; MIT; Mount Holyoke College; Roger Williams College; Southern Methodist University; Wake Forest University; University of Illinois, Urbana; University of Iowa, Dubuque.

OTHER:  Bocconi University, Milan; Charles University, Prague;  Complutense, Madrid; CUNEF, Madrid; Delft University of Technology; Ecole Hôtelière Lausanne, Switzerland; Ecole Supérieure de Publicité, Paris; Erasmus University; Rotterdam; Humanitas, Milan; IE University, Segovia; Istituto Marangoni, London; ISADE, Barcelona; U. Lund, Sweden;  Mc Gill, Montreal; Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Rio de Janeiro;  San Raffaele, Milan; St Mary’s University, Nova Scotia, Canada; Université de Louvain, Belgium.

The following subjects are offered at St Julian’s.  Please note the following:

• A subject may be withdrawn if student demand is minimal (five students or fewer).

• The school may be able to facilitate tuition in other languages in Groups 1 but this cannot be guaranteed.

1. Studies in Language and Literature:

• Literature English/Portuguese (HL/SL)

• Language and Literature English/Portuguese/Spanish/Chinese  (HL/SL)     

• Another Language (HL/SL) 

2.  Language Acquisition

• English B (HL/SL)

• French B (HL/SL)

• Portuguese B (HL/SL)

• Spanish  B (HL/SL)

• Spanish ab initio (SL)

• German B (HL/SL)

3.  Individuals and Societies 

• Business Management (HL/SL)

• Economics (HL/SL) 

• Geography (HL/SL)

• Environmental Systems and Societies (SL)

• History (HL/SL)

• Psychology (HL/SL)

• Digital Societies (HL/SL)  

4. Sciences

• Biology (HL/SL)

• Computer Science (HL/SL)

• Chemistry (HL/SL)

• Environmental Systems and Societies (HL/SL)

• Physics (HL/SL)  

• Design Technology (HL/SL) 

• Sports, Exercise and Health Science (HL/SL) 

5.  Mathematics

• Mathematics: Analysis and approaches (HL/SL)

• Mathematics: Applications and Interpretation (HL/ SL)

6.  The Arts

• Music (HL/SL)

• Theatre  (HL/SL)

• Visual Arts (HL/SL)

Three of the six subjects must be taken at Higher Level (HL), the other three at Standard Level (SL).  Please note that not all subjects are available at both Higher and Standard Levels.

All IB Diploma candidates are required to study one subject from each group.  

However, there are some alternative ways to structure the Diploma. 

• Two Arts subjects can be taken if ESS is also selected. In this case ESS will be considered as both an individuals and societies AND a science subject

• A second subject from the Individuals and Societies Group or the Sciences Group (HL/SL) can be taken instead of an Arts subject

• Students must select at least one language from the studies in language and literature group

• The second language can be from the language aqcuisition group or the studies in language and literature group

• A third language (HL/SL) from the studies in language and literature or the language acquisition group can be taken instead of an Arts subject

Subject descriptions for each course are available on this site. Parents and students will have the opportunity to discuss any of these subjects with the Heads of Faculty/Department at the Subject Specific Options Evening (for the class of May 2026 this will be on 25th January 2024). 

Successful completion in all of the Core subjects is an essential requirement in the IB Diploma. 

Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) should be completed satisfactorily and, students are required to achieve grade D or above in the Extended Essay (EE) and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) in order to be awarded an IB Diploma.

For students making applications to Portuguese universities TOK and EE make a specific contribution to university entry requirement. Further information is available from Ms Paula Santos (Portuguese Universities Advisor) psantos@stjulians.com. 

For further information follow the links below:

Extended Essay

Creativity, Activity, Service: CAS

Theory of Knowledge: TOK