The inception of Bogaerts International School North Campus as a learning community is driven by the mantra “intentionally international, diverse by design”. However, that is not the only intentional nuance that showcases our spirit.
Since we opened our doors, we have firmly embraced concept-based curriculum and instruction as one of the pedagogical pillars that define our identity. We are now an IBDP candidate school, we aspire to become accredited by NEASC, and we continue being intentional about our decisions. We do not want to leave learning and growth to chance.
For this reason, instead of creating a set of informative presentations and documents to introduce students to the DP model, we decided to design intentional experiences that helped them to become aware of meaningful IBDP experiences, and to get a taste of what their future DP learning may be like.
One of the decisions we made was to design an interdisciplinary unit that would sensitise them to become familiar with TOK jargon, and to be involved in experiences that served as foundations for future learning and growth. This unit would take place on the year before DP1.
The sense of purpose in the teaching and learning that emerges from an experience that has been intentionally included as part of our curriculum reflects what is at the core of our identity as a school. Likewise, the strategies we implement and the dialogue that is constructed with students exemplify the kind of practices that we value.
What is more, witnessing how the learning process evolves informs further decisions concerning opportunities to extend of review learning that we may need to make. Nonetheless, the greatest value we observe in these efforts is the way we are building background knowledge that students may be able to retrieve and transfer from when in DP.
My experience as an IB educator serves as a source of inspiration for the initiatives we welcome at BIS North Campus. This expertise also continues to confirm that when decisions are made by placing students at the center of the experience, learning moves in a direction that will hopefully contribute to students' readiness for their future beyond High School and the IBDP.
January 9, 2024
J. Rafael Ángel
