IB Diploma Programme

HIS has been authorized to offer the IBDP in the school year 2009-10. Our first Grade 12 will start this school year.

The IBDP is a rigorous pre-university course of studies that leads to examinations, for highly motivated secondary school students. It is a comprehensive two-year curriculum that generally allows students to fulfill requirements of various national education systems. IB diploma holders gain admission to universities throughout the world, including the most selective.

The diploma model incorporates the best elements of several national systems, without being based on any one.

The grading system is criterion-referenced: each student’s performance is measured against well-defined levels of achievement. Top grades reflect attainment of knowledge and skills relative to set standards applied equally to all schools.Responsibility for all academic judgments about the quality of candidates’ work rests with 3,400 examiners worldwide, led by chief examiners with international authority in their fields.

The curriculum contains six subject groups together with a core made up of three separate parts.  This is illustrated by a hexagon with the three parts of the core at its centre.

IBDP Hexagon

     

Many years of experience with the DP, firstly as a teacher, then assistant examiner and now programme coordinator, has convinced me that the IBDP is the ideal university preparation because the students learn more than a collection of facts. The Diploma Programme stimulates students to ask challenging questions.  It encourages students to learn how to learn.  It provides an opportunity for students to develop a strong sense of their own identity and culture.  Finally it develops the students’ ability to communicate with and understand people from other countries and cultures.

For more information, please contact me at kevin.whitmore@hischool.de or visit the IBO public website at www.ibo.org.

 

Kevin Whitmore

H.I.S. DP Co-ordinator