DP Self Study

Diploma Programme
Programme evaluation guide and

self-study questionnaire:
Diploma Programme
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© International Baccalaureate Organization 2010
Language A teacher support material: Example interim objectives
Diploma Programme
Programme evaluation guide and self-study questionnaire: Diploma Programme
Published November 2010
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Guide to programme evaluation
Self-study
The subsequent questionnaire follows the structure of the Programme standards and practices, with
programme requirements for the Diploma Programme.
Section A: Philosophy
Standard A
The school’s educational beliefs and values reflect IB philosophy.
1. Identify who was involved in the completion of this part of the questionnaire.
Add rows as necessary.
Name or group Position Role in the completion of this

part of the questionnaire
(eg leader, contributors)
Oliver Furnival DP Coordinator Evaluation coordinator.
Tamagawa Academy K12 School Administration Contributors

Administration
IB Parents (11-12) Parents Representatives Contributors
IB Students (11-12) Students Representatives Contributors
1. Transcribe the school’s mission statement.
The mission of Tamagawa Academy is to produce the “whole” individuals who can contribute
positively to both the Japanese and global society.
Tamagawa Academy is determined to cultivate pioneers in life capable of courageously facing
challenges without fear of failure despite the many obstacles that may come their way.
2. Has the school revised its philosophy/mission statement since authorization/the last evaluation? If yes,
describe the process by which this was done and who was involved.
The School has not revised its mission statement since DP authorisation in 2010.
3. What strategies has the school implemented to encourage a higher degree of student participation in
the Diploma Programme?
Students sign up for DP when they join the MYP programme in year 6.
A yearly events schedule is written and released with DP information given in the following events,
which can be found in the evidence:
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A Tamagawa IB Forum is held every year for promoting the MYP and DP IB Programmes to both
internal and external students and parents, as well as introducing how the Tamagawa IB is
implemented.
Joint information sessions with the mainstream divisions are held for both internal and external
elementary students throughout the year where the IB and DP are explained. Individual
consultation is given to students and parents if requested.
An `Introduction to the Diploma Programme` workshop is given to parents from year 7 to 10 at the
start of the academic year.
A workshop is given to the year 10 parents in November, as the DP application process begins.
DP Alumni students speak at the graduation ceremony to MYP students and parents.
Year 11 and 12 students visit year 10 classes to speak about the Diploma Programme.
Foreign universities and the application process is shown to MYP parents at workshops, as seen in
out IB videos and PowerPoints
The Ministry of Education holds IB events which advertise MYP and DP
Two DP Art exhibitions are held every year. One is at the school Pegasus Festival and the other is
held at a public exhibition hall next to the campus. Both exhibitions are seen by perspective
students and parents.
Diploma Programme information is put on the school website and used to be put on advertisements
on educational/business journals which have been replaced with media coverages of Tamagawa IB
in recent years (Advertisements are seen in the evidence
We actively accept media interviews and visitors through newspapers and television companies and
as shown in our visitors schedule and DVDs in the evidence.
4. Include a brief summary of the perceptions of the parent community regarding the implementation of
the programme at the school and its impact on their children.
A full summary of the parents` views can be found in the evidence we have provided for section A6.
Pie charts have been created to show the parent responses to the questions.
Overall, while there are many positive comments, there does seem to be a communication
breakdown with some parents. As shown in this self-study, as a school we offer a lot of opportunities
for communication with parents. This includes a range of parent workshops on different parts of the
DP curriculum and the university application process, IB parent days and school information days.
We also have parent / teacher conferences and four reports a year. The results of our survey show
that some of this information is not getting to the parents. We ensure that all of our communication
is done in both English and Japanese. The results of the survey, where parents sometimes say they
don`t get information that is, in fact, readily available to them, is something that we need to address
as a school.
Some of the comments from parents have gone towards our action plan.
Here are some example comments from parents:
 The IB teaches students to be global critical thinkers instead of just memorizing facts. They
learn how to apply this method of thinking not only to their school work but also to everyday
life. It is beneficial that all of the core subjects are taught in English by an instructor whose
mother tongue is English, but also the students have the opportunity to learn intense, fluent
Japanese.
 IB education gives students a chance to express their opinion and how to create and construct
their own opinion. These points are lacking in the Japanese Education system. I hope IB
education will help students improve their own character.
 Proactive learning style: Thinking, Presentation, Debate, Applying knowledge in various ways.
Chances to join social activities and cover his/her interest area in depth.
 I enjoy IB workshops because I can learn a lot about the school and IB.
 Thank you all for your efforts in running IB in Japanese school. Thank you for letting my
daughter take the subject she wanted to, though it was not an option when she started DP. I
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have no words to tell you how much I thank you.
 The IB program at Tamagawa has improved a lot las few years, especially teachers. My child
says the classes are very interesting even they are very demanding. I would like to thank all
the teachers for their great work. I hope many teachers stay for a long time.
 In Japan Education system does not match IB Education and not all the universities accept IB
Program.
 Hard to find and keep the teachers who understand IB well in Japan.
 Not enough subjects to choose from.
 Difficult to do IB program with Japanese school system (starting April, have to take DP Exam in
November) .
 MYP does not prepare for DP.
 To better prepare current students for future studies, it would be helpful to know statistics of
what education students follow after completion of the DP Programme—We do this.
 In DP stage, it needs to more consider how to rationalise ichijyoko-programmes within IB

