It has been yet another successful year for students studying the International Baccalaureate Diploma at Sidcot. Two students, Kenrick Yuan and Polina Skliarevitch, achieved 43 out of a possible 45 points, the equivalent of four A*s and an A at A Level. Kenrick is going to study Business Management at Exeter University and Polina, Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
We would like to congratulate this year’s IB students on their hard work and good-humoured perseverance which has resulted in a range of excellent achievements in this year’s diploma examinations. Our average diploma points score remains well above the world average, which has been the case ever since we began the diploma at Sidcot in 2007.
‘It is a great source of satisfaction, as a teacher, to witness not only the intellectual but also the personal development which comes to our students as a result of engaging with the IB diploma programme. They emerge from school as resourceful, confident, well-rounded and resilient individuals whose IB experience has prepared them very well to face the demands of university-level study.’ commented IB coordinator, Alison Bell.
Polina is delighted with her results – she can’t believe that her dream of getting into veterinary medicine has become a reality. She credits the IB programme with giving her a breadth of education that sets her in good stead to cope with the rigours of an intense course. Although a natural scientist, the IB enabled her to continue with English Literature, a Modern Language and Economics alongside her main subjects.
Kenrick, who is off to Exeter in the Autumn, says ‘With IB the emphasis is on developing the person as a whole. We shouldn’t be narrowing down our options. We are only teenagers! Studying the IB has helped me keep all the doors open. Its international recognition is unparalleled and I feel it helps develop many crucial skills useful for University and other forms of further education, for example time management and tackling lengthy essays.’
The Baccalaureate is a programme of study with an emphasis on breadth of study and personal development. As such, it sits very well with the Quaker values that guide our approach to education at Sidcot. The IB helps develop the skills of critical thinking useful at University and at the workplace beyond. It offers a challenging, interdisciplinary global perspective that helps a student stand out. We have offered the IB diploma at Sidcot for many years with consistently good results and our teachers are very experienced. For those interested to find out more about the IB as an alternative to A Level at Sixth Form, please come to our Sixth Form options evening on Monday 12 October.