An intensive, unique and truly international learning experience that is recognised all over the world.

Greetings From Programme Director

Thank you for your interest in the IB Diploma Programme at Beijing National Day School. Our community of talented, confident students and excellent, well-qualified and inspiring teachers provides the best environment in which young people can blossom and succeed.

I hope that this website will provide you with all of the necessary information that you need to know about our school.

The IB Diploma programme at BNDS fosters the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable students to excel in life so that they can take on positions of leadership and face current as well as future global challenges. Leading schools in the world, like BNDS, allow students to acquire the creative thinking, flexible problem-solving, collaborative and innovative skills that they will need in order to be successful in work and life.

The IB Diploma Programme at BNDS offers the perfect balance between rigorous academic excellence and rewarding experiences outside of the classroom, providing a vibrant and unique learning experience. We educate our students to become balanced, principled, caring, and reflective. Here, they can discover and display their gifts and talents and develop an international perspective so that, in the future, they are capable of succeeding in their chosen field of endeavour. Thanks to the excellent teaching strategies and the extraordinary learning environments provided by our teachers, our students have every opportunity to make the most of their abilities and to reach their true potential.

We look forward to welcoming you to our programme.

Warm regards,
Jhony Arias Vivas
IB Diploma Programme Director

Introduction

The IB Diploma Programme (DP) is an academically challenging and balanced programme of education with final examinations that prepare students, aged 16 to 19, for success at university and beyond. It has been designed to address the intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being of students. The programme has gained recognition and respect from the world’s leading universities. It aims to prepare students for success in higher education and to be active participants in a global society.

The Diploma Programme prepares students for effective participation in a rapidly evolving and increasingly global society as they:

• Develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and ethically.
• Acquire breadth and depth of knowledge and understanding by studying courses from six subject groups.
• Develop the skills and positive attitudes toward learning that will help prepare them for higher education.
• Study at least two languages and increase their understanding of cultures, including their own.
• Make connections across traditional academic disciplines and explore the nature of knowledge through the programme’s unique Theory of Knowledge course.
• Undertake in-depth research into an area of interest through the lens of one or more academic disciplines via the Extended Essay.
• Enhance their personal and interpersonal development through creativity, action and service.

EMPOWERING STUDENTS TO ACHIEVE THEIR BEST

The IB Diploma Programme

The Diploma Programme Core

The Extended Essay (EE) asks students to engage in independent research through an in-depth study of a question related to one of the DP subjects that they are studying.

Theory of Knowledge (TOK) develops a coherent approach to learning that unifies the academic disciplines. In this course on critical thinking, students inquire into the nature of knowing and deepen their understanding of knowledge as a human construction.

Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) involves students in a range of creative activities alongside their academic studies so that they can engage with the arts and original thinking. The activity section seeks to develop a healthy lifestyle through physical activity. Service with the community offers a vehicle for new learning with intrinsic value. The three strands of CAS enhance students’ personal and interpersonal development through experiential learning and enables journeys of self-discovery.

Courses and Activities

IB Diploma Programme students must choose one subject from each of the five groups (Group 1 to Group 5), ensuring a breadth of knowledge and understanding in their best language, additional language(s), the social sciences, the experimental sciences, and mathematics. Students must also choose either an arts subject from Group 6 or a second subject from Group 1 to 5. DP subjects can be taken at higher level or standard level. At least three and not more than four subjects are taken at higher level (240 teaching hours), while the other subjects are taken at a standard level (150 teaching hours).

BNDS offers the following subjects:

Students take written examinations at the end of the programme, which is marked by teachers and then moderated by external moderators or sent directly to external examiners. The marks awarded for each course range from 1 (lowest) to 7 (highest). Students can also be awarded up to three additional points for their combined results for the Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay. The diploma is awarded to students who gain at least 24 points, subject to certain minimum levels of performance across the whole programme along wth satisfactory participation in the Creativity, Activity, Service course. The highest total that a Diploma Programme student can be awarded is 45 points.

Assessment is criterion-related, which means student performance is measured against pre-specified assessment criteria based on the aims and objectives of each subject curriculum, rather than the performance of other students taking the same examinations. The range of scores that students have attained at BNDS remains statistically high, and universities value the rigour and consistency of Diploma Programme assessment practice.

BNDS IBDP Programme is a two-year educational programme offered in 11th and 12th grades. The IB Programme offers the 10th graders Pre-IB courses, designed to be preparation courses. IBDP courses are designated as Standard Level (SL) or Higher Level (HL). BNDS offers 18 courses (SL/HL) as follows: Chinese A Language & Literature, English A Language & Literature, English B, Business Management, Economics, Environmental Systems & Societies, Psychology, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Design Technology, Mathematics Applications & Interpretations, Mathematics Analysis & Approaches, Film, Music, Visual Arts. The GPA of all the Pre-IB and IBDP courses, instructed in English, are calculated by the IBDP Scale from 1 to 7.