Why the International Baccalaureate helps curious students flourish

If the Higher School Certificate (HSC) is about guiding our Year 11 and 12 students on their chosen pathway to academic success through a rigorous yet linear curriculum, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), offered by Newington College, allows students to approach their senior study journey with a high degree of freedom and wide subject choice.

Universally known by its acronym, the IB was started in 1968 in post-war Geneva, Switzerland. It was built around the philosophy that an internationally oriented education could lead to a better, safer, more empathetic and peaceful world after the global conflicts of World War I and II, says Ms. Cheryl Priest, Newington’s Head of IB and a language teacher.

‘The IB’s mission statement also focuses on the idea of creating passionate lifelong learners who are consciously global citizens,’ says Ms Priest, who has taught in the programme since it started at Newington College in 2008 and has overseen it since 2018.

‘Also central to the programme are the Approaches to Teaching and Learning, which foster thinking, social, communication, research and self-management skills. Combined with a mandatory component requiring students to be creative, physically active and to engage in service, the IB in its entirety encourages students to consider who they are, who they are in their own community, and how they can look beyond themselves and make a difference. It’s a very holistic approach to learning where students are encouraged to grow and really see themselves as more than just mark generating machines.’

 Newington College was the first GPS secondary school in NSW to offer the International Baccalaureate and has been doing so since 2008. The IB Primary Years Program (PYP) is also offered to our younger Kindergarten to Year 6 students at our Lindfield Preparatory Campus on Sydney’s north shore.

With Newington’s Year 12 IB students currently sitting their final IB Diploma exams in silenced halls on our senior Stanmore campus, Ms Priest says a decade and a half of alumni have benefitted from this global education philosophy which today operates out of Cardiff, The Hague, Singapore and Washington.

‘Newington has a long and successful association with the IB which has helped our College educate hundreds of our students over the past 15 years to become open minded, curious, ethical and caring individuals.’

The IB Diploma starts in Year 11 when students select six subjects from six different groups.

‘In the IB you do a taste of everything from each group,’ says Ms Priest.

‘Everyone does their first language (Group 1) and then they must do a second language (Group 2). They also select a subject from the humanities and social sciences (Group 3), the experimental and applied sciences (Group 4), and Mathematics (Group 5),’ says Ms Priest.

‘The last group is Group 6, where students can choose one or two subjects from the Arts. Alternatively, they can pick up an additional subject from Groups, 2, 3 or 4.’

IB students do three of their chosen subjects at a higher level and three subjects at standard level.

‘There is no hierarchy within that, it’s each student’s individual choice which subjects they do at standard level to allow greater breathing space to do their more specialised subjects at the advanced level.

‘The IB is a mixture of prescription but also offers students a degree of intellectual freedom through their internal assessment work, worth about 25% of their final subject score, and so, in part, to steer their own ship. Exams make up the remaining 75%. The exceptions are the Arts subjects, where there are no exams, consisting instead of portfolio work.’

Students are also tasked to write a 4000-word research essay in an area about which they are passionate. Additionally, they all take a critical thinking subject, the Theory of Knowledge. Exams are marked externally, and each subject is given a score from 0 to 7, with 7 being the highest. The final score is out of 45, and this includes the combined grades for the Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay.

In 2023, Newington’s median IB score was 37/45, which is an approximate 94.25 ATAR equivalent. Newington IB students go on to gain places at tertiary institutions all around Australia, as well as at some of the world’s leading universities, says Ms Priest.

‘Universities really like the IB because of the research students do, and how they learn to communicate that research with academic integrity,’ says Ms Priest.

In the IB, the Creativity, Activity and Service component ensures that students tap into their creative selves, engaging in anything ranging from learning a new skill, playing music, theatre, photography, even learning to cook with Grandma.’

‘The only criterion is that students show regular involvement over 18 months and document their growth. The activity must be physical to assist students with maintaining their wellbeing. There is also a service element, which equally could be Newington Cadets or Challenge, volunteering for bush care, helping out a neighbour or working in a charity shop. In short, anything that makes students think beyond themselves to make a difference.’

And what type of student and learner does the IB suit?

 ‘If you have a child who, when presented with a new piece of information says, ‘OK, that’s fine, great, full stop’, then often the HSC’s more linear approach might be better for them,’ says Ms Priest.

‘But if your child wonders about things a lot and is keen not just to know more, but also to understand the ‘how’ and ‘why’, then the IB could offer them an intellectually challenging, inspiring and fulfilling option.

‘You also don’t have to be the best in your class or sitting in the A stream to undertake the IB. There is no ranking in the IB. Trends show that this, along with the ATAR alignment with the IB score, can potentially boost those students who may not usually be in the top echelon of their academic year group. The IB allows these students to flourish because they are just competing against themselves’

‘Overall, the IB offers our students the opportunity to grow, not just as scholars, but also as empathetic, globally minded young people, empowered to be adaptive, creative, confident, passionate and resilient, able and equipped also to embrace our rapidly changing world.’