It has been another incredibly busy week this week- there is certainly no sign of the College slowing down before the summer holiday!

MYP Celebrations

The last two weeks have been key points in our pupils’ MYP journey, as we have seen the students from across years 7-9 participate in a range of different activities. Over two days, Year 7 and Year 8 worked on the culmination of our cross-curricular projects called ‘Interdisciplinary Units’. Across English and History, Year 7 worked on exploring witchcraft during Shakespearean times, and they worked with the Performance Faculty to bring together all the strands they have worked on throughout the year. Across French and Physical and Health Education, Year 8 explored the importance of communication and interaction on the playing field. Year 9 completed their end-of-year assessments, had a careers carousel and all our students worked with our Year 12 IBCP students to compete in a sports interhouse tournament. Thank you to all of our staff who collaborated to make these events happen and for what was a fantastic celebration of the MYP.

For our year 9 students, this week has been MYP Graduation Week. We are incredibly proud of how our first cohort of MYP students have embraced the curriculum, and all of the opportunities that this has afforded them, from undertaking service as action, to the Community Project this year. It was lovely to welcome parents and carers into College for a celebration assembly to recognise their achievements. We look forward to seeing how the students get on next year with their GCSE options, and to see them enjoy the redesigned KS4 curriculum that staff have been working on this year.

Summer Showcase: Spotlight

It was fantastic on Wednesday night to attend this term’s showcase, and our sixth form exit show, Spotlight. As always, it was a joy to watch so many pupils from across the College take part in the show, as well as to watch the culmination of our Performance School students’ work during their time in the sixth form. It is always a bittersweet event, as we bid farewell to our year 13 pupils, but we cannot wait to see them flourish in the next stage of their training, at prestigious destinations including East 15, Trinity Laban, Mountview, and London Studio Centre, to name but a few.

Art Exhibition: GCSE Private View and KS3 Art and DT Exhibitions

We have been very fortunate over the last two weeks to enjoy a beautiful display of pupil work in the Prom, thanks to the expert curation of our DT and Visual Arts teams. Last week we held the GCSE Private View for parents, carers and students, and this week we have got KS3 work on display. This showcase of work from the MYP is really spectacular, and has rightly gained a lot of attention from pupils across the College as they move through the Prom. A key job before the end of term is to select the winning designs from our MYP DT Garden space, following on from the success of the Japanese Zen Gardens last year. It isn’t going to be an easy decision!

Cambridge Model UN: hosted by IVC

This week, following the highly successful election count, pupils in the sixth form have organised the inaugural Cambridge Model United Nations event, welcoming around fifty pupils from across the region to participate. Our students have worked exceptionally hard to organise every aspect of the event, and we were delighted to see it come to fruition! Watch out for updates and highlights on our social media channels.

Kew Gardens Trip- Years 9 and 10

This week over 50 pupils from our year 9 and 10 photography classes went on a trip to Kew Gardens, as part of their GCSE preparation. The students had the chance to complete primary source drawings to use in their portfolios, as well as the opportunity to view and photograph the exciting work of Marc Quin and his exhibition ‘Light into Life’, further supporting students’ investigations into the work of other artists. As always, we believe it is very important for pupils to experience learning outside of the classroom, and we are grateful to the Art department for their work in organising another trip.

IB Results Day: roundup

It was a pleasure on Saturday to welcome our Year 13 Class of 2024 back to College to collect their IB results. The overall pass rate for the IB Diploma Programme was 93%, with an average point score of 34 and with almost 10% of students achieving 40+ points (the equivalent of 4A*s at A Level). Two of our home-grown IVC students, Misa and Isabel, achieved 43 and 44 points respectively- placing them as some of the highest attaining pupils in the world. Misa is going on to study Chemistry at Imperial College London, and Isabel is going to read Computer Science at Edinburgh University.

Of our smaller IB Career-Related Programme in this cohort, 18 of the 19 pupils passed, and many of them achieved some truly exceptional scores in their IB subjects (many at 6s and 7s). As always, our students are going on to some incredible destinations, with large numbers holding offers from Russell Group universities. Destinations across the sixth form this year include Oxford, Imperial College London, Edinburgh, Durham, St Andrews, York, as well as overseas institutions. Our performers are holding offers at some industry-leading destinations, including East 15, Trinity Laban and Mountview.

Year 10 Taster Day

Wednesday was our very popular IB Taster Day for year 10 students across the region. We were joined by more than 150 pupils from both IVC and the wider community, for lessons across all of the IB subject groups, as well as introductions to Theory of Knowledge, the Performance School and our Sports Scholarships. If your child is in year 10 and you haven’t yet signed up for our Open Evening on 23 October, you can do so here.