IB Middle Years Programme
The MYP is designed for students aged 11 to 16. It provides a framework of learning that encourages students to become creative, critical and reflective thinkers. The MYP emphasizes intellectual challenge, encouraging students to make connections between their studies in traditional subjects and the real world. It fosters the development of skills for communication, intercultural understanding and global engagement - essential qualities for young people who are becoming global leaders. The MYP is flexible enough to accommodate most national or local curriculum requirements. It builds upon the knowledge, skills and attitudes developed in the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) and prepares students to meet the academic challenges of the IB Diploma Programme (DP).
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Curriculum Overview:
The MYP consists of eight subject groups: language acquisition, language and literature, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical and health education, and design. Student study is supported by a minimum of 50 hours of instruction per subject group in each academic year.
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The programme of study gives an overview of the content to be studied for the year in each discipline. The British National Curriculum forms the backbone of the programmes of study in MYP 1 - 3, while also incorporating other elements, such as the necessary requirements of the Ministério de Educação (MEC) for all schools here in Brazil.
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In MYP 4 and MYP 5, IGCSE course content is used as the basis for the curriculum. The IGCSE is a two year curriculum programme of study offered by the Cambridge International Assessment that is equivalent in standard to the British GCSE. Pupils who obtain an IGCSE qualification are prepared for further academic success, including progression to the IB Diploma. IGCSE’s are recognised as evidence of ability by academic institutions and employers around the world. At the end of MYP5, pupils sit their IGCSE exams in the following subjects: English, English Literature, Portuguese, Spanish Language, Science, Mathematics,
Students also are externally assessed by the MYP eAssessments in integrated humanities, Spanish or French language acquisition, design, physical education and the art subject they study (visual arts, drama or music)
Parents of current St Francis pupils are encouraged to not only refer to the programmes of study, but to the unit's curriculum overview available on Managebac.
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The MYP Project:
Undertaken in MYP 4, the community project focuses on community and service, encouraging students to explore their right and responsibility to implement service as action in the community. The community project gives students an opportunity to develop awareness of needs in various communities and address those needs through service learning. As a consolidation of learning, the community project engages in a sustained, in-depth inquiry leading to service as action in the community. The community project may be completed individually or by groups of a maximum of three students.
In MYP 5, the personal project encourages students to practise and strengthen their approaches to learning (ATL) skills, to consolidate prior and subject-specific learning, and to develop an area of personal interest. The personal project provides an excellent opportunity for students to produce a truly personal and often creative product/outcome and to demonstrate a consolidation of their learning in the MYP. The project offers many opportunities for differentiation of learning and expression according to students’ individual needs. The personal nature of the project is important; the project should revolve around a challenge that motivates and interests the individual student. Each student develops a personal project independently.
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The community project and personal project emphasize experiential learning, which is developed further in Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) in the DP. Through MYP projects, students experience the responsibility of completing a significant piece of work over an extended period of time, as well as the need to reflect on their learning and the outcomes of their work—key skills that prepare students for success in further study, the workplace and the community.
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Activity and Service have always been shared values of the IB community.
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IB learners strive to be caring members of the community who demonstrate a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment. IB World Schools value service with others as an important way to engage in principled action across a range of overlapping local and global communities. Through responsible action, tightly connected with sustained inquiry and critical reflection, young people and adults can develop the kinds of attributes described by the learner profile that are essential for success in future academic pursuits and for adult life.
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Students take action when they apply what they are learning in the classroom and beyond. Service requires that students are able to build authentic connections between what they learn in the classroom and what they encounter in the community. When connected to classroom learning, the experience of service offers opportunities to apply concepts, skills and knowledge. Students explore the community in its complexity as they gain personal insight and become more confident and responsible. Through service as action they become 'actors' in the real world beyond school.