Diploma Programme (DP)
September was a key month in our journey towards the International Baccalaureate DP authorisation. We had our IB Consultant from New Zealand visit to check our progress toward compliance with IB standards and processes.
Our consultant Les, reviewed our facilities, teacher training and curriculum preparation, policies and procedures and spoke with representatives from the parent, student and governing communities, as well as staff. Thank you for the support of those involved with this, your input was a key part of our authorisation process.
We received a very positive report, highlighting many areas of success. In particular, strengths identified were our written curriculum, our understanding of the IB Philosophy and our alignment with pedagogical approaches to learning and assessment, something Merici has focused on for some time now with our Principles of Powerful Learning.
Areas of focus for us now are to ensure we gauge student interest in subjects, increased communication with our community and making sure our timetable meets the IB requirements.
As of October, we have 9 DP teachers and 3 administrators who have completed their IB certified training, with another 2 teachers starting their training in November. We are currently surveying our Year 9 cohort (our first students eligible to study the IB at Merici College, subject to successful authorisation in 2019) to see what subjects they would like to see offered at the College to allow us to train staff in areas of interest, ready for a successful course offering.
We have appointed a Creativity, activity, service (CAS) Facilitator - Corinne Preston, and a Theory of knowledge (TOK) Facilitator - Stephen Powell and congratulate them on their appointment. They are currently working towards preparing curriculum and developing links with the subject areas.
With the addition of the IB to our college, we will be able to offer our students a greater choice in their pathway options in Year 11 and 12, in addition to the existing BSSS and VET pathways. Students will continue to receive course counselling to assist them with making their senior subject and pathway choices. Many universities such as ANU, The University of Wollongong and Macquarie University are now accepting IB Diploma students in an early entry acceptance programme, recognition of the value that the IB Diploma has in developing a well-rounded student, prepared for University level study.
We look forward to our IB DP authorisation visit that we are hoping to hold in August 2019.
Middle Years Programme (MYP)
We are well ahead in our planning for the delivery of the Middle Years Programme. All faculties have engaged with collaborative planning to write MYP curriculum documents that align with the Australian Curriculum for students in Year 7 and 8 for 2019.
In January teachers at the College will be engaging with the IB certified MYP training, which will enhance our understanding of some of the IB specific language and will provide us with an opportunity to get feedback on our plans so far.
Students in Years 7-9 have been engaging with the IB Learner Profile in the Flex lessons to get a greater understanding of the attributes and our feedback from the Diploma consultant, recognised the embedded good pedagogical practices and learning opportunities already in place at Merici across the College.
Once authorised, we will be the only Catholic option for studying both the IB Middle Years and Diploma in Canberra, putting us in a unique position to serve the needs of our local and global community. We look forward to progressing in this journey together and thank all the community for their involvement so far.
You can learn more about the IB program by attending our information evening on Thursday 15 November. More information at https://merici.news/event-created/international-baccalaureate-parent-inf....
Dr Ann Cleary
Deputy Principal Learning
Natalie Fairfax
IB Coordinator
