Hi All,
I thought that those of you who have children in secondary may be interested to know that Al Bateen Secondary School in Abu Dhabi, which rated as a Band A high performing school, has been authorised to offer the IB Diploma Programme, they'll start the first cohort in September. While the school is new to the IB, a lot of the current staff are familiar with it and experienced as they taught it before (they even have IB examiners amongst the staff). They have IB open mornings every other Wednesday - next one on the 5th March at 8 am.
There seems to be some skepticism here in Abu Dhabi about the IB DP - for example I read an article here on expat woman comparing unfavourably the IB with A levels and Scottish highers. I have been an IB teacher and coordinator in Europe for many years, and my experience has been different from the one of the mum who wrote this article. All my students were always accepted by their first or second choice universities, with nobody going through clearing - this included strong students as well as students who just passed with the minimum number of points! Also, they were never asked to do a foundation year. Most importantly, I have seen these students grow and mature as they went through the academic challenge of the programme together, and a real sense of community develop amongst them and between them and their teachers. It is crucial of course that for this to happen the school offers support and provides a caring, stimulating environment.