British School Manila IB - gateway to the world

MANILA, Philippines - Students in years 12 and 13 at the British School Manila follow the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma program which we believe is the best high school preparation for university and higher education.

The IB is a rigorous and challenging program, and for successful students it is a passport to gaining entry to top universities around the world. In the last five years, BSM students have gained entry to highly respected universities in USA, UK, Canada and Australia as well as other internationally renowned universities. It has recently had students take up courses at Princeton and Yale in the USA, Universities of British Columbia, Toronto and McGill in Canada, Cambridge University, London School of Economics, Imperial College, Royal Holloway, University College London and St Andrews Medical school in the UK as well as top universities in Singapore, Japan and of course the Philippines.

BSM is anticipating its largest ever cohort of around 45 students to start the program next academic year – August 2010 – and is extending its provision to offer 34 courses, its highest range of choices yet.

Universities recognize the talents of IB students and often offer credits or scholarships in order to attract them. They appreciate the fact that IB students have an invariably balanced education with a selection of 6 subjects providing breadth and their 3 higher level subjects providing depth. In addition they gain invaluable research skills in producing a 4,000 word extended essay, critical thinking skills gathered from the theory of knowledge course and the tremendous service experiences and personal development from participating in the CAS program.

At BSM students regularly gain higher IB Diploma scores than the world average. Usually, the entire cohort is entered for the full IB Diploma which is fairly uncommon among international schools – many enter only their brightest students. BSM is very proud of its 2009 cohort who achieved a 100 percent Diploma pass rate, matching the cohort of 2007. In 2008 the BSM students’ average IB points score of 34 far surpassed a world average of 29 points and indeed, over 16 percent of that cohort gained 40 or more points from a maximum of 45 – against only 5.5 percent of candidates worldwide. BSM has been operating the IB Diploma program for only five years yet have quickly established itself as an educational institution of excellence in the region.