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International Baccalaureate – Education for Life

Learning for life – the IBDP program at DRSIS

DRS International School, as an established IB World School, offers the International Baccalaureate Program for students in the final two years of the their secondary schooling. With its origins in Geneva, Switzerland and a vision grounded in global perspectives, the IBDP’s mission to create global citizens who are life-long learners mirrors DRSIS’s aim to create progressive thinking individuals with a global outlook.

A Wide Range of Choices

The IBDP program at DRSIS offers students a choice of elective subjects across six groups including Language Arts, Individuals & Societies, Experimental Sciences, Mathematics and the Arts. At the core of the program, however, is Theory of Knowledge (ToK), the Extended Essay (EE) and Creativity-Activity-Service (CAS). This trio makes up the heart of the DP program and offers students rigorous and challenging ways of thinking, articulating and acting on their knowledge and beliefs. These add on to the emphasis on a transdisciplinary approach that is distinctive to DRSIS.

IB Program at DRS International School

DRSIS brings the IBDP program to life with an inquiry-based pedagogical approach that empowers the learner by encouraging self-directed learning. Theory of Knowledge for instance, is made meaningful and exciting in our school through debates, projects, ideathons and bootcamps, while CAS is undertaken through field-trips to understand and meet community needs to even once-in-a-lifetime trips to places as far-flung as Uttarakhand.

The Extended Essay is a curriculum requirement for an original research-based essay of about 4000 words undertaken by the student as the culmination of a larger research projects in any one of their six subject areas. The process of writing the Extended Essay, provide our students with opportunities to formulate and pursue a research question, with nuanced and well-reasoned arguments that reflect the rigour of the larger program. DRSIS places a strong emphasis on academic writing skills as well as practices that promote academic honesty to ensure that the program remains sound and truly challenging. At every point in their academic journey, IBDP students at DRSIS are supported and encouraged in their efforts to think originally and inventively. The Science and Math Exhibition, for instance, is a unique platform for students to demonstrate and showcase their understanding of scientific and mathematical principles in practical ways that underline the application-orientedness of the diploma program. Well equipped-labs, spaces for reflection, highly qualified faculty and innovative programs all come together in DRSIS to offer a uniquely balanced blend of academics and personal growth for our IBDP students.

The school’s assessment policy also supports and accommodates special requirements in the DP programme. Carefully designed effective and continuous assessments that occur before, during and after the learning process informs both teaching and learning practices to ensure optimal and appropriate realignment of approaches. Regular orientations conducted by both facilitators and students alike keep the parent community informed and involved in the goings-on within the IBDP classrooms and help them engage with the curriculum, its changes and approaches on an ongoing basis.

The IBDP program at DRS, therefore, while placing learners at the heart of its curriculum and approach, invests a lot of time in cultivating them as independent creative and critical thinkers who are ready to take on undergraduate programmes at the world’s best universities, all of whom recognize the program as challenging and uniquely placed to meet their eligibility requirements.

Groups and Electives in the IB Diploma Programme at DRSIS

The IBDP programme at DRSIS offers students a choice of elective subjects across six groups:

Group 1: Studies in Language and Literature- English

  • Language A: Literature

Group 2:Language Acquisition- Hindi, Spanish, French

  • Language B
  • Language Ab Initio

Group 3: Individuals and Societies

  • Business Management SL/HL
  • Economics SL/HL
  • Psychology SL/HL
  • Environmental Systems and Societies SL (also Group 4)
  • History SL/HL
  • Information Technology in a Global Society (ITGS) SL/HL

Group 4: Experimental Sciences

  • Biology SL/HL
  • Chemistry SL/HL
  • Environmental Systems and Societies SL (also Group 3)
  • Physics SL/HL
  • Computer Science SL/HL

Group 5 – Mathematics

  • Applications and Interpretation
    • Mathematics SL/HL
  • Analysis and Approaches
    • Mathematics SL /HL

Group 6- The Arts

  • Visual Arts SL/HL

Students must choose one subject from each of the five Groups (1 to 5) to ensure the programme gives them breadth of understanding. Students must also additionally choose either an Arts elective from Group 6, or a second subject from Groups 1 to 5 to meet diploma requirements.

While electives can be taken a Higher Level (240 teaching hours), or at a standard level (150 teaching hours), at least three and not more than four subjects must be taken at a higher level and students must secure the stipulated number of minimum points to secure the diploma.