St Edward's Chronicle Summer 2018

8 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

50 Years of the International

at alternatives. A core group including then-Governor, Peter Oppenheimer, and academic staff such as Richard Pleming (who went on to several Headships, including Charterhouse), Sarah Kerr-Dineen (now Head of Oundle) and James Cope (now Deputy Head Pastoral) wanted to shore up our educational offering as A Levels faced a slightly uncertain future. Back then, our now established academic ethos was emerging from long years of unchallenged tradition, and the refreshingly broad, international values of the IB chimed with the early thinking of our research group. What has its Teddies trajectory been? We started in 2008 with 25 pupils. As with any new venture, there then followed a period during which the numbers went up and down as pupils and their families got to grips with the new qualification. It was counter-intuitive to many to suddenly launch into the substantial workload of six subjects, plus an Extended Essay, a course in the Theory of Knowledge, and the requirement to demonstrate sustained commitment to creative, active and service activities. The IB found a natural home at Teddies. This has not been true for all schools. Several very famous schools

Baccalaureate Diploma Celebrating its 50th anniversary worldwide, the IB Diploma Programme has been under a doubly bright spotlight at Teddies as we mark our own 10-year milestone of offering the global qualification. Below, we speak to the Warden, Stephen Jones, and Deputy Head Academic, Matthew Albrighton, about the IB, A Levels and the Teddies academic ethos.

What is the IB? The Diploma represents a unified

We chose to offer it alongside A Levels because it is intellectually rigorous, broad in scope, international in outlook – and completely absorbing and engaging. It’s relatively unusual to offer both. What made the School introduce it in the first place? Around 12 years ago, when A Levels were going through a number of changes, we were one of many schools who looked around

approach to education irrespective of subject boundaries – it is a way of seeing learning, not a set of individual syllabuses. It was designed in the 1960s to be a complete curriculum with the aim of developing ‘inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect’.

The IB team: Anna Fielding, Assistant IB Diploma Coordinator and CAS Coordinator (IB Diploma Coordinator from October); Alastair Summers, IB Coordinator (until October); Paula Diaz Rogado, Theory of Knowledge Coordinator and Head of Community Service; Jason Clapham, Extended Essay Coordinator and Head of English; and Sarah Eldred, Research Coordinator and School Librarian.