International Baccalaureate

The Primary Years Program 

The PYP from the International Baccalaureate Organization, prepares students to become active, caring, lifelong learners who demonstrate respect for themselves and others and have the capacity to participate in the world around them. It focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both within and beyond the classroom.

The PYP curriculum contains three key components, which explains how students learn, how educators teach, and the principles and practice of effective assessment within the program.

Inquiry

ICS believes that all students will develop enduring understandings by demonstrating growth in their ability to generate questions, critically research, analyze information, take action and reflect in an inquiry-based learning environment.    

IB Defines Inquiry as… 

  • speculating, exploring, questioning 
  • making connections between previous learning and current learning 
  • researching
  • developing and testing theories
  • collecting data, reporting findings and constructing explanations
  • clarifying existing ideas and reappraising perceptions of events
  • identifying assumptions 
  • taking and defending a position
  • solving problems in a variety of ways
  • analyzing and evaluating
  • considering alternative explanations. 

At the elementary school, we use the Kath Murdoch Inquiry Model to frame our planning around inquiry. The Inquiry Model includes: 

  • Tuning In: tuning-in to students thinking by establishing the known, connecting to students lives, sense of purpose for inquiry, first thinking, first invitation for questions 
  • Finding Out: gathering information from a range of sources- working as researchers- continuing to raise questions-learning to investigate
  • Sorting Out: analyzing information, looking for patterns, reviewing thinking, making meaning, expressing new understandings
  • Going Further: personal and small group pathways of investigation, taking learning further, personalizing
  • Making Conclusions: synthesizing and reflecting, reviewing earlier thinking, identifying changes in understanding, making connections between ideas, identifying what has been learned
  • Action: acting and applying, sharing new learning with others, making a difference with my learning, applying to new contexts, creating/constructing/doing

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THE MYP At ICS

ICS is an MYP candidate and our full MYP for grades 6-8, will begin 2023-24. The MYP is a challenging framework that encourages students to make practical connections between their studies and the real world.

The MYP is a five-year programme, which can be implemented in a partnership between schools, or in several abbreviated (two, three or four year) formats. Students who complete the MYP are well-prepared to undertake the IB Diploma Programme (DP) or Career-related Programme (CP).

Find out more about the MYP.

The MYP curriculum

The MYP curriculum framework comprises eight subject groups, providing a broad and balanced education for early adolescents.

The MYP requires at least 50 hours of teaching time for each subject group, in each year of the programme. In the final two years of the programme, carefully-defined subject group flexibility allows students to meet local requirements and personal learning goals.

Read about the MYP curriculum.

Diploma Program 

ICS Addis has been authorized to offer the IB Diploma since 1982. The philosophy and mission of ICS align closely with the IB Diploma Program and recognizes the need for 21st century high school students to challenge themselves, particularly in their pre-university learning in grades 11-12. For many, this means pursuing the IB Diploma. For a variety of reasons, some students will opt for IB Certificates in individual subjects. We encourage all students to to select the best program for them at ICS and beyond, to be knowledgeable, well-balanced and internationally minded citizens when they graduate from ICS.

For more information, visit the ICS specific questions about the IBDP visit our resource page HERE.