Academics
International Baccalaureate
What do Students Say?
I'll always remember my time with friends at Grammar. During my last year when everybody was preparing for the IB exam, it was really a communal effort. Everybody was helping each other. Although you wrote separate exams on the exam day, everybody helped each other to prepare for it, and the teachers were always there to assist us, to fill whatever need we requested. It was a very helpful atmosphere to prepare for something that would probably be one of the largest things we’d ever encountered in our lives.-Michael Song '09
(Read more about Michael's story and his life after graduation.)
The IB Advantage
We live in an increasingly global, interconnected world, and the Halifax Grammar School recognizes the need to prepare students for success in that world. Critical thinking skills and a sense of international-mindedness are at the core of what students learn and fully understand through the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. It is an advanced university preparatory curriculum offered in Grades 11 and 12 that provides the best possible preparation for post-secondary success. Since 1993, Grammar has offered the International Baccalaureate program, and it is widely recognized as the leading IB World School in Atlantic Canada. We seek to produce students who strive to be active inquirers, independent thinkers, effective communicators, intellectual risk-takers, and principled individuals who are open-minded, caring, balanced, and reflective.
IB Mission
The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.
To this end, the organization works with schools, governments, and international organizations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate, and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
To this end, the organization works with schools, governments, and international organizations to develop challenging programs of international education and rigorous assessment.
These programs encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate, and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
What is the IB Program?
The IB Program is:
- an internationally recognized university preparatory education that balances subject breadth and depth and exposes students to the challenge of exploring cross-disciplinary approaches to issues that matter
- an internationally-focused curriculum that encourages the study of other languages
- a stimulating intellectual journey that promotes a positive attitude toward learning and the exciting possibilities of university studies
- a program that sets high international standards as reflected in its externally assessed examinations, essays, and projects
- a broadening education for the whole student that encompasses creative pursuits, physical activity, and service to others.
