International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme
The IB Middle Years Programme (MYP) at Qatar Academy has been carefully planned to ensure that our students become caring, knowledgeable, open-minded, balanced, principled, and reflective young adults. We teach our young people to think critically, inquire into important issues, communicate well in at least two languages, and take calculated risks.
With access to over 60 community service, athletic, and academic after-school activities and several opportunities to travel the world in the Week Without Walls program, students are challenged well beyond the curriculum of an ordinary school. The student e-portfolios and student-led conference structure ensures that the focus is consistently on learning and growing while acquiring the grades and skills necessary to reach the IB Diploma Programme and attend the world’s most elite colleges and universities. In addition to eight required subject areas (arts, humanities, language A, language B, physical education, mathematics, sciences, and technology), Islamic and Arabic Cultural Studies classes are required, ensuring that knowledge of the local culture is attained by all students.
MYP teachers at Qatar Academy cooperatively plan and assess students’ work to ensure that learning opportunities and grading are consistent and accurate. The moderation process in grade 10 also ensures that a 7 at Qatar Academy is equivalent to a 7 anywhere in the IB world. With at least 14 teachers involved in larger IB initiatives, Qatar Academy’s MYP has been hailed as the leading program in the region and one that other schools aspire to replicate.
Curriculum Documents
Qatar Academy uses a curriculum which has been specially developed to meet international standards and the needs of our students. The content of this curriculum is taught and assessed using pedagogies supported by the International Baccalaureate programs.
Arabic A
Arts
English A
Islamic Studies
Mathematics
Physical Education
Sciences
Technology
Humanities/Social Studies
Differentiation
Differentiation of instruction, since its earliest inception, is based on sound principles for the education of middle years students. The rapid, and sometimes uneven, intellectual and social development of students ages eleven to fourteen requires specific instructional methodologies in order to best meet the varying needs of children ages eleven to thirteen developing into adolescents.- Be concept-focused and principle-driven
- Be designed with on-going assessment of student readiness and growth built into the curriculum
- Use flexible grouping consistently, allowing the differentiation, or patterns of groupings, to change smoothly and frequently, as students work towards grasping new concepts, and then extending and strengthening their conceptual understanding
- Be based on the premise that students are “active explorers” who are increasingly responsible for their own work. Teachers guide and facilitate learning, allowing students to gain the adolescent need to think independently, manage their own work, plan, and evaluate their efforts.
- Teachers use a variety of ways for students to explore the curriculum content
- There are a variety of activities or processes by which students can come to “own” their learning, or come to understand the critical information and ideas necessary
- There are a variety of options through which students can demonstrate or exhibit what they’ve learned.
