Professional Development Days Summer Term 2019
Recently we have had two whole school CPD days where both have been used for Curriculum Development towards new courses and Years 7-9 MYP planning. At the end of this school year, all subjects are expected to have completed their Year 9 MYP curriculum planning and be ready for teaching in August. There have been lots of hours put into this and a great example of this planning is the recent Community Project which has been enjoyed by all our students in Year 9.
There are also some subject areas where examination syllabus have changed and again time has been dedicated to these. An example of this is the IB DP Maths course that has changed completely from the three-tier programme that they have at present. Now it will be just two choices on offer, each at HL and SL, and the Mathematics Department have therefore been busy planning four new courses:
“Mathematics: Analysis and approaches is intended for students who wish to study Mathematics at university or subjects that have a large mathematical content; it is for students who enjoy developing mathematical arguments, problem-solving and exploring real and abstract applications, with and without technology. Mathematics: Analysis and approaches will be a development from the current Mathematics HL and SL subjects.”
“Mathematics: Applications and interpretation is being designed for students who enjoy describing the real world and solving practical problems using mathematics; those who are interested in harnessing the power of technology alongside exploring mathematical models and enjoying the more practical side of mathematics. Mathematics: Applications and interpretation SL will be developed from Mathematical studies SL. The HL course will be new content including elements of the current HL statistics and discrete content.”
The IB English Literature and Language and Literature courses as well as first language Chinese have also undergone extensive syllabus changes, though not as complete as Mathematics.
At GCSE level the Global Perspectives course is also being relaunched as Global Citizenship.
A part of the CPD days was also set aside for the Self Study Working Groups to meet to support our School Development Planning. There are 11 of these groups who are reflecting on different aspects of the school, such as premises and physical accommodation, community and home partnership, teaching and assessing for learning, purpose and direction, curriculum, student learning and wellbeing, governance and leadership, and staffing. These groups include parents, students, School Council members and teaching staff who were all engaged in forward thinking for whole school strategies and developments.
Our dedicated CPD days are greatly valued by staff to give time for conversations, planning and self-learning of our teachers.
SIS staff carrying out CPD activity. (File photo)
