The Middle Years Program
The Middle Years Program (MYP) of the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) is a course of study designed to meet the educational requirements of students aged between 11 and 16 yrs. The curriculum may be taught as an entity in itself, but it is flexible enough to allow the demands of national, regional or local legislation to be met.
The MYP has been devised to guide students in their search for a sense of belonging in the world around them. Life in the 21st century places many changing demands on students making the transition through adolescence. They are at a crucial period of personal, social, physical and intellectual development, of uncertainty and of questioning. The MYP is designed to help them find a sense of belonging in the ever changing and increasingly interrelated world around them and to foster a positive attitude to learning.
MYP at Kuei Shan
MYP is a five-year program for students in Grades 6-10 at Kuei Shan. Students take one subject from each of the following eight subject groups every shool year.
Language and Literature Language Acquisition
Individuals and Societies Sciences
Mathematics Arts
Design Physical and Health Education
The Personal Projects
All students in grade 10 (MYP Year 5) are required to complete the personal project. The personal project helps students to develop the attributes of the IB learner profile. The project allows students to demonstrate the ATL skills they’ve developed through the MYP and encourages the development of independent, lifelong learners. In addition, the project gives students the opportunity to “practice and strengthen their ATL skills, consolidate prior and subject-specific learning, and develop an area of personal interest” (“MYP: From Principles” 6). Personal projects are based on topics that are challenging and which motivate and interest individual students.
For more information, please consult the
“Kuei Shan Personal Project Guide.”
Aims of the Middle Years Program
The MYP aims to help students to develop the knowledge, attitudes and skills they need to participate actively and responsibly in a changing and increasingly interrelated world. This means teaching them to become independent learners who can recognize relationships between school subjects and the world outside, and learn to combine relevant knowledge, experience and critical thinking to solve authentic problems.
The eight subject groups provide a broad, traditional foundation of knowledge, while the pedagogical devices used to transmit this knowledge aim to increase the students’ awareness of the relationships between subjects. Students are encouraged to question and evaluate information critically, to seek out and explore the links between subjects, and to develop an awareness of their own place in the world.
For more information about the MYP at Kuei Shan, please consult our MYP Curricular Guide.
MYP Assessment at Kuei Shan
All assessments in the Kuei Shan MYP are developed and delivered by teachers at Kuei Shan.
All assessments are either formative or summative. Assessment is considered formative when the teacher and student use the assessment to reflect on what knowledge and skills have been learned and developed and can be applied.
Kuei Shan implements the IB criterion related assessment model. The criterion related model is based upon pre-determined criteria. All MYP subjects have four equally weighted assessment criteria each having a maximum score of 8.
A process of continuous assessment is used whereby the students’ performance against the subject specific assessment criteria is measured on multiple occasions during the year. Each individual assessment task will focus on specific criteria.
At the end of the year the student’s current criteria* levels are added together and the sum is used to determine the student’s MYP Grade for the subject based on the IB prescribed conversion table.
For more information, please refer to the Kuei Shan Assessment Policy and the Kuei Shan High School Handbook.