King's College School Murcia on the approach of their IB Diploma Programme
Jennifer O’Brien, IB coordinator for King’s College School Murcia, answers some “need to know” questions about the school’s approach towards excellence within IB education.
What distinguishes the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at King’s College Murcia from other educational programs?
The IB Diploma Programme that we offer at King’s College School, Murcia (KCSM), benefits our students as they can choose from a broad range of six subjects with the same academic depth as other educational programs. What really sets it apart is the core of the program made up of Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay, and CAS. Theory of Knowledge is a taught class that aims to inspire students to ask questions about the origin of knowledge, its context in real life, and how the perspective of a person influences their acquisition of knowledge.
Extended Essay is a four thousand-word essay that requires students to investigate and research a chosen topic within their favorite subject. These academic writing skills will prepare our students not just for university but for their work life too. Finally, CAS stands for Creativity, Activity, and Service, and allows students to take part in voluntary activities promoting skills such as showing initiative, demonstrating perseverance, and developing skills such as collaboration, problem-solving, and decision-making.
All of these activities contribute towards developing a holistic approach to IB education, and the students' self-improvement.
How does the IB program at King's College Murcia prepare students for higher education and future careers?
All of the above. Plus we have a Student Leadership Team whose job is to provide a voice for the student body, as well as helping to organise and run fun events and clubs throughout the year. We also use a platform called Unifrog to help students reflect on their likes and dislikes, personality traits, and skills in order to guide them in subject and university choices. Universities recognise that due to the depth covered, IBDP is excellent university preparation, and of course, the extended essay is great practice for a dissertation.
Can you share any success stories or notable achievements of students who have completed the IB program at King’s College Murcia?
Our first cohort of students will receive their IB results this year on Saturday 6th July. Last year we achieved our best results in the school’s history and had three students go on to study Medicine at the University of Murcia and one student who went to study Mathematics at the University of Oxford, UK. We look forward to similar fantastic achievements this year.
What resources and facilities are available to support IB students in their academic pursuits and personal growth?
At KCSM we have a fantastic team of teachers who provide unrivaled support and subject knowledge to our students throughout their studies. We have also had a wonderful state-of-the-art new IBDP Common Room built, where students can take advantage of varied environments including small study rooms in order to work alone or in groups. Finally, students have access to a wide range of multilingual fiction and non-fiction books in our IBDP Library.
Taking all of the previously mentioned topics added into account, it’s easy to see that we at King’s College School Murcia, aim to provide our students with an excellent and complete IB Education.
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