programme framework—On our action plan
 The parents need to be kept more updated on the class work and homework, especially during
the early IB years. If the IB Planner is to be used, then there should be more strict enforcement
of parent acknowledgement. Parents should be kept up-to-date on school activity details in a
timelier manner. The working parent (mothers included) may find it difficult to participate during
working hours. Therefore, parent conferences and interviews should be held on Saturdays or
during evening hours. Parent interviews with teachers of 10 minutes twice a year are
inadequate.
 Selecting DP subjects is very important for our child's future. But because of the timetable and
the numbers of students, she/he couldn't take what she/he wanted to. It was a terrible shame.
 In Tamagawa, students have to meet the IB requirements and Japanese school requirements
at the same time. Because of this students are too busy to learn in the process to complete
their work, Tamagawa IB now is like a cramming system.
5. Include a brief summary of the perception of the students regarding the implementation of the
programme and its impact on them. Include the perceptions of graduates if the school has had the
opportunity of involving them in the process.
35 out of 36 students responded to the anonymous questionnaire that was given to them.
2 stated their experience of their time in the Diploma Programme was very positive
20 stated their experience of their time in the Diploma Programme was positive.
9 stated their experience of their time in the Diploma Programme was satisfactory.
4 stated their experience of their time in the Diploma Programme was unsatisfactory.
A selection of positive comments from students.

 We can learn international mindedness with a good environment.
 The programme is hard but improves our thinking
 You become a better thinker
 The classes are all interesting
 We learn things that are helpful for our future.
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 We are trained to think and question for study and everyday life
 We think from different perspectives.
 It makes us open minded and more interested in global issues
 The learning environment is amazing the teachers are dedicated and always willing to help.
 We can get a global education.
A selection of negative comments from students.

 Limited subject choice—This was a common issue.
 Too busy schedule
 It doesn’t use creativity enough.
 Not enough time
 Not a good education style to go with Japanese university
 The jump from MYP to DP is large and I find that many students struggle with the adjustment.
 It is time consuming and you won`t get much time to spend on other activities outside the IB
 Small amount of teachers.
 I don`t have enough time to work on assignments.
 It is hard and stressful
A selection of comments from alumni students:

 It was a difficult programme but I learnt a lot from 6 years of the IB course.
 To study in IB enhanced my communication skills which has helped me work with other
international students (at university).
 At the time, I thought it (IB) was too hard. However after I finished I realized that I developed
many skills—reading, writing, summarizing).
 I learnt the importance of addressing my opinion.
 Because I got through those times I am now confident when I get hard tasks at university.
 The Extended Essay skills which I learnt helped me write the report tasks at university.
6. Complete the chart below with the results of the self-study process.
Practice Level of implementation
Low High
1. The school’s published statements of mission and x

philosophy align with those of the IB.
2. The governing body, administrative and pedagogical x

leadership and staff demonstrate understanding of IB
philosophy.
3. The school community demonstrates an understanding of, x

and commitment to, the programmes(s).
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Low High
4. The school develops and promotes international- x

mindedness and all attributes of the IB learner profile
across the school community.
5. The school promotes responsible action within and beyond x

the school community.
6. The school promotes open communication based on x

understanding and respect.
7. The school places importance on language learning, x

including mother tongue, host country language and other
languages.
8. The school participates in the IB world community. x
9. The school supports access for students to the IB x

programme(s) and philosophy.
a. The school provides for the full Diploma Programme x

and requires some of its student body to attempt the
full diploma and not only individual subject certificates.
b. The school promotes access to the diploma and x

certificates for all students who can benefit from the
educational experience they provide.
c. The school has strategies in place to encourage x

students to attempt the full diploma.
7. Conclusions on the standard
a. Complete the table. (Indicate with X.)
Standard A Requires significant Shows satisfactory

