MYP (Grades 6-10)
The Middle School spans Grades 6-10, a time when adolescents are undergoing rapid and far-reaching physical, emotional and intellectual development. The curriculum that is taught and the activities that are provided are all designed to suit to this particular developmental stage. For this reason, we have divided the Secondary School into 3 divisions: Grades 6-8 fall within the Lower Secondary School, 9-10 within the Upper Secondary, and ,from next year, Grades 11 and 12 will encompass the Senior Secondary School.
GWA’s Middle School will follow the Middle Years Programme of the IB, which is a natural progression from the PYP and is an excellent preparation for the Diploma Programme in Grade 12.
The MYP, as with all IB programmes, is different in significant ways to more traditional curricula. Therefore, it is essential that parents as well as students come to understand the major concepts upon which the MYP is built. The purpose of this section is to illuminate several of the main features of the MYP at GWA; further questions may be addressed to the Middle Years Programme Coordinator at any time.
Teaching and learning in the MYP at GWA stems from the understanding that students learn best when:
- learning is engaging, challenging, rigorous, relevant and significant
- they can learn collaboratively
- the learning environment is provocative
- they get appropriate feedback that supports their learning
- diverse learning styles are understood and accommodated
- they feel secure and that their ideas are valued and respected
- they become aware of and understand how they learn
Although teaching and learning is, at one level, divided into eight subject groups, a framework exists within the MYP that is designed to aid students in seeing links between subject groups, and between subjects and real-world issues. This framework is known as the Areas of Interaction. Rather than being designed to teach a specific body of knowledge only, the MYP curriculum is designed to provide learning not only of knowledge (content), but more importantly:
- the understanding of concepts
- the mastery of skills
- the development of attitudes that can lead to considered and appropriate action
Each subject has its own learning objectives, and through the Areas of Interaction what is learned is put into contexts that help establish links between the different subjects and the world around us.
These broad areas of student inquiry are:
- approaches to learning (ATL), through which students take increasing responsibility for their learning.
- community and service, through which students become aware of their roles and their responsibilities as members of communities.
- human ingenuity, through which students examine, experience and reflect on human creativity and initiation of change.
- environment, through which students become aware of their interdependence with the world and are encouraged to develop responsible and positive attitudes towards the environment.
- health and social education, through which students are encouraged to develop respect for body and mind, and personal, physical and societal issues are investigated and debated.
Every MYP student takes a course in each of the subject groups, guaranteeing a balanced curriculum.
Subject groups:
Download the relevant documents below:
Read more about the MYP Curriculum on the IB website. http://www.ibo.org/myp/
If you have any questions about the MYP at GWA, please email us with your query.
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