Vision: Build a multi-cultural ecosystem of International Education

Mission: Nurture leading talents and pioneers for the future

The purpose of this policy statement is:

For a more detailed look at the curriculum please see the Curriculum guidebooks for each part of the International School.

• DP Curriculum Handbook
• SY Curriculum Handbook (MYP)
• IGCSE Curriculum Handbook

ISA Wuhan International School’s Objectives based on the Three Core Areas of Campus Life

1. Positive Well-Being and Balanced Education:

A. Ensure students feel safe and happy to try their best in all learning and playful activities, maintaining a stimulating and vibrant lifestyle.

B. Ensure highly qualified and experienced educators are recruited to provide a caring and compassionate environment in which students can develop to their full potential.

C. Ensure students feel they can inquire about the world without fear of making mistakes so they may become knowledgeable and open-minded thinkers and doers.

D. Ensure students are confident to take calculated risks so they may learn through practice as much as theory about the world and how it works.

2. Diversified Culture and Well-rounded Lifestyle

A. Our ‘Two Schools, One Campus’ philosophy will ensure all ISA Wuhan students will feel equally valued and able to co-exist harmoniously taking advantage of the diverse opportunities for effective collaboration.

B. Students will gain a rewarding experience through appreciation of Chinese and international cultures, Students will at least be bilingual, if not multi-lingual and engage actively in connecting with other cultures of this world.

C. Students and teachers will be self-starters and lifelong learners always committed to self-improvement in all aspects of education such as learning and teaching, curriculum evolution, school self-evaluation and accreditation etc.

D. Through our world-class curriculum and facilities, enable students to collaborate effectively with peers, students from sister-schools and other members of the community in a wide range of activities in the Arts, Sport, Sciences, Languages both in CCAs and ECAs, in school competitions, trips etc.

E. Students will lead happy, healthy and balanced lifestyles knowing when to push themselves to the limits but also adopting self-control to ensure they lead fulfilling lives.

3. Enriching a collaborative community through creativity, innovation and service:

A. Students will demonstrate they are principled, caring, reflective and responsible members of the community through service.

B. Students will creatively solve problems within the community and beyond to find innovative solutions to enhance the quality of life for all.

C. Students will practice their creative and innovative skills through a variety of projects aimed at serving the community for its good.

ISA Wuhan recognises the ten attributes that define an international-minded person in our school community, as reflected through the IB Learner Profile. The learner profile attributes and the approaches to learning (ATL) provide the foundational skills and dispositions for the development of international mindedness. An internationally minded learner:

• Is a competent communicator.
• Is open-minded and knowledgeable.
• Is a caring and principled thinker
• Uses his or her curiosity and research skills to inquire about the world.
• Thinks and reflects critically about opportunities and challenges.
• Acts for positive changes (for example, to promote intercultural understanding, foster caring relationships, to care for self and others).
• Takes risks to further self-development and understanding of others.

As an IB continuum school, there are several policies and procedures that define in detail how we put into place our guiding statements that promote a holistic education:

Assessment

Our assessment policy communicates how we create a culture of growth and continuous learning:

Language

Our language policy illustrates how we foster intercultural understanding through various methods of communication in more than one language:

Academic Integrity

Our academic integrity policy communicates how we create a culture of ethical academic practice:

Inclusion (SEN)

Our Inclusion policy communicates how create a culture that supports all students to reach their full potential.

Admissions

Our admissions policy demonstrates how we provide access to an IB education for the broadest possible range of students.

These policies are reviewed regularly to ensure that we are creating an IB culture within the school, adhering to IBO standards and practices.

The MYP framework Introduction

ISA Wuhan provides the final two core programmes of the International Baccalaureate (IB), the Middle Years (MYP) and Diploma Programmes (DP). In Grades 6 to 10, all students will undertake a rigorous programme of study across the eight subject areas of the MYP curriculum. In Grades 11 and 12, our students will undertake a globally wellrecognised pre-university programme, the IB’s Diploma Programme. It is recognised internationally for its rigour, the breadth and depth of its requirements, as well as the level of critical and creative thinking and learning required by each successful student.

ISA Wuhan International School adopts the IB curriculum framework. However, our planned and delivered curricula are gathered from best practices around the world to reinforce that we are truly an international school.

