The Scots School Albury’s junior school is now an International Baccalaureate World School, having received full authorisation last month.

One of 17 NSW schools in the IB primary years program, Scots has joined an international educational network found in more than 150 countries.

The International Baccalaureate began 50 years ago in Geneva, with the primary years program starting in 1997.

It aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people.

Scots head of junior school Nick Martin said the IB offered a framework to deliver a contemporary approach to education.

“We were looking for a way to develop kids as thinkers, problem solvers, to prepare them for the world that’s quite uncertain in their future,” he said.

“That industrial model of preparing kids for a particular job probably wasn’t going to succeed these days for our kids, they need different types of skills.”

Mr Martin said learning was presented in transdisciplinary themes rather than individual subjects.

“So each child, each year would engage with six units of inquiry from these themes and all the NSW curriculum, (such as) the science, the history, is kind of mapped behind those units,” he said.

“The intent is that it more closely matches life, and life isn’t segregated into subject areas.”

Led by Mr Martin and primary years program co-ordinator Kylie Dorsett, the school’s path to accreditation has required three years of work by teachers, supported by parents.

The head of junior school said the change was separate to the Scots senior school but some overlap existed.

“The hallmark of an IB education, it’s a focus on big concepts rather than content and it’s a focus on inquiry-based learning,” he said.

“So we’ve taken those two approaches and we’ve made that the handrail that goes through the whole school.”

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