International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme

Unique Features
  • Engages children in asking and answering carefully crafted questions
  • Organizes curriculum around themes that encompass all subjects
  • Emphasizes community service to promote international understanding and responsible citizenship
  • Begins study of French or Spanish in kindergarten

The International Baccalaureate Programmes (IB) emphasize academic challenges, international understanding, community service, and mental and physical well-being. At each level the curriculum framework is appropriate to the needs, abilities, and age of the students. The IB educational philosophy embraces the best methods, strategies, and techniques to enable all students to meet their potential.

The Primary Years Programme (PYP), located in two elementary schools, Farmington Woods and Millbrook, seeks to develop the total child by addressing intellectual, social, physical, emotional, and cultural needs. Using a constructivist approach, teachers create units for exploration using a series of basic transdisciplinary questions: Who are we? Where are we in place and time? How do we express ourselves? How does the world work? How do we organize ourselves? How should we share our planet?

The curriculum framework includes five essential elements: concepts, skills, attitudes, actions, and knowledge.