Minister visits SJACPS – IB World School

Hon. Tara Rivers, Minister of Education Employment and Gender Affairs, visited Sir John A. Cumber Primary School (SJACPS) to learn more of their unique Primary Years Programme (PYP) as part of the school’s authorized partnership as an International Baccalaureate (IB) world school.

The IB PYP programme is an international programme focusing on the holistic development of the child as an inquirer, both in the classroom and in the world outside.  As an IB school, one of the functions is to keep the parents, and general school community informed of the students’ learning and other actions and activities of the school.  SJACPS provided that opportunity with a year-end display open to the public June 12 – 14, 2013.

All year levels are involved with the IB PYP at SJACPS and were on-hand at the open house to talk about what they learned through the programme.  Minister Rivers was guided by the students who explained their projects and how these projects evolved.  One of the projects displayed was the students’ consideration of natural resources.  In pursuit of the central inquiry of how human activity can harm or protect our natural resources, the students presented the Minister with an educational information brochure they produced on how the public can reduce, reuse and recycle.  “I was most impressed with the student’s comprehension of the impact of waste not only to our country, but across the world and their influence as citizens of the world,” said Hon. Tara Rivers.

While the IB PYP programme develops trans-disciplinary skills such as social, thinking, communication, research and self-management, the purpose is to help these young people develop into citizens of the world in relation to culture, language, learning and living together.

Mr. Wallace, principal of SJACPS commented, “It is pleasing to see the engagement and high-level of work that students are producing. It is evidence of their growing research and analytical skills. These are skills that are becoming critically important for learners to master as they become more exposed to uncensored sources of information such as is represented by the internet.”

Photos & Captions

Photo 1: A student shows Minister Rivers her experiment.