IB Evaluation Feedback

In March of this year, the College participated in an International Baccalaureate Evaluation. This involved all of the College's stakeholders carefully considering how we implement the Primary Years Programme (K-5), the Middle Years Programme (6-8) and the Diploma Programme (11-12). The culminating event was a three day visit from an IBO evaluation team.

This week we have received the formal feedback on the MYP and PYP programmes. Through the leadership of our PYP coordinator, Mr Warwick Norman and our MYP coordinator Mrs Sophie Berry, I am delighted to report that we have much to be proud of as a College.

Within the Primary Years Programme, the IB evaluators commended us on areas including:

• The school is commended for ensuring the values of the PYP remain at the centre of all decision making.
• The school is commended for promoting and demonstrating respect, open communication and understanding between all community members.
• The pedagogical leadership team is commended for demonstrating service leadership and providing significant support, guidance and mentoring to staff in order to ensure effective implementation of the programme.
• The school is commended for ensuring that staff have access to professional development beyond the requirements and for implementing a professional development plan that strengthens teachers' understanding of the programme.
• The school is commended for ensuring that the librarian and the library team's active participation in regular collaborative planning meetings and for the ongoing support of the programme.
• The school is commended for enhancing the academic support programme to support students in the development of the PYP. The academic support team has spent considerable time researching and adopting new practices, such as the Extending Mathematical Understanding programme, which promotes an inclusive and evidence based approach to support for students and teachers.
• The school is commended for making optimal use of information technologies in teaching and learning situations.

Within the Middle Years Programme, the IB evaluators commended us on areas including:

• The school has established a culture of open communication across the school community.
• The headmaster and MYP coordinator demonstrate effective pedagogical leadership which supports the ongoing development of the programme.
• The school council has prioritised teaching and learning over capital works to ensure the ongoing development of the programme.
• The librarian's role includes responsibilities related to the development and support of the MYP.
• The school has implemented a range of strategies so that collaborative planning and reflection involves support staff as well as MYP teachers to enhance development of cross-curricular skills.
• The school is commended for the use of a range of technologies community resources to enhance teaching and learning.
• Learning experiences in every subject engage students in reflecting on how, what and why they are learning.
• Teachers in all subject groups regularly provide opportunities for students to participate in, and reflect on, the assessment of their work.

The Diploma Programme feedback is still forthcoming and I look forward to sharing this with our community when we receive it.

I would like to thank all of the College Council, staff, parents and students who contributed to the evaluation visit itself along with the work of the entire College prior to the visit itself. The IB evaluation is a rigorous process with rigorous standards that occurs every five years and only applies to schools who take on the IB programmes. The support we have from the community is sincerely valued.

I would also like to thank Mr John Stewart and Mr Richard Ledger for their leadership and support throughout the process, as the leaders of their respective sub-schools they do a great deal to drive the constant improvement of the teaching and learning programmes for our boys.

Mr Peter Allen
Director of Teaching and Learning