When our students reach grades 11 and 12, they ask the biggest question of all.  "Where will I go from here?"  The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma is key to the answer.  That's because it prepares them well for the future – in education and in life.

More and more universities are recognizing the value of an IB Diploma.  Qualities they look for in prospective students, they find in our IB Diploma students – they're inquisitive, energetic, committed, hard working, internationally minded.  So much so that some universities target IB schools to recruit students, often with offers of early acceptance, scholarships, course and first-year credits, or places in residence.

At York, our Diploma students take a core group of IB subjects – first-language literature, French as a second language, social studies, math and science.  Or they can choose individual IB courses and receive certificates for them.

During their Diploma studies, our students independently research an essay of 4,000 words. Whether it's about Lady Macbeth's tragic role in Shakespeare or recognition of graffiti as an art form, their work is assessed by external examiners according to international standards. 

Creativity, Action, Service (CAS) balances academics with hands-on learning outside of class.  Creativity can be anything from knitting rows of stitches to reading maps, all the while becoming more skillful.  As Action suggests, our students are on the move – learning a new jump-spin combination on the ice, or making a racket on the squash court.  Service is about compassion -  it's about helping someone find shelter and warmth on the chilliest winter day, or tutoring a younger child who is challenged by words they find on a page.

A Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course, 110 hours over two years, trains students to think about knowledge at the deepest of levels. How do we know what we know?  What is authoritative knowledge? Teachers will ask students to question their own assumptions, and even those of their teachers.  The world is revealed in a new light as knowledge itself goes under the microscope.

The York School was accredited to offer the IB Diploma Programme in 1997, the Primary Years Programme (PYP) in 2003 and the Middle Years Programme (MYP) in 2005.  We are now the first school in Canada to offer a fully accredited IB programme at all levels.

For more on our Diploma Programme, click on Apply to TYS.

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