What is an IB Education?

It is a framework of education that was first established in 1968 with the Diploma Programme. An IB education seeks to provide a balanced education of the intellect and character for young people through a rigorous curriculum and a shared vision to develop enquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people.

There are three key aspects of an IB education:

  • Broad conceptual understanding;
  • Character building;
  • Service to one’s community.

Word art image of a boy using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

AMBITION 

INQUIRERS • RISK-TAKERS • THINKERS

The MYP encourages students to think ambitiously through rigorously designed statements of enquiry, which prompt exploratory thinking beyond a
particular time, place or culture.

Word art image of a boy using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

RESILIENCE

REFLECTIVE • RISK-TAKERS • THINKERS

The MYP encourages students to act with resilience. Through an emphasis on academic rigour and reflection, it challenges students to persevere in the face of difficulty and to learn from error.

Word art image of a girl using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

INTEGRITY

PRINCIPLED • BALANCED • THINKERS • REFLECTIVE

The MYP encourages students to act with integrity through an emphasis on challenge and inquiry in rigorous pursuit of academic truth.

Word art image of a girl using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

RESPECT

PRINCIPLED • OPEN-MINDED • CARING • BALANCED

The MYP encourages high standards of respect through an emphasis on cultivating a principled approach to learning: centred around our responsibility to act as citizens of a global community.

Word art image of a girl using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

SCHOLARSHIP

INQUIRERS • KNOWLEDGEABLE • THINKERS • COMMUNICATORS

The MYP encourages high standards of scholarship through an emphasis on cultivating critical and creative responses to a world of complex problems.

Word art image of a boy using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

AMBITION 

INQUIRERS • RISK-TAKERS • THINKERS

The MYP encourages students to think ambitiously through rigorously designed statements of enquiry, which prompt exploratory thinking beyond a particular time, place or culture.

Word art image of a boy using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

RESILIENCE

REFLECTIVE • RISK-TAKERS • THINKERS

The MYP encourages students to act with resilience. Through an emphasis on academic rigour and reflection, it challenges students to persevere in the face of difficulty and to learn from error.

Word art image of a girl using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

INTEGRITY

PRINCIPLED • BALANCED • THINKERS • REFLECTIVE

The MYP encourages students to act with integrity through an emphasis on challenge and inquiry in rigorous pursuit of academic truth.

Word art image of a girl using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

RESPECT

PRINCIPLED • OPEN-MINDED • CARING • BALANCED

The MYP encourages high standards of respect through an emphasis on cultivating a principled approach to learning: centred around our responsibility to act as citizens of a global community.

Word art image of a girl using the IIB and LAB attributes using a rainbow of colours

SCHOLARSHIP

INQUIRERS • KNOWLEDGEABLE • THINKERS • COMMUNICATORS

The MYP encourages high standards of scholarship through an emphasis on cultivating critical and creative responses to a world of complex problems.

How does Leigh Academy Blackheath implement the Middle Years Programme?

Leigh Academy Blackheath became an authorised IB World School for Years 7 and 8 in April 2021, after a successful visit by two renowned IB educators. Later, in November 2021, we saw our authorization extend to Year 9 as well. At LAB, we take pride in a broad and balanced, constantly evolving curriculum that ensures our students have every opportunity to learn powerful and diverse knowledge with the clear aim of promoting intercultural understanding and respect for others. The curriculum is implemented in the classroom through activities and tasks that allow students to understand how each subject cluster applies to real life, as well identifying how concepts and ideas crossover between subjects. This might involve learning to do the job of a journalist in English language and Literature; thinking like an artist in the Arts, or a Personal Trainer in PHE.

The learning of our students is tightly monitored through formative and summative assessments based on four different criteria, which differ slightly in different curriculum areas. These assessments not only test students’ knowledge, but also the skills necessary to be successful in that area. An essential set of skills that students develop through the MYP are the Approaches to Learning (ATLs), which are considered by the IB the most effective set of skills students will need to perform to be an independently successful learner, regardless of the career they intend to pursue in the future.

As mentioned above, the development of character is placed at the heart of this framework. The Learner Profile attributes are the 10 traits our students are encouraged to embody as they mature and grow. These also align with our own school values (of Respect, Integrity, Scholarship, Ambition and Resilience). Our students evolve into active citizens of their local, national and global communities through service learning and taking part in a Community Project, which is compulsory for our Year 9 students.