Nexus International School, Putrajaya has recently been awarded "Mastering" status by the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). For over two years the leadership team, teachers, parents and learners in the school worked very hard to review the use of the IPC for learning and then to accelerate to the highest level of implementation.
The self-review process is based on the following nine key criteria:
· A clear focus on children’s learning
· Shared outcomes about the kinds of children we are helping to develop
· Implementation of classroom practices that help children develop as we would like
· International Mindedness
· An appropriate balance between knowledge, skills and reflection leading to understanding
· Appropriately rigorous children’s learning, and teachers high expectations of it
· Implementation of brain-friendly elements of the IPC
· Implementation of themes through integrated yet separate subjects
· Assessment and evaluation that supports and informs learning rather than dictates it
The developmental stages of each of these criteria are described in a rubric. The rubrics follow the pattern of Beginning, Developing and Mastering and Nexus was judged to be mastering in all nine criteria, joining only a handful of other schools in the world to be accredited at this level.
This took a huge amount of work and collaboration between all members of the Nexus school community and also the leadership of the IPC itself.
Now that the school is accredited it is quickly becoming a beacon school for others in the area that are hoping to implement the IPC at a high level. Recently the school hosted the South East Asia regional conference where over 120 educators from all over the region and indeed from as far afield as Qatar and the UK enjoyed learning about the IPC and the way it used at Nexus.
The school hopes to continue it’s close links with the IPC to enable Nexus learners to benefit from its expert implementation of the curriculum at a mastering level.
This award comes shortly after a Malaysian Ministry of Education award of 5 stars, which again is the highest award possible.
For more information on Nexus International School, Putrajaya, visit www.nexus.edu.my
Sarah Brown (Director of the IPC) and Jane Denby (Head of Accreditation at the IPC) present the award to Nexus’s Alison Hampshire (Principal) and David Griffiths (Head of Primary)
