A connected framework from age three to eighteen
Redwood Science Academy is one of a small number of schools in the world authorised to offer all four International Baccalaureate programmes under one roof. This IB Continuum is not simply four separate courses stitched together — it is a coherent, progressive philosophy of learning that develops the same dispositions, skills and values from a child's earliest years to the threshold of university.
Each programme builds deliberately on the last. The habits of mind cultivated in the PYP — curiosity, reflective thinking, principled action — are deepened in the MYP and tested under examination conditions in the DP and CP. Pupils who have followed the full Continuum arrive at sixth form with academic sophistication and personal maturity that consistently astonishes their university tutors.
The journey from wonder to expertise
PYP — Primary Years Programme · Ages 3–11
The PYP frames learning through six transdisciplinary themes that recur across every year, growing in sophistication as children mature: Who We Are, Where We Are in Place and Time, How We Express Ourselves, How the World Works, How We Organise Ourselves, and Sharing the Planet. Teaching teams plan Units of Inquiry that weave together subject knowledge and conceptual understanding, ensuring that children never simply receive information but actively construct meaning. The programme culminates in the PYP Exhibition — a collaborative inquiry project in which Year 6 pupils investigate a real-world issue with genuine rigour and present their findings to the whole school community.
MYP — Middle Years Programme · Ages 11–16
The five-year MYP is designed for the questioning, sometimes restless minds of early adolescence. Eight subject groups — language and literature, language acquisition, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical and health education, and design — are taught through global contexts that connect academic content to the real world. Interdisciplinary projects are a central feature, preparing pupils to see across disciplinary boundaries. In Year 5 pupils complete the Personal Project: a self-directed, mentor-supported investigation of a topic they choose themselves, assessed against international criteria and presented to an external examiner. It is frequently the piece of work pupils are most proud of in their entire school career.
DP — Diploma Programme · Ages 16–18
The internationally recognised IB Diploma is the gold standard of pre-university education, accepted with enthusiasm by universities in more than 90 countries. Pupils study six subjects — three at Higher Level and three at Standard Level — selected from the IB's six subject groups. Alongside their subject studies they complete Theory of Knowledge, a course that examines the nature of knowledge itself and challenges students to interrogate what they think they know and why. They write an independent Extended Essay of up to 4,000 words on a topic of their choosing — a formative experience that many describe as their first taste of genuine academic research. The Creativity, Activity, Service requirement ensures that intellectual endeavour is always balanced with engagement beyond the classroom.
CP — Career-related Programme · Ages 16–18
The Career-related Programme is a rigorous, forward-looking alternative for pupils who wish to combine the intellectual depth of the IB with a professional or vocational dimension. Students study a minimum of two DP subjects alongside a career-related study from an accredited provider — currently offered in Business, Engineering, Health Sciences and Digital Technology at Redwood. The CP Core comprises Approaches to Learning, a Reflective Project, Language Development and Service Learning, and produces graduates who are analytically able, practically skilled and genuinely employment-ready. An increasing number of CP graduates proceed to highly selective university programmes, often with a clarity of professional direction that their DP peers are still developing.
Assessment for learning, and the IB Learner Profile
Assessment at Redwood serves one purpose: to inform and improve learning. Across the Continuum, we use formative tasks — self-assessments, peer reviews, process journals and reflective writing — to help pupils understand where they are and what to do next, before any summative grade is recorded. External IB examinations in the DP and CP are excellent preparation for university assessments because our pupils arrive at them already fluent in the skills of self-regulation and critical analysis.
The IB Learner Profile — ten attributes that include being Inquirers, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled and Open-minded — is not a poster on a classroom wall at Redwood. It is the living language of our school. Teachers reference it when giving feedback; pupils use it when reflecting on their own progress; parents encounter it at parent evenings and in written reports. By the time a student leaves Redwood, these attributes are not aspirations but genuine descriptors of who they are.
Want to know more about our curriculum in depth?
Our Deputy Head (Academic) is happy to walk prospective families through the full Continuum, subject options and assessment calendar at a time that suits you.