The school will implement an additional course to its curriculum when it becomes a candidate school for the Primary Years Program.

The Primary Years Program is one of the first steps the school is making to become an globally recognised International Baccalaureate World School.

Headmaster Richard Ford said the school had been working towards this goal for the past couple of years, to ensure Grammar remains at the forefront of global learning.

“Our focus has always been on having our students engaged to influence the world,” he said.

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“The young men and women we are educating now will be the first members of a truly global generation.”

Mr Ford said the bid to become an IB school would help cement Grammar’s place as a leading education provider, with the PYP embedded in the curriculum in 2019.

““The PYP adds rigour and integrity to student’s learning experiences and focuses on the total growth of the developing child,” says Mr Ford. “In educating the heart and the mind, the PYP is a framework which encompasses academic, social, physical, spiritual, emotional and cultural needs,” Mr Ford said.

The process to becoming an IB school would take a further two years, before it is assessed independently. 

If successful, Grammar will be the only IB school in Northern Tasmania. However, other schools offer the PYP program.

Through the PYP program, the teachers role in the classroom is to design the learning environment to meet every child at their point of need, which is a philosophy that fits well with Grammar’s existing core values.

The IB headquarters is located at The Hague, in the Netherlands. There are about 100 schools across Australia that have implemented elements of the IB program in their school.

The only Tasmanian school on the list is Hobart’s The Friends School.

Junior campus’ Claire Calvert said participating in the PYP program would connect Grammar to a global network of schools and will allow the fostering of increased collaboration through a students’ whole learning experience from Kinder to Grade 6. 

Staff development and training has started.

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