The curriculum content at ISA Wuhan International School’s Secondary has been developed for each subject of the Middle Years Programme, taking the best from both East and West in language learning, Mathematics, the Sciences including Sport, Art and Design, and articulating it into the MYP framework for learning and teaching.

ISA Wuhan has consulted the relevant Diploma Programme subject guides and Middle Years Programme teacher support materials to ensure a smooth continuity through the grade levels of the Secondary School.

The MYP comprises eight subject groups:

• Language and literature
• Language acquisition
• Individuals and societies
• Sciences
• Mathematics
• Arts
• Physical and health education
• Design

The eight subject groups are balanced in the curriculum. Given ISA Wuhan International School’s strong commitment to language learning, English and Chinese are given additional time in the timetable. The Secondary School also provides students with access to a rich, holistic education: The Arts, Sport and community service, through the Co-Curricular, Extra- Curricular and Sports Programmes. These take place throughout the timetable and at the end of the school day.

Levels of Planning and Developing Curriculum at ISA Wuhan Secondary School

Whilst we implement the IB programmes at ISA Wuhan, our planned and delivered curricula are gathered from best practices around the world to reinforce that we are truly an international school. To ensure clarity and depth, our planned curriculum is written across three tiers of detail:

Tier One: High level scope and sequence documents

At this level, the curriculum documentation comprises the overall view of topics, learning outcomes, assessment criteria and type, key skills, concepts, and content for each subject area. Tier Two: Unit Plans

This level of documentation utilises the MYP unit planner, which teachers complete for each unit of work they teach throughout the year. Once a unit has been completed, there is a reflection element included, where teachers may adjust the teaching unit to ensure maximum effectiveness in the teaching and learning. Unit planners are stored in ManageBac.

Tier Three: Curriculum Documents & Unit plans (if needed)

Details content up to two weeks, lifelong skills, will be given to parents for Gr 6-12

• Gr 6-10 (MYP / IGCSE)
• Gr 11-12 (DP)

International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme Overview

The Middle Years Programme (MYP) is an international curriculum framework designed for students between the ages of 11 and 16. The MYP emphasizes intellectual challenge and encourages students to make practical connections between their studies and the real world, preparing them for success in further study and in life. It focuses on holistic learning initiatives for international students, providing a rigorous, stimulating, and academically challenging programme for students.

The MYP aims to develop active learners and internationally minded young people who can empathize with others and pursue lives of purpose and meaning. The programme empowers students to inquire into a wide range of issues and ideas of significance locally, nationally and globally. The result is young people who are creative, critical and reflective thinkers.

In the MYP framework, the learner is at the centre of the curriculum model. The MYP helps students develop both subject-specific and interdisciplinary understanding. The MYP curriculum framework includes:

Approaches to learning and approaches to teaching (ATL and ATT): helping students learn how to learn by developing skills for research, critical and creative thinking, communication, collaboration, and self-management.

Key and related concepts: helping students explore big ideas that matter Global contexts: helping students understand the relevance and importance of their study for understanding their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet.

Integrated learning and teaching help students analyse complex issues and develop the habits of mind they need to participate in our increasingly interconnected world. The MYP organizes learning and teaching through eight subject groups. The programme promotes interdisciplinary study that helps students make important connections between academic subjects.

The MYP culminates in an independent learning project. Students complete a significant piece of work over an extended period, encouraging them to consolidate their learning and reflect on the outcomes of their work.

The MYP approach to learning and Teaching

The MYP aims to help students develop their personal understanding, their emerging sense of self and responsibility in their community.

Teaching and learning in context.

Students learn best when their learning experiences have context and are connected to their lives and their experience of the world. Global contexts provide a common language for powerful contextual learning, identifying specific settings, events or circumstances that provide more concrete perspectives for teaching and learning.

MYP global contexts, illustrated below, provide common points of entry for inquiries into what it means to be internationally minded, framing a curriculum that promotes multilingualism, intercultural understanding and global engagement.

Conceptual understanding

Concepts are big ideas that have relevance within specific disciplines and across subject areas. MYP students use concepts as a vehicle to inquire into issues and ideas of personal, local and global significance and examine knowledge holistically. The MYP identifies sixteen key interdisciplinary concepts to be explored across the curriculum. They are:

Approaches to learning

A unifying thread throughout all MYP subject groups, approaches to learning (ATL) provide the foundation for independent learning and encourage the application of their knowledge and skills in unfamiliar contexts. Developing and applying these social, thinking, research, communication and self-management skills helps students learn how to learn.