attention development
The school’s educational beliefs and values

reflect IB philosophy. x
b. Describe any major achievement(s) related to this standard during the period under review.
The school holds an IB forum every year where IB philosophy is discussed and demonstrated
through demonstration lessons.
The IB Leadership team and subject teachers have held meetings with mainstream teachers
(Who do not teach the IB) where IB philosophy has been explained and discussed. The DP
Coordinator presented IB Teaching and Learning philosophy to the mainstream teachers.
Tamagawa is continually demonstrating IB philosophy to a range of national media which has
led to the school being on television and in newspapers on many occasions. The Programme
Director, coordinators and teachers have been interviewed on IB philosophy.
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The Head of school has been on the IB regional council.
The Leadership team hold a range of IB workshops for parents and staff throughout the year,
including information on the IB Philosophy and both programmes.
DP Policies on Assessment, Special Educational Needs, Language and Academic Honesty
have been written following the IB`s guidelines. They are shared with parents and students
through the IB Programmes Guidebook, in Japanese and English.
The Leadership Team visit IB workshops and forums throughout the world to gain knowledge
of IB philosophy which is then put into both programmes. The school participates in the IB
World Community through going to IB conferences, MYP and DP Network meetings, holding
IB forums at the school, going to the JAIBS Heads meetings twice a year and sending
students to World Student Conferences. We are holding a DP East Asia and Guam meeting in
November 2015.
IB open days are held, where the IB philosophy is explained to potential new parents and
visitors to the school
Seminars are given to 3rd parties to explain IB principles and philosophy.
The school demonstrates it understanding of, and commitment to, the programme(s) through
IB workshops and information sessions held throughout the year. Brochures and leaflets are
given to visitors to demonstrate an understanding of the programmes. Representatives are
sent to IB network meetings for both programmes with the DP Coordinator recently putting
himself forward to be the new IB Network Regional Chair.
The school demonstrates International Mindedness in a number of ways. In 2014 Tamagawa
became a Ministry of Education (MEXT) Super Global High School. This allows students to
contribute to international events on issues such as poverty, human rights, international
cooperation and diplomacy. Through Super Global High school students develop an
understanding of different cultures and worldwide issues. Tamagawa regularly has
international speakers on a range of global issues. Tamagawa IB students take part in these
events.
About 300 Tamagawa students travel abroad every year and the school welcomes 200
students from 14 schools in 7 different countries. IB students participate in international
exchanges of between 3 months to a year. The exposure they have to English on these trips is
good preparation for the Diploma Programme.
Tamagawa is a Round Square school. Our students go to overseas events with our partner
schools and take part in a variety of activities that develop their leadership skills.
Tamagawa IB runs a Model United Nations General Assembly where students meet within the
school and at events with other schools. Our IB MUN is due to go on a trip to India in
November.
IB students are encouraged to join the Super Global High School, Round Square and Model
United Nations General Assembly. A board advertising events in these programmes is on the
IB corridor wall.
Tamagawa IB promotes responsible action in the local community through
Service@Tamagawa in the MYP and CAS at DP. Activities such as First Harvest, cleaning the
local rivers and beaches are run by the programmes with CAS students leading MYP students
in these events. DP students also show responsible action in the international community
through Volunteer work in Thailand and through the African Studies trip as part of the Super
Global High School.
The school communicates with parents in a variety of ways. Our ChatNet system is a school
based email system which is used for parent and student email, as well as sharing
assessment rubrics and dates. Parent and student workshops are held throughout the year on
a range of issues such as Introduction to the IB, college application and the DP Core. Parent /
Teacher conferences are held twice a year when parents can meet their child`s subject
teachers and Programme coordinator. Four reports are sent home each academic year with
students` grades and comments (In-depth individual comments are given at the end of each
term), Extended Essay Approaches to Teaching and Learning and CAS comments are also on
the reports. When students participate in trips and CAS activities at the weekend letter home
are sent by the teacher / CAS coordinator. The school is in the process of updating the MYP
and DP part of its website which will include a range of information for parents and perspective
parents / employees such as policies, programme information, student experiences and
guides. This information is presently shared though workshops and guidebook, which will
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continue to happen in the future.
The school places importance on language learning. The English Department and DP
Coordinator have lead staff training and provided resources on language learning. Language is
on the DP unit planner with links (Including from the IBO ATL workshop) and resources being
given to teachers to help them plan for a different range of language learners. In 2012-13 the
whole staff took part in a one year ESL in the Mainstream workshop. Equal time is provided for
English and Japanese language learning in the MYP and DP. Each homeroom in the IB has
got a Japanese and English speaking homeroom tutor. Students in the MYP take part in
language exchanges of two weeks to one year as well as hosting students from non-Japanese
speaking countries.
All students who are in the MYP programme are eligible to enter the full Diploma Programme.
Students are encouraged to take part in the programme through brochures, Open Days,
Workshops and students giving presentations to younger students.
c. Describe the progress made with regard to any IB recommendations for this standard from the
previous evaluation process or from authorization.
Optimizes its use of the diversity of cultures and perspectives that exist in the school
and in the local, national and global communities to enhance learning. A plan will need
to be created outlining how DP students at Tamagawa will enhance learning through
utilizing the location, national and global communities. [Practice A2#1]
The CAS coordinator has created a CAS guide, which is shared with students and staff and
explained to parents at a workshop. In making this she worked with our Super Global High
School Coordinator to find relevant events our students can take part in. The CAS coordinator
has promoted activities through speaking to students, IB Assemblies, the CAS guide and the
CAS board in the IB corridor. The DP coordinator has created a list of local charities for
students to contact.
Further investigates strategies to encourage student learning that strengthens the

