Your opinions of PYP

Thanks everyone for taking the time to write such detailed responses. I really like the concept, it's clear it's just a matter of finding a school that delivers it well. Currently I'm in the CWB catchment area - is CWB school one of better ones?

Hi Aquarian, your post is asking exactly the same questions I have! Anyone else have any more comments?

This post is almost 2 years old, so a lot has happened in between. As an update, my son was in ESF K1 in TY, but was then fortunate to get into Reception of another through train school which happens to be fully IB. We have moved since then.

Just yesterday my son told me he loves his current school, but not his previous school. After being in various schools and gaining a deeper understanding of IB, I come to realize IB is more an outline and philosophy then an actual solid academic program. It takes the school and the teachers to form the structures and fill in the blanks.

Not only are the teachers playing a vital role in the IB program, the school too is important in its monitoring and execution. Just like back home when all schools in the city uses a similar program directed by the Board of Education, the quality of education differed from school to school and teacher to teacher, and of course, how the parents role model and raise the kids at home.

The biggest problem with PYP and MYP is that each school is interpreting and implementing it differently.

Do you mean in terms of interpretation & implementations, the gap is much larger from school to school compared with other systems, such as GCSE or the American / Canadian curriculum?

Do you have kids in various schools (or compared notes with fellow parents from other PYP/MYP schools) and noticed a big difference?

Being just in ESF K1 and then currently in another PYP school for K2, our experience is still quite limited. At this stage it is nothing technical, but i can see how different the two schools run their program (although they are both using the Learner's Profile and apply the same terms). I wonder how the gap looks like in upper primary or middle school... I wonder if the gap is as big between various ESF schools...