Welcome to the 2011-2012 school year!Primary Years Programme (PYP)
The French School and The Spanish School are candidate schools for the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme*. These schools are pursuing authorization as IB World Schools. These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that (this school) believes is important for our students. The authorization process requires extensive training for instructional and administrative staff, parent education, shared leadership and reflective, collaborative teaching practices throughout each school.
The International Baccalaureate ® (IB) aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. There are 3.072 IB Wrold Schools in 139 countries worldwide. With 1,207 in the United States that all share the commitment to international education. The Primary Years Programme within the IB fosters a positive attitude to learning by encouraging students to ask challenging questions, to critically reflect, to develop research skills, to learn how to learn and to initiate community service. Our teacher teams create 3-6 week-long Units of Inquiry from one of six transdisciplinary themes provided by IB. These Units of Inquiry encompass all subject areas and satisfy or surpass Missouri Grade Level Expectations.
The six interdisciplinary themes are
- Who we are
- Where we are in place and time
- How we express ourselves
- How the world works
- How we organize ourselves
- Sharing the planet
And teachers use them to address all subject matter and themes throughout the course of the year as illustrated in this diagram.
*Only schools authorized by the IB organization can offer any of its three academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), or the Diploma Programme. Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted.
Learn more about the IB and its programmes.