IB programmes identify five ATL skill categories, expanded into developmentally appropriate skill clusters: The focus of ATL in the MYP is on helping students to develop the self-knowledge and skills they need to enjoy a lifetime of learning. ATL skills empower students to succeed in meeting the challenging objectives of MYP subject groups and to prepare them for further success is rigorous academic programmes like the DP.

Service as action, through community service

Action and service have always been shared values of the IB community, and community service is one of the core pillars of ISA Wuhan. Students take action when they apply what they are learning in the classroom and beyond. IB learners strive to be caring members of the community，who demonstrate a commitment to service making a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.

Timetables/ Subject allocations in Secondary

Lessons last for 45 minutes.

Here is an exemplar of a Secondary School timetable used at an ISA School. The ISA Wuhan International School Timetable will be customized to suit our students and parents.

A timetable overview for Monday for all grades is shown below:

Home Learning

Home learning should enhance classroom lesson practice and assist in formative learning development. It can be ‘new learning’ but also a time to reinforce skills or finish schoolwork and projects. Assignments may be extensions and enrichment of material explained in class or they may also include additional practice or research. The amount of time students spend on homework will often vary due to their attention or skill level. If your child is struggling with time, contact the teacher for suggestions.

Parental involvement and supervision help to ensure that correct learning is taking place. ISA Wuhan strongly suggests that parents set up a regular, designated time and place for students to do their home learning. Such procedures reinforce study habits learned in school and promote better concentration. Students should be encouraged to be responsible about completing assignments and bringing them to school when they are due.

In the Secondary Years, home learning time per night increase progressively as students move through the MYP towards the pre-university Diploma Programme.

As a guide, please note the below:

Grades 6 to 8: 20 minutes of homework per subject per day: 20 x 5 = 100 minutes Grades 9 and 10: 30-40 minutes of homework per subject per day: 30/40 x 5 = 150-200 minutes

Assessment

ISA Wuhan sees assessment as a tool to support and promote student learning and to accurately report student achievement. We believe that students and parents are entitled to consistent, valid, and reliable assessment information across all grades, subjects, and classes.

Teachers at ISA Wuhan use a range of formative and summative assessment tools and techniques to build a detailed understanding of each student's personal mastery, applied understanding and growth over time.

Teachers assess students before, during and after the units of inquiry. With new research forthcoming about the assessment in both Early Years and Primary Years, it is believed that formative assessments can lead to summative assessment. Young children can be inconsistent and unpredictable. A summative assessment may not authentically indicate the success of the learning outcome. It is through continuous assessments of the children that our teachers can evaluate and determine whether the child acquires the knowledge and develops the necessary skills. Assessment data of student’s knowledge, skills and attitudes in all curriculum areas supports teachers in tailoring learning experiences according to the needs of individual students.

ISA Wuhan International School will therefore:

Ensure that teachers, students, and parents well-informed as to how student work is to be assessed.

• Maintain detailed assessment records and use these to provide valid student achievement information to students and parents, both ongoing and at times of formal reporting.
• Use a range of tools for assessment, selecting practices that best promote student learning and progress.
• Structure assessments to allow all students to demonstrate their personal level of achievement and progress.
• Use independent assessment in to ensure validity of data for student tracking and reporting and for further curriculum planning and delivery.
• Value individual student assessment data and adapt classroom teaching and planning processes in response to the data.

Assessment Types

In the Secondary Years at ISA Wuhan, we use formative and summative assessment. These are inherently linked and are used to help students improve their performance in each of the subject areas.

Formative Assessment

This is incorporated into the daily learning process. It provides teachers with information about how learning is developing. It is used to help teachers to plan the next stage of learning.

In effective formative instruction, teachers use a variety of methods to determine whether students understand the current lesson and adjust instruction accordingly. Methods include homework assignments, check-ins, exit tickets, peer-to-peer exchanges, short quizzes, etc.

Formative assessment helps to:

establish a teacher-student learning partnership.

clarify learning targets and criteria for success.

identify students’ misconceptions.

provide teachers and students with actionable feedback.

identify next steps for instruction.

