By Mrs Crawford-Smith (PYP Coordinator)

It has been an exciting half term for the Junior School teachers who have been taking part in a Teaching & Learning Pilot for the International Baccalaureate (IB). The IB is a global leader in international education, striving to develop learning programmes for future-ready pupils. The IB are continually reviewing their programmes to ensure that the curriculum that we teach is as future-ready as our pupils in a world that changes fast.

In June, Bedford Girls’ School was pleased to be accepted to their Inquiry Learning Progressions Pilot. We have joined 60 schools world-wide in trialling and evaluating some new and exciting advancements to the Primary Years Programme (PYP). 

This week, the Junior School welcomed Maggie McGrane to BGS. Maggie is an IB educational consultant who has worked within the PYP community since the programme’s inception - working as the first PYP Coordinator, at the first ever PYP school, the International School of Amsterdam. It was fantastic to have the opportunity to collaborate with such an inspirational member of the IB community, and to play our role as an IB World School. But what we have benefitted from the most through our involvement in the pilot is in having a voice, choice and agency in the curriculum that we teach, modelling what we endeavour to inspire the pupils at our school to do everyday in their school lives and beyond.