For some Prairie Waters Elementary staff, a journey began four years ago to examine deeper into how they educate their students and how that meets the needs of the 21st Century Learner.
According to Bev LaPeare, Ward 2 Trustee for Rocky View Schools, this lead them to investigating the Primary Years Program (PYP) International Baccalaureate (IB) School Program and began with one grade team doing a pilot four years ago.
“The following year, they applied to become a candidate school because they felt that the Program aligned really well with Rocky View’s Portrait of a 21st Century Learner, and with their diverse population at the school, they felt that the Internationally-Minded student was a key piece to develop,” says LaPeare.
According to the IB website, the IB PYP is a curriculum framework designed for students aged 3 to 12. It focuses on the development of the whole child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside. It is defined by six trans disciplinary themes of global significance, explored using knowledge and skills derived from six subject areas, with a powerful emphasis on inquiry-based learning.
IB programs promote the education of the whole person, emphasizing intellectual, personal, emotional and social growth through all domains of knowledge. IB learners strive to be: inquirers; knowledgeable; thinkers; communicators; principled; open-minded; caring; risk-takers; balanced; reflective and these attributes are what they call the IB learner profile.
“The PYP Program creates internationally minded citizens and global thinkers – which fits well with our school because our students are so diversified,” says Ryan Siemens, principal of Prairie Waters Elementary, “We have students that travel all over the world and together they speak many languages so this program helps us to recreate how we deliver instruction from a less traditional to a much more student centered philosophy.”
“This is absolutely fantastic news for the school community and places them among a handful of schools that have achieved such status in Southern Alberta. They’re only the forth in Southern Alberta and there’s only 10 such authorized schools in all of Alberta,” LaPeare states.
Jen Friske is the school’s PYP coordinator and is dedicated to supporting teachers, working alongside them to help with planning to ensure vertical alignment between each grade. “Becoming a part of the IB World Community is exciting because it is designed to teach in a more engaging and more enriching way giving the students real life learning opportunities” says Friske, who was instrumental in bringing the program to Prairie Waters Elementary.
Their Authorization visit took place at the end of October, and they found out on Friday, November 22 that we were officially a part of the IB world school community when they received their authorization letter and certificate for the IB office in Geneva, Switzerland.
“We would like to thank everyone for being so supportive to help push this forward, we are so proud of the entire school for putting their heart and soul into making the PYP a success at Prairie Waters,” says Friske.
