Surrey Homes | SH109 | February 2024 | Education Supplement inside

The Priceless Education Supplement
As part of its Centenary
Curriculum, Benenden
has unveiled the Electives
Programme – a vibrant
new addition offering lessons and
lectures designed to captivate and
inspire without the usual pressures of
examined subjects.
Students throughout the Junior
School and Sixth Form have been
exposed to an exciting new range
of courses and lectures designed to
focus on learning for its own sake.
They go beyond the confines of
the traditional syllabus and expand
the students’ horizons. Looking at
new issues, topics, and perspectives
challenges students to think differently,
question their assumptions and learn
new skills. Many are cross-curricular
– demonstrating that comprehensive
understanding can only come from
seeing an issue from different angles.
New ideas can be tested, challenged,
and debated without fear of failure
and in the knowledge that engagement
and deep thought are end goals in
themselves. Topics are diverse, with
more than 70 titles inspiring and adding
authentic extensions to the conventional
curriculum. The Arts are well
represented with lessons such as Women
in Philosophy, and African Literature.
Sciences sessions include Astronomy,
The Science of Happiness, and Coding
Through Minecraft. Elsewhere,
Electives give an opportunity to explore
international and cultural themes such
as Global Politics, Francophone Culture,
and British Sign Language.
The Sixth Form provision is equally
enticing, pupils relish the opportunity
to learn for learning’s sake. Bringing
cultural capital and a love of learning
(combined with excellent Oxbridge
interview preparation) the students’
excitement for Benenden’s enhanced
curriculum only continues to grow.
Learn more at benenden.school
istockphoto.com/ Pimpay & Anna Drozdova
Marymount International
School tells us how the IB
future-proofs their students.
As educators, rarely does a year, a
term or even a week go by without
reflecting on the extent to which the
educational experience we are providing
is fit for the world our young people will
“Students are taught
to become reflective
practioners”
enter, especially when there is so much
uncertainty about what that world will
look like and need. So, how do we ensure
we are educating for a changing world?
The International Baccalaureate (IB)
champions a pedagogical approach
designed specifically to respond to the
needs of a changing world by prioritising
the acquisition of key skills, attitudes and
attributes, rather than focusing solely on
content coverage, memorisation and highstakes
testing. The intended outcomes are
to help learners to become increasingly
self-regulated, autonomous and reflective,
and are best articulated in the IB Learner
Profile, a set of ten attributes or character
traits, the possession of which are deemed
essential in order to successfully navigate
and make a positive difference to the
world in which our students will live.
Through all aspects of school life,
IB schools design meaningful and
authentic opportunities for students to
not only become knowledgeable, but
also inquirers, with a natural curiosity
and the skills to find things out for
themselves, thinkers, capable of critical,
creative and analytical modes of thought,
communicators, able to articulate their
thoughts, ideas and feelings in more than
one language, and risk-takers, with the
courage and determination to face and
overcome challenge. In IB schools, time
is taken to consider what it means to be
principled in one’s thoughts and actions,
and why it is important to approach
difference and the existence of multiple
perspectives with an open mind. Students
are encouraged to become caring and
compassionate, and to develop vital
community-building qualities, such as
empathy, altruism and respect, and grow
to appreciate the importance of balance
in all aspects of life so as to remain happy
and healthy.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly,
IB students are taught to become
reflective practitioners who make and
take time to honestly identify their areas
of strength and weakness and set personal
goals and targets that will enable them to
become the best version of themselves.
marymountlondon.com
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