Christ the King French Immersion Catholic Elementary School is officially an International Baccalaureate World School, after having received final authorization to offer the globally recognized Primary Years Programme.

“This is extremely exciting news for our school community,” said Laura Mills, Principal at Christ the King. “The IB program brings a new level of credibility to our school and along with our French Immersion program, provides our students with a wonderful head start on their academic journey.”

Established in 1968, International Baccalaureate programs aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable, and caring young people who are motivated to succeed by offering specific programs that are geared to students in certain stages of their development. Schools must be authorized to deliver IB programs and currently, more than 4,000 schools around the world are established as IB schools.

For the last two years, Christ the King has been in the candidacy phase while it waited for final approval to be recognized as an IB World School. During that time, teachers were being trained by IB program coordinators on all aspects of the program in preparation for delivering the curriculum to the school’s students.

“The Primary Years Programme is a proven, inquiry-based framework that builds conceptual understanding and builds on the premise that students are agents of their own learning,” said Steven Bellaire, Superintendent of Education. “When you become an IB school, you gain access to some of the best educational practices globally, so earning this authorization is definitely going to have a measurable impact on the intellectual development of students at Christ the King.”