Dear IKNS Students and Parents,
According to the standard key indicators, IKNS continues to flourish: The MAP results of IKNS students in English, Mathematics, and Science in all three sections of the school (Elementary, Middle and Secondary) are in step with the rest of the world. Moreover, when it comes to IB Diploma Program (IBDP) results and university destinations, IKNS students consistently achieve excellent results and enroll in highly selective universities in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
That is why our school has an excellent reputation in Bahrain; the BQA ranked it as ‘Outstanding,’ and MSA has granted it an unconditional accreditation.
Given these hard facts, many stakeholders – parents, teachers, students, and board members – legitimately asked:
If IKNS is doing well, why did it introduce PYP and MYP?
The answer has to do with the school’s commitment and promise to always seek ways that improve student engagement.
Schools around the world are being challenged to redefine teaching and learning and make the process of education more relevant to today’s world. The traditional view that instruction in schools is mostly about accessing and retaining information is no longer valid. In the 21st century, accessing information is no longer an issue. By pressing a few buttons on their smartphones, students can obtain a Tsunami of information.
The questions now are how to engage these virtually connected students? How can schools train them to identify and distinguish relevant and useful information and discard the rest? How can the school change the process of teaching and learning to positively impact the students lived-experience?
The PYP and MYP are inquiry-based programs that are precisely designed to address these challenges; programs that aim to promote and cultivate attitudes and skills that allow students to engage meaningfully with future real-world problems.
To ensure that the implementation of these programs is a successful one, IKNS provided IB approved professional development opportunities for all its faculty members after officially becoming a ‘candidate’ school for PYP and MYP. The school organized and ran two onsite PYP workshops, which we offered in both Arabic and English, for the Elementary school faculty, as well as a numerous number of Online and face to face IBPYP approved courses. Because MYP is more subject-focused than PYP, the faculty members in the Middle schools attended workshops in various locations around the world or participated in Online IB approved courses.
The Elementary School is now fully implementing the PYP program to all grades (K – 5), and the Middle School is preparing for starting the implementation of the MYP program September 2019. At the same time, the IBDP, which is offered alongside the High School Diploma program in the High School, continues its success story since the school became an authorized IBDP school back in 1990. The school will continue to provide the needed support for these two well regarded programs, and we trust that the introduction of the PYP and MYP will positively impact the progress of the students whether they opt to do the IBDP or the High School Diploma Program.
As our journey to become an IB World school continues, I would like to thank the IKNS family for embracing the PYP and MYP programs and working together with enthusiasm for the successful implementation of these programs at IKNS.
We value your observations. You can email us with any feedback or suggestions to the Parents, Teachers and Students Association email ptsa@ikns.edu.bh
Ayman Al Zanoun
Curriculum Coordinator
15 January 2019
| 