The Formative Assessment Process

• Engage students in learning: Student engagement directly affects student learning. Students become more invested in the learning process when they are encouraged to ask questions and actively participate in discussions about their own thinking.
• Elicit evidence of understanding: Evidence can be defined as observable features of student performance and can be gathered in a variety of ways. Students’ responses provide evidence about their understanding and progress toward meeting learning targets.
• Interpret evidence and identify gaps in understanding: Teachers and students interpret the collected evidence to determine where the students are in relation to the learning goals. Analysis and interpretation of evidence is ongoing and is used to monitor progress and inform instructional next steps.
• Gather and provide feedback: Actionable feedback keeps learning moving forward. When students receive timely, descriptive feedback, they understand what they need to do next and their performance improves. This kind of effective feedback also supports students’ metacognition, or awareness about their own thinking.
• Plan learning and instructional modifications: Collected evidence and feedback can be used to inform and modify lesson plans while teaching and learning is still occurring. Instruction can be targeted to address specific misconceptions or learning needs.
• Scaffold new learning: Teachers can support students’ transition to the rigor of the standards by translating the standards to learning targets. When teachers provide additional clarification and guidance through modeling and feedback, students gain a greater understanding of what is expected.

(Adapted from Cognia’s Teacher Guide)

Summative Assessment

This occurs at the end of a teaching and learning cycle, usually a unit in the MYP. It gives students a single opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned by applying their knowledge in new and authentic ways. It informs and improves student learning and the teaching process. The summative assessment task for each unit is collaboratively designed at the beginning of each unit by the teachers and directly measures the central idea of the unit. Examples of summative assessment tasks include reports, essays, examinations, investigations, research projects, presentations, performances. Commonly used assessment tools for these tasks include checklists, rubrics and anecdotal notes.

All summative assessment tasks are graded and will contribute toward the ISA Wuhan semester grades. Semester examinations will also be summative assessments of student learning for the semester. For grade levels with more than one section, summative assessment is usually common to all classes, and marking is standardised among teachers of that course. Summative assessment tasks will have firm deadlines set by the teacher. Deadlines will be realistic and consider other subject requirements and school events. All teachers are therefore expected to be realistic but firm about setting deadlines and adhere to the Secondary Years assessment policy so that students learn to be punctual and consistent in their study habits. In cases where students are absent, and work has been missed it is the student’s responsibility to approach the teacher to identify what must be done to catch up. The above assessment strategies are put into practice using the assessment tools below.

Classroom Assessment Strategies and Assessment Tools

All teachers are involved in using a variety of assessment strategies to record and collect data to ensure effective learning experiences take place.

Assessment Strategies

Data can be collected from the following sources:

Observations

• Made often and at regular intervals.
• Made of individuals, groups and whole class.
• Made in different contexts to increase validity.

Performance Assessments

• Are goal directed tasks with established criteria and may include opportunities for problem-solving.
• Use multiple skills, such as research skills, communication skills.
• Have more than one correct response.

Process-focused Assessment

• A system of notetaking and record keeping created to minimise writing & recording times. (noting typical and non-typical academic & social behaviours)
• Based on a frequent and consistent system of note taking. (i.e. anecdotal records)
• Checklists, inventories and narrative descriptions (i.e. learning logs) are common methods of collecting observational data

Selected responses

• Closed tasks or responses are used to determine how much a student knows or how well a student can perform certain skills (e.g. tests, quizzes, dictations, multiple choice test)
• Open-ended tasks are used to stimulate an original response by students and, this could take a variety of forms, including a verbal answer, a brief written answer, a drawing, a diagram, or a solution.

Assessment Tools

The above assessment strategies are put into practice using the assessment tools listed below:

Rubrics

Descriptors that inform the student and teachers as assessors what characteristics or signs to look for in work submitted for assessment and then used to make

Checklists

A list of criteria against which students are assessed (e.g. information, data, attributes, or elements that should be present)

Anecdotal Records

Are brief written notes based on observations of students.

Continuum

These are visual representations of developmental stages of learning, used to show a progression of achievement or to identify where a student is in a process.

Exemplars

Samples of students’ work that serve as concrete visible examples of outstanding performance against a set rubric. Rubrics are set appropriately to meet the learning context and mostly are developed collaboratively by the teachers or students a judgement that places the work on a predetermined scale indicating levels of attainment.

For further, more detailed information about the MYP please see the Secondary Curriculum Guide.

