Primary Years Programme

The Primary Years Programme is a curriculum framework for young learners aged 3-12 designed by the International Baccalaureate (IB). Founded on a philosophy that recognizes a child’s natural curiosity, creativity, and ability to reflect, the PYP generates a stimulating, challenging learning environment to nurture those assets and foster a lifelong love of learning in every child. The PYP is transdisciplinary, meaning students learn across subject areas while investigating big ideas.

The Learner

The learner is the foundation of our approach to learning and teaching.  Students have voice, choice, and ownership for their own learning.

Learning and Teaching 

A transdisciplinary approach to learning is engaging, relevant, challenging, and significant.  Transdisciplinary learning conveys learning that has relevance between, across, and beyond subjects.

The Learning Community

The learner community is ALL of us: students, parents, teachers, support staff, our local community, and the global community.  The learning community recognizes that education is a social endeavor benefitting all of its members individually and collectively.

Middle Years Programme

The Middle Years Programme (MYP) is an International Baccalaureate (IB) framework for students aged 11–16 that emphasizes curiosity, critical thinking, and real-world connections. Through interdisciplinary learning, students explore big ideas and global contexts while developing independence, creativity, and a commitment to positive action.

Teaching and learning in context

Students learn best when their learning experiences have context and are connected to their lives and the world that they have experienced. Using global contexts, Sanderlin students explore human identity, global challenges and what it means to be internationally-minded.

Conceptual understanding

Concepts are big ideas that have relevance within specific disciplines and across subject areas. Sanderlin students use concepts as a vehicle to inquire into issues and ideas of personal, local and global significance and examine knowledge holistically.

Approaches to learning (ATL)

A unifying thread throughout all MYP subject groups, approaches to learning provide the foundation for independent learning and encourage the application of their knowledge and skills in unfamiliar contexts. Developing and applying these skills help students learn how to learn.