The International Baccalaureate PYP presents schools with a comprehensive plan for high quality, international education for children between 3 – 12 years of age.



WHAT IS THE PYP?
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP) balances the acquisition of significant and relevant knowledge and skills, the development of conceptual understanding, the formation of personal, positive attitudes and the capacity to take responsible actions.
The PYP:
- Addresses students’ academic needs and their social and emotional well-being
- Encourages students to develop independence and to take responsibility for their own learning
- Supports students’ effort to gain understanding of the world and to function effectively within it
- Helps students to establish personal values as a foundation on which international-mindedness will flourish
- As of November 12, 2014, there are 1,201 schools offering the PYP, in 104 different countries worldwide.
SIX TRANS-DISCIPLINARY THEMES OF THE PYP:
- WHO WE ARE
- WHERE WE ARE IN PLACE AND TIME
- HOW WE EXPRESS OURSELVES
- HOW THE WORLD WORKS
- HOW WE ORGANIZE OURSELVES
- SHARING THE PLANET
click diagram to enlarge
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS IN THE PYP
The essential elements of the PYP are:
- KNOWLEDGE, which is both disciplinary, represented by traditional subject areas (language, maths, science, social studies, arts, PSPE) and trans-disciplinary
- CONCEPTS, which students explore through structured inquiry in order to develop coherent, in-depth understanding, and which have relevance both within and beyond subject areas
- SKILLS, which are the broad capabilities students develop and apply during learning and in life beyond the classroom
- ACTION, which is an expectation in the PYP that successful inquiry leads to responsible, thoughtful and appropriate action.
WHAT THE PYP OFFERS STUDENTS
PYP schools develop students’ academic, social and emotional wellbeing, focusing on international-mindedness and strong personal values. The PYP nurtures independent learning skills, encouraging every student to take responsibility for their learning.
The programme incorporates local and global issues into the curriculum, asking students to look at six related, transdisciplinary themes and to consider the links between them. The themes include ‘who we are’, ‘where we are in place and time’ and ‘how the world works’.
The PYP delivers excellent results for students aged 3 to 12. For example:
- PYP students outperformed non-IB students in mathematics, reading and writing in a global International Schools’ Assessment study that ran from 2009-2011
- A 2014 national study in Australia found that students in the PYP perform better than the national average in nationwide science tests