“PYP students use their initiative to take responsibility and ownership of their learning. By learning through inquiry and reflecting on their own learning, PYP students develop knowledge, conceptual understandings, skills and the attributes of the IB Learner profile to make a difference in their own lives, their communities, and beyond.”
Milestone Academy follows the PYP themes throughout the school. These are:
Inquiry about ourselves as individuals and as a group; exploring our physical health alongside our social, emotional and mental health; finding out about the types of relationships people have, including their friends, families and communities; sharing our culture and finding out more about other cultures; learning that all people have rights and knowing what our rights are; questioning what it means to be a person.
Finding out more about how we share our ideas and communicate with the people around us. We will explore how we feel in different places. We will ask about other people’s feelings, beliefs and cultures and think about our own. We will look at, and be inspired by, the creativity of other people, and we will extend and enjoy our own creativity.
Growing with the idea that, while we live at a certain time and in a certain place, other people have lived before us, and people live all around the world. Exploring people’s stories, their discoveries, and how they found out more about our world and its people. Asking questions about the connections between people, and finding out more about people all around the world.
We will use our observation and scientific skills to better understand the natural world that is all around us; Exploring and asking questions about the laws of the natural world; Using scientific skills to make connections between different things that we see; Understanding that human beings have an impact on the world, on the people around us, and on the environment.
Learning about how people have created structures – both physical and conceptual – that serve a purpose; Finding out about how places are organised, both physically and through people. Understanding how communities, societies and cultures make decisions and knowing that we can influence those decisions; Understanding how people use money, and how to use this safely.
Understanding that sharing the planet means sharing with other people, and with all other living things. Learning to appreciate that we need to share with the people around us, and that this is a key skill for us in the future. Knowing that sometimes we experience conflict, and that we can work to resolve conflicts between us.
These themes are selected for their relevance to the real world. They are described as transdisciplinary because they focus on issues that go across subject areas. The transdisciplinary themes help teachers to develop a programme of inquiry. Teachers work together to develop investigations into important ideas, which require a substantial and high level of involvement from the pupils. The transdisciplinary theme of ‘How we express ourselves’ continues through the academic year due to it being such a core component of the curriculum for pupils at Milestone Academy.
Working with the International Baccalaureate, we have created a Curriculum that enables each Pathway to follow a consistent Transdisciplinary Theme, enabling a whole-school view of each student’s learning journey. The current plan is built around a cycle, with review points at the end of each Academic Year.
IB Candidacy School …
“The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a global leader in international education—developing inquiring, knowledgeable, confident, and caring young people. Our programmes empower school-aged students to take ownership in their own learning and help them develop future-ready skills to make a difference and thrive in a world that changes fast.”
We are working with the International Baccalaureate, alongside two other specialist partners, to develop the world’s first Special Educational Needs IB programme.
In line with our Vision and Values, our aims are to:
- Create a culture of inclusive interconnectedness: Between each other, our local area, and the world
- Promote agency: Reinforcing the fact that all of our students have a voice, can make a choice, and can take a leadership role in their own learning
- Celebrate inquiry: Working with our students to craft questions, lines of inquiry, and explorations so that we can all better understand the world around us in a way which is pertinent to each of us as individuals
As part of the International Baccalaureate, Milestone Academy joins more than 5,000 schools – nearly two million children and young people – around the world in promoting the highest standards of education, cultural understanding and educational excellence.
As one of the world’s first SEN IB candidate schools, we are developing exciting new opportunities to make global learning real and relevant for our students.
Our programme is modelled on the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme (PYP).
THE INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE LEARNER PROFILE
“The International Baccalaureate (IB) learner profile describes a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that go beyond academic success.”
We have adopted the IB Learner Profile as a way of representing our students’ successes as they grow and develop as young people. The Learner Profile is divided into ten Learner Attributes:
Balanced
We communicate our needs with the people around us and learn to regulate our emotions. We learn about healthy living including activities that can help us calm down and food that will keep us healthy.
Caring
We are aware of the people around us and learn to share our world with others. We create relationships with other people and show kindness and respect to others.
Communicator
We express ourselves, sharing our needs and our thoughts and opinions through the best method for us as individuals. We develop connections with the people around us.
Inquirer
We show an interest in the world around us through our actions or our words.
Knowledgeable
We build on the skills and knowledge we already have and learn to use these in different contexts.
Risk Taker
We experience new things and make choices that might lead to new experiences. We become more confident in less familiar contexts.
Reflective
We think about our experiences in life and show preferences related to these.
Open-Minded
We try new things and become increasingly aware of the wider world around us. We notice that there are different people in the world and we are willing to learn more.
Thinker
We learn to solve problems in our daily lives with increasing independence and recognise cause and effect within our actions.
Principled
We recognise that our actions affect the world around us. We know that we have rights and responsibilities and can share our preferences to make sure these are upheld. We have a sense of right and wrong and learn to show respect to those around us.
International Baccalaureate (IB) Coordinator:
Kyle Marsh
kyle.marsh@milestoneacademy.org.uk
IB Assistant Coordinator:
Frances Rimmer
frances.rimmer@milestoneacademy.org.uk