Cambridge Assessments

Although we are an IB school, we also use the Cambridge assessment system to supplement our understanding of children’s attainment and progress.

As part of our summative assessments, the International School also uses CEM assessments, Cambridge Progression Tests, Checkpoints, and iGCSEs .This allows us to monitor children’s progress as they progress through the grades and also allows us to evaluate progress and attainment in comparison to schools worldwide who use the Cambridge system.

Cambridge CEM Assessments (Centre for Evaluation & Monitoring)

We are planning to implement Cambridge CEMs in the next few years. Cambridge CEM’s computer-based assessments for 11-14 year olds help identify and diagnose learning needs, measuring and benchmarking learners’ potential. The baseline and diagnostic assessments adapt to each student’s level, accurately and quickly identifying their abilities in core academic skills.

The tests measure learners’ aptitude in core skills and because they are computerbased, results are provided automatically.

• Understand students’ potential and what they are learning.
• Benchmark performance against students of a similar age.
• Plan your interventions to help students improve on areas of weakness and reach their potential in strength areas.
• Use at the beginning or the end of the academic year.

Secondary MidYIS

Age: 11-14 years

Avg Duration: 50 minutes

Assessment: Adaptive, Baseline, Curriculum independent, Digital

Sections: Vocabulary, Mathematics, Non-verbal and Skills

The MidYIS assessments allow us to:

IGCSEs

Children will take IGCSE exams at the end of G10 (or earlier if appropriate).

Examination board

Our IGCSE courses follow courses provided by either the

✓ University of Cambridge International Examinations, or

✓ Edexcel exam boards.

Cambridge IGCSE develops learner knowledge, understanding and skills in:

• Subject content
• Applying knowledge and understanding to new as well as familiar situations
• Intellectual enquiry
• Flexibility and responsiveness to change
• Working and communicating in English
• Influencing outcomes
• Cultural awareness.

To take into account differing abilities, there is a choice between Core and Extended curriculum papers in some subjects.

The Core curriculum is within the ability range of a large majority of students. It provides a full overview of the subject and is targeted at students expected to achieve grades C to G.

The Extended curriculum has been designed for the more academically able. It is targeted at those expected to achieve grades A* to E.

University of Cambridge International Examinations

Cambridge IGCSE was first examined in June 1988 (introduced for first teaching in September 1986). At the same time the GCSE was introduced in the UK. Cambridge IGCSE assessment takes place at the end of the course and can include written, oral, coursework and practical assessment. This broadens opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning, particularly when their first language is not English. In many subjects there is a choice between core and extended curricula, making Cambridge IGCSE suitable for a wide range of abilities.

Grades are benchmarked using eight internationally recognized grades, A* to G, which have clear guidelines to explain the standard of achievement for each grade. Cambridge IGCSE examination sessions occur twice a year, in June and November. Results are is sued in August and January.

Pearsons Edexcel IGCSE

Pearson’s qualifications heritage stretches back over 150 years, our qualifications are offered in 80 countries worldwide and we mark over 10 million exam scripts per year on behalf of the UK Department for Education. Pearson Edexcel is regulated by Ofqual, ensuring our curricula meet the highest standards and our exams follow carefully controlled procedures at every stage of their development, delivery, marking and reporting.

Pearson Edexcel is the only awarding body to offer a modular route, for International GCSEs as an alternative to the linear assessment route with parity between the two. A modular approach is where a qualification’s assessments are split into units and taken over several exam series.

Compulsory subjects

• IGCSE English A (1ST language) or IGCSE English as a Second Language
• IGCSE Mathematics Core or IGCSE Mathematics Extended
• IGCSE Global Perspectives
• IGCSE Biology
• IGCSE Chemistry
• IGCSE Physics
• IGCSE Chine 1st Language or IGCSE Chinese 2nd Language

Also, students get the following course with no ISCSE Exams

• PE
• Assembly / House time
• Self-study

Optional subjects

Additional subjects are also offered. Please check IGCSE Curriculum Handbook

Exam Regulations & Procedures

The school has a responsibility to comply with the regulations of Cambridge International and Pearsons Edexcel, as stated in their Handbook, including but not limited to the secure and effective administration of examinations. ISAWHIS has secure storage for exam papers and when exams start to be administered, all staff involved will be fully trained in the procedures for receiving and sending papers to Cambridge, as well as the examination and invigilation procedures.