students' own cultural identity, and celebrates and fosters understanding of different
cultures [Practice A2#4]
The School offers Japanese cultural in the MYP, to Parliament, sumo wrestling, and bunraku,
DP students go on a summer hiking trip to Ise.
MYP and DP students participate in the school Pegasus festival which celebrates a wide range
of Japanese and international culture, art and music.
Tamagawa holds a wide range of cultural clubs such as Japanese drumming and music and
holds a yearly musical festival.
IB assemblies give students the chance to give presentations about their cultural experiences,
which are often through CAS and Round Square, which include doing volunteer work at
Japanese shrines and temples and visits abroad to places such as Singapore, Thailand,
Australia and India.
Round Square hold African Studies, European studies exchange, trips abroad.
Round Square and CAS trips include trips abroad where students show their Japanese culture
at a range of events such as Japanese dancing in India.
The MYP and DP Coordinators went to school exchange global outreach ties, visiting New
Zealand, England and America to build up relationships with schools.
The student council celebrates cultural days such as Halloween and Christmas.
The International Mindedness board celebrates International events such as Bonfire Night,
Remembrance Day, Pancake Day and Sporting World Cups.
Further investigates strategies to emphasize the importance to language learning

through the development of each student’s mother tongue and the acquisition of other
languages, including the host country language. [Practice A2#9]
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A lot of student`s school life includes activities in Japanese. Students have a Japanese
homeroom teacher (some of whom also communicate with students in English). Students take
part in mainstream school clubs in Japanese. Students are involved in whole school festivals
and daily activities such as cleaning the campus. Students study Japanese, music and PE in
the Japanese language.
The importance of language learning is shown through its time on the timetable.
The importance of language learning is shown through the support offered to staff who:
 Attend Language workshops held at the school.
 Complete Personal Development courses offered by the school.
 Refer to the DP Coordinator`s booklet of differentiation strategies and classroom activities
for language and literacy learners for guidance on teaching language.
 Share their own expertise and experience in teaching Language and Literacy by through
participating in whole staff meetings.
 Utilise the Language and Learning folder in the DP Library section of the staff link station
with up to date IB documents supporting the teaching of language and language learners
in the IB Programmes.
 Refer when necessary to the teaching and learning activities on the DP unit planner
support document in their planning and preparation, to aid language learners.
 In the monitoring of the teaching of language and literacy the coordinators will highlight
and discuss the development strategies that teachers are encouraged to consider in the
planning and teaching of their lessons
Reviews the level of support given to members of its community for whom the school’s
language of instruction is not their mother tongue. Among other strategies, the school
should continue with its plans to introduce ESL in the Mainstream training to all of its
DP teachers. Best practice would also include the development of a comprehensive
external English Language assessment for use in MYP and DP. [Practice A2#10]
In 2012 all staff participated in ESL in the mainstream.
The DP offers English A: Language and Literature and English B.
Middle Years Programme students in Grades 7 to 10 are placed into English Language and
Literature or Language Acquisition courses, based on their language proficiency. English
language classes are organised according to students’ Middle Years Programme Language
Acquisition Phases.
English language class placement testing is administered internally to all incoming students to
the programme. This includes the online Cambridge Placement Test, Words Their Way
Diagnostic Test, and a writing test derived from Cambridge English Language Assessments.
Students in the programme are tested twice a year in order to monitor their language
development and progress. This is done using differentiated Cambridge English Language
Assessments. Based on these testing results, classwork and teacher recommendations,
students will be placed at a “best-fit” IB Phase, with Phase 6 indicating the highest proficiency.
With all the evidence taken into account, students will then be assigned to the appropriate
class at the start of the following term.
d. As a result of this self study, describe the current school practice(s) that has/have been identified
as in need of further development or improvement.
Continue to build links with the school community to improve their understanding of the
Diploma Programme. Build on the early progress in spreading the IB philosophy across the
teachers in the mainstream.
Educate parents about what the IB really means (during the application process), as a lot of
people come into the programme with the impression that it`s a language immersion
programme.
Continue to build links with the Super Global High School and Round Square to increase IB
student participation in these programmes
Build links to promote responsible action with the local community including local charities,
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which can prove difficult with the language barrier with some IB teachers.
Create greater links to IB world community such as teacher examiners and workshop leaders.
The DP Coordinator has started this process by volunteering to be the IB network chair (and is
acting chair until the next network meeting). The school is hosting a DP Network meeting in
November.
As further expansion and more IB students are expected in near future, firm and clearer
criteria to recommend and advance to the DP should be regulated.
Section B: Organization
Standard B1: Leadership and structure
The school’s leadership and administrative structures ensure the implementation of the Diploma
Programme.
Low High
1. The school has developed systems to keep the governing x

