In the years since its founding, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme* has become recognised as the best university preparation programme available for students aged 16+ and is the leading, internationally recognised qualification for university entrance. The hallmark of academic excellence worldwide, it is an holistic programme that supports students in developing their skills of information processing, analysis and application; critical thinking and creative problem solving; collaboration and communication; social and emotional wellbeing; and, experiential learning through creativity, activity and service.
Students who satisfy the demands of the programme have demonstrated strong engagement in learning, both in terms of the mastery of subject content and in the development of skills that will support them as lifelong learners, as they successfully navigate life in a digital age. IB students are bilingual or multilingual and are encouraged to view the world through an internationally minded lens as they learn to embrace cultural diversity by developing a better understanding and appreciation of their own culture, other cultures and, our collective humanity.
The German International School Sydney offers a fully bilingual IB Diploma Programme. Several subjects are offered in either German or English, enabling students to create a personalised programme that fully reflects their interests and language skills, and which provides the ideal basis for their future international studies, career and life pathways.
The Curriculum
The curriculum model arranges the six academic areas around the core requirements. Central to its philosophy is the IB Learner Profile, which is communicated through Approaches to Teaching and Learning. An informative video on this subject can be found here.
Over the course of the two-year programme, students:
study six subjects chosen from the six subject groups – three at standard level (SL) and three at higher level (HL):
Language and literature - Language A: literature SL & HL - Language A: language and literature SL & HL
Language acquisition - Language B SL/HL - Language ab initio SL/HL
Individuals and societies - Business management SL/HL - Economics SL/HL - History SL/HL - Digital society SL/HL - Psychology SL & HL
participate in creativity, activity, service (CAS).
For more information about the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP) at GISS, please refer to the IBDP Subject Selection Handbook.IBDP Subject Selection Handbook.
College Style, Open Campus with Flipped and Blended Learning
We see our senior school as a bridge between junior high and university. When our Year 10 students graduate, with some receiving the German Language Certificate, we see this transition as graduating from high school and moving on into college. To this end, our senior school is a college-style, open campus where students are free to sign in and out according to their own personal timetable and individualised learning programme.
The school day is structured into 9 x 45-minute periods from Monday to Friday, 8.45am – 4.00pm while all IB students have at least 10 self-study periods during the week to make appointments to see their teachers, the librarian, mentors and counsellors outside of the classroom; they revise lesson work, complete homework tasks, assignments, do reading and undertake research and work on their EE and their CAS programme. Self-study periods create time spaces for students to go to the local or state library, or they may wish to work at home.
As happens at College and University, we see our ‘contact time’ in lessons as time for teachers and students to focus on learning tasks that require collaboration, debate and discussion, further clarification and support. Therefore, we follow a blended or flipped learning approach where much of the reading, research and topic exploration happens at home or outside of the classroom, in preparation for hands-on-learning in lessons. To support this approach to teaching and learning, we use Managebac* as our learning management platform and connect with a variety of self-learning websites such as Kognity* and the Inthinking* series for IB courses. All IB students must bring their own laptop for learning.
Fees & IB Scholarship
For more information about school fees please click here.
For more information about the IB Scholarship please click here.
