Our school is a wonderful place for our students to grow and learn and for our dedicated teachers to educate our young people. We often describe Robinson School as being #notyoureverydayclassroom, a place that commits itself to innovation and continual improvement in support of our students, and nowhere is this more readily apparent than in our school’s shared quest for ongoing development. Our students hunger for knowledge and work to develop the skills that will serve them for life, our faculty and staff explore strategies and learn constantly to nourish this appetite in each student, and our school is continually on a path of self-review and reflection that helps create an environment where this shared mindset forms part of our daily norm.
As much as our own process of reflection is important to our school’s growth, we are fortunate to encounter formal checkpoints for this auto-evaluation consistently every few years with our accrediting agencies. In 2018, we welcomed the Middle States Association Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools for our most recent successful reaccreditation campaign and enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on our progress at the end of the 2021-2022 school year as part of our mid-term update. Now, at the end of this month, we will welcome a visiting team from the International Baccalaureate Organization for a review of our IB continuum of programs – the Primary Years (PPK-6th Grade), Middle Years (7th-10th Grade), and Diploma Programmes (11th-12th Grade).
We will be visited (virtually) by a team of international educators and school leaders over the course of three days from October 26 to 28. Throughout this visit, IB team members will meet with members of our school community, visit classrooms, and engage in an analysis of our IB Programs. Throughout our last year, as we developed our IB self-study, faculty, staff, students, and parents have played important roles in providing input and feedback to our team of IB coordinators as part of the process. During the upcoming visit, you may be contacted with invitations by our IB Coordinators to join virtual meetings or to provide additional input in some way. We thank all those who have been a part of this process so far, as well as all those who will be going forward.
As the culminating part of the IB Visit, after lunch on Friday, October 28th, our entire faculty and staff will meet with the IB Visiting Team to receive the initial report of their findings and observations. In order to accommodate this part of the schedule, all students will be dismissed beginning at 11:45 AM on 10/28/2022. There will be no “cuido”, Beyond the Bell, or extracurricular activities. Division Offices will share additional information regarding the schedule and dismissal specific to each division. Campus will be closed to students that afternoon, so we will be grateful to you for promptly picking up your children at the time of dismissal.
Please review the following information prepared by our IB Program Coordinators and reach out with any questions about IB at Robinson or our upcoming IB Authorization Visit.
Go Hawks!
Overview of IB at Robinson School?
Our journey towards becoming an IB World School began in 2013, with the school receiving our designation as an IB Continuum School in 2018 with formal authorization for the third IB program we offer, the Diploma Programme. The programs have been an excellent fit for our community as the mission and values of the IB align closely with those of Robinson – components like our shared commitment to service, community, and citizenship, and the celebration and understanding of cultures enhance our programs and community. Over the years, our students have grown as inquiring, reflective, globally mindful, and action-driven students.
Learning spaces and experiences that work through a lens of inquiry ignite our students’ curiosity and engagement, provoke critical and creative thinking, and inspire students to take action. The results of these actions can be observed within our school community and beyond.
Why is it crucial to embrace growth?
In reflecting on our school mission, part of our goal is “leading students to become active, compassionate, life-long learners and responsible citizens, who engage their local communities, their nations, and the world with honor, justice, and integrity.”
As the world changes, we must change and adapt to it and prepare students for whatever they may face with a keen sense of international mindedness, of understanding, and of compassion for self and others.
This October, our school will have a further opportunity for growth through the evaluation visit by the International Baccalaureate Organization.
Our upcoming visit serves as a reflective process where our Robinson community assesses the program components against our daily practices to celebrate our accomplishments and develop future action steps that will enrich the educational experience of our students and community.
When did Robinson begin readying for our IB Authorization Visit?
Our evaluation journey started over a year ago- through surveys and conversations, members of our community had the opportunity to share their observations and perspectives regarding the four standards of the program:
Standard 1: PURPOSE – What is our mission?
Standard 2: CULTURE – Who are we as an institution?
Standard 3: LEARNING – How do we achieve our mission and successfully implement our programs?
Standard 4: ENVIRONMENT – How can we support learning in our community?
The upcoming Authorization Visit represents the conclusion of this formal process of evaluation, and through the input of all our stakeholders and the constructive feedback of the IB Visiting Team, we can outline new plans and goals that will propel our school and our programs forward.
How might our community be involved in the upcoming IB Visit?
Any member of our community who will participate during the three-day school visit with IB team members will receive an invitation to Microsoft Teams calls from one of our IB Coordinators (Enid Camacho – Diploma Programme, Carine Poinson – Middle Years Programme, Maria Turner – Primary Years Programme). Our growth as a school means the growth of all our members, and we thank our teachers, administration, support staff, students, and parents who make our community what it is. We look forward to where our journey will take us!
“Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.” James Cash Penney
