Learning and Development: International Baccalaureate - Without walls

Head outdoors at Southbank Hampstead and it feels like any other London school. The area is probably smaller than the staff might like, but all the nursery children are playing happily. Three girls are sitting in the sand pit, a boy is playing with a ball and a group of boys and girls seem locked in negotiation by the climbing frame.

Many of the similarities stop there, however, for the setting is a pioneering international school and its children inhabit the world of London’s expatriate community.

Only one of the 18 children in the class is British born; the others come from countries as diverse as Mongolia, Brazil, Israel, Greece and the Philippines. One boy is of French-German parentage and was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; one of the girls speaks Spanish at home, English at nursery and is learning German and Mandarin. Trilingualism is almost the norm.

‘Many of their parents are diplomats, bankers, business people or other professionals,’ explains Belgian nursery teacher An Claessens, who has degrees in music and education and is fluent in French, German, English and Dutch. ‘They can arrive at any time of the year and with little or no English.’

But it is the school’s approach to learning as well as its children that sets it apart from many other settings. Part of Southbank International School, with sites also in Westminster and Kensington, Southbank Hampstead is attended by 204 children aged three to 11 and has two nursery classes. Fees average £18,000 a year.

‘Our children leave as independent, enthusiastic, life-long learners,’ says principal Helen O’Donoghue. ‘That sounds quite a glib statement and it is in many schools’ mission statements, but here it is the case.

‘By fifth grade, when they move to the Westminster site, we have children who have the confidence to ask penetrating questions and speak with authority, who are socially responsible, who feel they can make a difference and feel that they have an important voice.’

This attitude to life and learning stems in large part from the school curriculum – the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme (PYP), designed for children aged three to 11 and the first part of the IB curriculum for three- to 19-year-olds.

Inquiry-based and child led, the PYP aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people by fostering in them the ten attributes identified in the IB Learner Profile: inquirers, knowledgeable, reflective, communicators, caring, thinkers, open-minded, principled, balanced and risk-takers.

To achieve this, the curriculum is built around six transdisciplinary units which explore: