Gateway International School (GIS) is an authorized Middle Years Programme (MYP) school, authorized in December, 2016. The International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP) aims to meet the educational needs of students between the ages of 11 and 16. The young minds at this crucial stage require an engaging and holistic curriculum that is relevant to the important real world issues that concern them – from the personal to global. They are encouraged to become experts at learning and their ability to locate, process, critically evaluate and communicate information is heightened. The MYP programme focuses on the ability of the students to draw the connection between the traditional subjects and the real world. The programme also develops the skills that are needed essentially some of them being communications skill, intercultural understanding and global engagement. The MYP aims to help students develop their personal understanding, their emerging sense of self and responsibility in their community . The IB MYP also relies on connecting classroom pedagogical practices and content to the world outside through the Global Contexts and the Learner Profile. The IB MYP prepares students for the IB Diploma Programme, which was established to provide students with a balanced education, facilitate geographic and cultural mobility and to promote international understanding.

MYP Unique Approach relevant for today’s global society

The MYP’s core features five contexts for learning that provide powerful opportunities to engage in the study of issues that affect students today. Using a common language, teachers organize the curriculum through the following areas of interaction.

Approaches to learning

Approaches to learning represents learning skills that students will develop and apply during the programme and beyond.

Community and service

Community and service considers how students can learn about their place within communities and be motivated to act in new contexts.

Health and social education

Health and social education is designed to help students identify and develop skills that will enable them to function as effective members of societies. They also learn about how they are changing and how to make informed decisions that relate to their welfare.

Environments

Environments explores how humans interact with the world at large and the parts we play in our virtual, natural and built environments.

Human ingenuity

Human ingenuity deals with the way in which human minds have influenced the world and considers the consequences of human thought and action.

MYP Subject Groups

The MYP ensures breadth and depth of understanding through study in eight subject groups.

In years 4 and 5, students have the option to take courses from six of the eight subject groups. GIS offer

Personal Project – What is it all about?

The personal project is an important part of the MYP. Students learn to manage and direct their own inquiry and further develop the skills they have learned through the MYP. Under a teacher’s supervision, each student leads the process of developing the personal project. Assessment stands as a summative review of students’ ability to conduct independent work using the areas of interaction as contexts for their learning.

Assessment in the MYP: Rigorous criteria, applied consistently worldwide

MYP assessment standards are consistent around the world. In order to maintain the rigour for which the IB is renowned, the MYP assessment model is criterion-related. Teachers structure varied and valid assessment tasks so that students can demonstrate achievement according to objectives defined by the IB. Tasks are assessed against established criteria, not against the work of other students. A good curriculum develops a range of student skills. The Middle Years Programme encourages teachers to assess this acquired skill set, including how to succeed in written examinations. Typical MYP assessment tasks include open-ended, problem-solving activities and investigations, organized debates, tests and examinations, hands-on experimentation, analysis and reflection. MYP assessment is carried out by teachers, according to the criteria defined by the IB