INTERNATIONAL BACCALAURATE PROGRAM

The International Baccalaureate Organization was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in 1986 and has ever since been at the forefront of curriculum design for international learning. This curriculum has been divided into three programmes, for students aged 3 to 19. It has been designed “to help develop intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world”. The syllabus is indeed demanding so as to benefit candidates and give them a head start at the best universities worldwide. Furthermore, it also suits the local education requirements. Students must successfully, among other requirements, pass national as well as IB assessments, carry out Creativity, Action & Service (CAS) tasks, write the Extended Essay research paper and take a course on Theory of Knowledge (TOK) and explore different learning approaches and the relationship of the various areas of knowledge.

Nowadays there are over 2,822 World Schools® in 138 countries.
The Gimnasio del Norte School, a World School®, has offered students, teachers and family members alike a space for integral and above all, international learning for over thirty-three years. It has been an official member of the International Baccalaureate Organisation® (IBO) since 1992 and has been granted authorisation to deliver the Diploma Programme and currently offering the following subjects: Spanish A1, English B, Business and Management, Mathematical Studies, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Theory of Knowledge, History of the Americas, Visual Arts, Film and Philosophy.

The school, one of the few IB World Schools in Colombia, has recently been certified to deliver Primary Years Programme and it is currently working hard to attain the Middle Years Programme so as to offer a fully-fledged education based on IBO principles and standards.
Within the IB framework, the Gimnasio del Norte student has the chance to learn in authentic and meaningful environments, aided with constant visits from internal and external experts, pedagogical outings, and permanent experiences of inquiry thanks to the use of specialised libraries, classrooms distributed in learning centres, student and teacher exchange programmes with other World Schools®, as well as the active participation of parents.
The Gimnasio del Norte boys and girls are not only international students, they are scholastic communicators as well. They are immersed in communication media that they themselves direct and build as of a very early age. Radio, press and school video are articulated through a Communications Department that tailor all these experiences in a curriculum, providing the community multiple opportunities to use, create and build with audiovisual aids and school technology.

For reference, more than 1000 of the best universities in the world admit IB Diploma graduates and/or guarantee accreditation of certain subjects.
For further information on the International Baccalaureate please visit: www.ibo.org, or contact Mr. Edwin Rueda, IB Coordinator should you have any doubts with the IB programme at Gimnasio del Norte. edwin.rueda@gimnasiodelnorte.edu.co