At Fairview International School, we are proud to have recently become Scotland’s very first “continuum school”, offering an uninterrupted passage through International Baccalaureate (IB) education.
The rigorous authorisation process to achieve IB certification and the focus the process has on professional development is there to ensure the quality of delivery of the programme, and it is one aspect of many that sets the IB apart from other education systems. This is among the reasons for its presence in over 150 countries and in 5,000 IB world schools.
It’s incredibly rewarding to see first-hand how positively the IB programme - with its approach to learning that goes far beyond the classroom - reflects on the students. Now, having achieved IB continuum school status, many more opportunities will become open to our students.
Why we chose to offer the IB programme
Here are six of the top reasons why the IB works for us here at Fairview:
1. International mindedness
The IB is an internationally recognised qualification that promotes universal learning opportunities. It develops globally aware individuals through a focus on international mindedness and continued learning of a second language throughout each year, while also being contextualised to locality. Our students study two global languages with a host of themed language and international events being held throughout the year.
2. Rounded individuals
Teaching and learning is underpinned by 10 core learner attributes: the IB learner-profile attributes explicitly focus upon the holistic development of learners, beyond only the academic to nurture well-rounded individuals. IB learners are encouraged to be: caring, open-minded, risk-takers, communicators, knowledgeable, inquirers, thinkers, balanced, reflective and principled.
3. Preparation for university
The IB programmes provide continuity, ensuring students are well prepared for the final phase of school, either through the vocational pathway with the IB Career-related Programme, or in our case the highly regarded IB Diploma Programme (DP), our chosen programme for students over the age of 16. The IBDP, in particular, is the gold standard in pre-university education and has been shown to provide the best preparation for the most competitive universities.
4. Personalised approach
The IB challenges students and supports them to excel on their individual learning journey. The programme focuses on student agency, empowering students to pursue their own areas of interest and passion. This was recently evidenced through our IB Primary Years Programme pupils’ exhibitions and our IB Middle Years Programme pupils’ personal projects, which covered such topics as dyslexia, assistance dogs, fast fashion, gender equality and women in engineering.
5. Life after school
Offering practical preparation for life after school, the IB is a skills-based curriculum, delivering structured, age-appropriate development of five identified aspects consistently throughout each programme. This ensures that students understand not only what they learn, but how they learn, and have the required skills for success in a rapidly changing world. These include: thinking skills, communication, research, self-management and social skills.
6. Critical thinking
Finally, the IB has an inherent focus on critical thinking and discernment alongside academic integrity. This emphasises to students the importance of questioning, understanding and using information and knowledge appropriately in this age of digital immediacy and accessibility.
David Hicks is headteacher at Fairview International School, in Bridge of Allan, Scotland
