PYP Around the School 

This is a big year for St Columba’s. We are hoping that during Term 4 we will be able to welcome an IB School Visitor team to our school in the hope of becoming an authorised IB PYP World School. Last year, we began our journey as an IB candidate school and it was anything but smooth given the global pandemic that hit! Despite this, we are proud of the steps we have taken and the progress we have made and know we will be more than ready to go through the verification process by the end of the year.

For our new families or even our returning families who may like a reminder, I thought I would dedicate this newsletter piece to explaining the why and what of the IB PYP in relation to St Columba’s.

First, the basics. IB PYP is the acronym used to represent the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme.  The PYP caters for students between the ages of 3 and 12. Going to a PYP school does not mean that a student needs to then go on to an IB secondary school or complete the IB diploma. Instead, the PYP aims to set students up for success in any secondary school. This is because the programme emphasises life-long learning, transdisciplinary skills, and the development of dispositions that support learning.

The actual PYP is both a framework and philosophy. One of its strengths is it draws on common understandings, language, and research-based best practice so that students experience cohesive, significant, challenging, and engaging learning throughout their primary years. At St Columba’s we still use the Victorian Curriculum but the PYP framework provides the context and therefore the depth to the content laid out in the Victorian Curriculum.

One of our whys for becoming a candidate PYP school is in the fact that we feel strongly aligned to the mission of the IB. This mission is centred on relevant and rigorous student learning, and ultimately on helping learners develop the skills and dispositions to make the world a better and more peaceful place. This fits perfectly with our Catholic identity and focus on sustainability.

Another facet of the IB PYP that is important to St Columba’s is the promotion of international mindedness. This includes a focus on open-mindedness, cultural awareness, shared human commonalities and service. This is done through the IB learner profile, embracing diversity, exploring multiple perspectives and considering the world around us.

While there is much more to the IB PYP than what I have written about, there is something I would like to highlight. You will probably hear a lot about the units of inquiry the students undertake when you hear about the PYP. Units of inquiry and the PYP, however, are not synonymous. The PYP is all that we do. The units of inquiry are just one important part of the PYP framework. They provide a platform for exploring issues that span the globe and they allow for transdisciplinary learning. Other aspects of the programme that go beyond units of inquiry include the IB learner profile, a socio-constructivist pedagogy, a focus on holistic student learning, a call to action and a collaborative approach to education. These principles can be seen in all that we do and every lesson we teach.

For more information, please feel free to visit the following webpages:

PYP 10 reasons why 

https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/digital-toolkit/posters/pyp-10-reasons-poster-en.pdf

PYP Parent Pack Q&A

https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/digital-toolkit/brochures/parent-pack-faqs-about-the-pyp.pdf

Learner Profile explained for parents

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZtuwlyXnOEcoNBrGLYftFFYssZ74fbJbPBd1vFW6tIw/edit?usp=sharing