As the current school year winds down, a whole new beginning is being planned when the next one starts in September at Hugh Boyd secondary school.
That's because Boyd will be the only school in Richmond to offer the International Baccalaureate MYP (Middle Years Program).
School officials said that will provide students in Grades 8 and 9, and then Grade 10 next year, a richer, more well-rounded curriculum.
"It's an internationally recognized program, and at its core is the student learner," said teacher Aviva Vaughan, a co-coordinator who helped establish the new program at Boyd. "It's an academic program, but at the same time it's also a whole student program."
That means it's meant to develop students who are caring, respectful, enquirers and risk-takers.
Also making it unique is the international component to the program.
"Teachers bring in their global perspective into the classroom and try to bridge the gap between the different disciplines, so that students, when they leave one classroom and they go into another they can make connections between one discipline and another," Vaughan said.
There is also the opportunity for teachers to work together to develop interdisciplinary material so students can examine a subject through different perspectives.
"It also brings global, intercultural awareness and understanding and respect into the courses they do," Vaughan said.
Another component the to IB program involves community service which allows students to see themselves as someone who has an effect on the society around them.
Psalmae Tesaloma, a Grade 8 student said some of her classmates who have already taken part in the community service portion of the program helped out at the local food bank, while others focused their attention on assisting their teachers in the classroom.
Fellow Grade 8 student Arya Ardehali said he helped out at the local ice centre, coaching a minor pee wee hockey team. For the coming school year he plans to lend a hand at his old elementary school's sports day.
Miya Enbuscado also focused her efforts at her school to help promote the fact Boyd was incorporating the IB program.
Hugh Boyd principal Barb Raynor said the program still delivers the provincially approved curriculum, but weaves in an overarching philosophy.
"Why is it different from other schools is that it is school-wide," she said. "Every student will be participating, from Grade 8 to 10, no matter what their ability level, or whatever their interests are. And all the teachers are part of it."
And that ensuing collaboration among teaching staff provides the opportunity for them to build off each other and work better as a team, she added.
The intended result is a more well-rounded education, said Jane Leung, another co-coordinator for the IB program.
"The fundamental concepts involve holistic learning, internationalism and communications," Leung said.
"It's the development of their (students') communications skills, and looking at the curriculum through a global perspective in a context that they are not just focused on content in the classroom.
"It's being able take what they are learning and apply it to the outside world. It's also that conceptual learning, as well, so they are not just learning random facts for the sake of random facts, but what are they in the context of what's happening in the community, in the world."
As an example, Ardehali said classroom work focusing on Celtic music overlapped with social studies.
"Instead of just playing music, we learned about the Celtic culture, different instruments, how you can make music sound Celtic, and that actually connected back to our socials unit," he said.
"So, it's kinda cool to have two classes clash into one another."
