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IB Middle Years Programme

Grades 6 to 10

Glenlyon Norfolk School is proud to be authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) in Grades 6 to 10, a rich academic program that is designed to shape our students into reflective, critical thinkers as well as confident, capable global citizens who are well-prepared to move on with confidence in their learning.

What is the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme?

The IB MYP is intended to help students develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills they need to participate actively and responsibly in a changing and increasingly interrelated world. The programme focuses on the education of the whole person, emphasizing the importance of a broad and balanced education.

All GNS students in Grades 6 to 10 fully participate in the IB MYP, which provides a framework for the delivery of the provincial curriculum in 8 subject areas. Student learning is assessed using a criterion-related approach established by the IBO, which represents a philosophy of assessment that aims to support and encourage student learning by providing feedback throughout the learning process through formative and summative assessment.

Benefits of IB MYP

The MYP provides a well-rounded education that:

Focuses on the whole student

The intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being are at the centre of the MYP learning model.

Provides a global education

Students learn to understand and manage the complexities of our world and are provided with the skills and attitudes they need in order to take responsible action for the future.

Makes interdisciplinary connections

Teachers focus on developing a breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding throughout the study of eight subject areas.

Encourages intercultural understanding

Students engage in the study of at least two languages to help them understand their own culture and that of others.

Encourages learning through action

Service learning projects empower students to make meaningful contributions to their communities.

Creates opportunities for personal inquiry

The Grade 10 Personal Project empowers students to undertake an independent project in an area of personal interest.

Fast Facts

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MYP Featured News

IB MYP Essentials – Why is inter-disciplinary learning so important?

Inter-disciplinary learning reflects the interconnected nature of the real world. By integrating multiple subject areas, your child will learn how different topics and skills are relevant to each other and to their lives beyond the classroom.

Conceptual Teaching and Learning with Global Contexts

Units of study are structured around concepts in different contexts. Teachers design units around important global issues using the IB Global Contexts to establish a focus for meaningful teaching and learning, and key and related concepts engage students in higher-order thinking, which helps them to connect facts and topics with more complex conceptual understanding.

gns students at table

gns students working together in chemistry class

Approaches to Learning Skills

Starting in the PYP and continuing through the MYP and beyond, students develop five important skill groups to become confident, independent, self-managed learners for life.

All teaching is aimed at helping students develop competencies for research, critical and creative thinking, collaboration, communication, and self-management. These skills transfer between classes and can be considered the “tools for learning.”

Grade 10 Personal Project

The Personal Project provides students with the opportunity to exhibit aptitude and passion for a topic of their choosing. This final project encourages students to practice and strengthen their approaches to learning skills, to consolidate subject-specific learning and to develop an area of personal interest.

Each student selects a topic that challenges, motivates and interests them and develops their personal project independently.

All students are assigned a teacher advisor who guides them through the process of developing ideas, researching, designing, exhibiting the project and reflecting on their learning.

student standing in front personal project

Approaches to Learning Skills

Starting in the PYP and continuing through the MYP and beyond, students develop five important skill groups to become confident, independent, self-managed learners for life.

Critical Thinking
How can I think critically?

Creative Thinking
How can I be creative?

Transfer Skills
How can I transfer skills and knowledge across subjects and disciplines?

Thinking

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Interaction
How can I communicate through interaction?

Language
How can I communicate through language?

Communication

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Collaboration Skills
How can I collaborate well with my peers?
How can I encourage other to participate?
How can I give and receive meaningful feedback?

Social

Organization Skills
How can I demonstrate organizational skills?

Affective Skills
How can I manage my own state of mind?

Reflective Skills
How can I be reflective?

Self-Management

Information Literacy
How can I demonstrate information literacy?

Media Literacy
How can I demonstrate media literacy?

Research

FAQs

All MYP courses meet BC Ministry of Education content and curriculum requirements. Beyond this, each MYP course at GNS is delivered through an inquiry framework. For each unit of study, a statement of inquiry, key concepts and global context are used to help students understand the complexities of our world and address students’ intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being. The structure of the MYP can benefit all ability levels and learning styles and provides opportunities for students to ensure breadth and depth of knowledge. Further to this, all MYP courses help students to develop key strengths in the Approaches to Learning Skills of communication, social, self-management, research and thinking.

MYP assessment is referred to as a “criterion-related” approach, which represents a philosophy of assessment that is neither “norm-referenced” (where students must be compared to each other and to an expected distribution of achievement) nor “criterion-referenced” (where students must master all strands of specific criteria at lower achievement levels before they can be considered to have achieved the next level). Instead, it aims to support and encourage student learning by providing feedback throughout the learning process via formative and summative assessment, which will ultimately inform the teaching practice as well.

In order to provide students with opportunities to achieve at the highest level, the subject teacher will develop rigorous summative tasks that embrace a variety of assessment strategies using IB-prescribed assessment criteria. These criteria are known in advance by students, ensuring that the assessment is transparent.

In each year of the MYP, students take a course in 8 subject areas:

  • Language and Literature (L&L)
  • Individuals and Societies (I&S)
  • Sciences
  • Mathematics
  • Design
  • Physical and Health Education (PHE)
  • Language Acquisition (French, Spanish, Mandarin, English)
  • Performing Arts (Theater, Visual Arts, Band, Choir)

Not at all. One advantage of the structure and delivery of the MYP, and the exceptional teachers at GNS, is that we are able to meet students wherever they are in their experience and learning and then help each student to build their individual skillset from there.

As the IB MYP provides an inquiry framework through which to deliver the BC Ministry of Education content and curriculum, all courses delivered at GNS in Grades 6 through 10 are fully engaged in the IB Middle Years Programme.

At GNS, the Middle Years Programme begins in Grade 6, immediately after the end of the Primary Years Programme (PYP) in Grade 5. Students continue to build upon their skills of inquiry and the Approaches to Learning Skills that they were introduced to in the PYP.

If you have other questions about completing the IB MYP at GNS, please contact Gina Simpson, our IB MYP Coordinator (gsimpson@mygns.ca).