Taking the global path to success
The English Schools Foundation switched from the UK curriculum to the IB for learning with a more international style.
[First published on 8 June, 2015] Hong Kong’s English Schools Foundation (ESF) has shown an enthusiastic commitment to the IB programmes.
All nine of the ESF’s primary schools, its four kindergartens and the primary section of both of its private independent schools follow the PYP.
Similarly, each of the five ESF secondary schools, as well as the two private independent schools, pursues the DP – although only the latter two offer the MYP.
The ESF’s primary teaching and learning advisor, Rebecca Clements, explains why the organisation first decided to introduce the IB curriculum into its schools.
“Our primary schools were following the UK national curriculum and we felt that this particular curriculum was not meeting the needs of the vast majority of our students,” she says. “We looked at different options and decided that the PYP was the best fit for our students as it was conceptbased, transdisciplinary and had international mindedness as a core tenet.”
The ESF’s private independent school in Ma On Shan, Renaissance College, is one of the few schools in the world authorised to offer all four IB programmes: the PYP, the MYP, the DP and the CP.