body informed about the ongoing implementation and
development of the programme(s).
2. The school has developed a governance and leadership x

structure that supports the implementation of the
programme(s).
3. The head of school/school principal and programme x

coordinator demonstrate pedagogical leadership aligned
with the philosophy of the programme(s).
4. The school has appointed a programme coordinator with a x

job description, release time, support and resources to carry
out the responsibilities of the position.
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Low High
5. The school develops and implements policies and x

procedures that support the programme(s).
a. The school has an admissions policy that clarifies X

conditions for admission to the school and the Diploma
Programme.
b. The school develops and implements a language X

policy that is consistent with IB expectations.
c. The school develops and implements a special X

educational needs policy that is consistent with IB
expectations and with the school’s admissions policy.
d. The school develops and implements an assessment X

policy that is consistent with IB expectations.
e. The school has developed and implements an academic X

honesty policy that is consistent with IB expectations.
f. The school complies with the IB regulations and X

procedures related to the conduct of all forms of
assessment for the Diploma Programme.
6. The school has systems in place for the continuity and x

ongoing development of the programme(s).
7. The school carries out programme evaluation involving all x

stakeholders.
Standard B1: Leadership and structure Requires significant Shows satisfactory

The school’s leadership and administrative

structures ensure the implementation of the x
Diploma Programme.
The governing body of the school is kept informed about the ongoing implementation and
development of the programme through K-12 Academic Affairs board meetings which are held
on a monthly basis. A Programmes Director has been appointed who has the role of linking the
IB department with the main school.
The school has developed a leadership structure which supports the leadership of the
Programme. The new structure includes a Chair of IB Pedagogy and curriculum, an IB
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Programmes Director and an IB Associates manager.
The DP Coordinator has produced and shared a wide range of documents to demonstrate
pedagogical leadership to support staff. These include: Unit Planner support booklet,
classroom activities, Reporting the Approaches to Teaching and Learning, Lesson observation
booklet, Cross Curricular TOKs, Teacher Trios, Extended Essay Guides, Peer and Self-
Assessment support, Writing reports, Approaches to Teaching and Learning, target setting,
Classroom Activities to support ESL students.
The school`s Language and the Diploma Programme`s Special Education Needs, Academic
Honesty and Assessment policies have been updated and shared with the school community.
All teachers are given the opportunity to comment on and make suggestions on the policies,
which is introduced in whole staff meetings. The Leadership Team worked closely with the
English Department in the updating of the language policy. The admissions policy has been
updated as part of the Language Policy
The DP coordinator has adapted the IB regulations to create a booklet for staff who are
invigilating DP exams, The booklet covers all the information needed to ensure the exams are
run to the IB`s standards.
The school has put systems into place for the long term continuity of the programme. A BLES
(Bilingual Educational System) is being introduced into year one of the primary school with the
aim of enhancing internal student`s English ability in preparation for them taking the MYP
course in year 6. The programme will grow each year and will be running from year 1 to year 6
by 2020.
The school has promoted the programme to the extent that this year we had two year 7
classes for the first time which is likely to continue into the future, providing opportunities for
more staff and DP subject choice in the future.
The school has put systems into place for the long term continuity of the programme. A BLES
(Bilingual Educational System) is being introduced into year one of the primary school and the
kindergarten with the aim of enhancing internal student`s English ability in preparation for them
taking the MYP course in year 6 making the MYP’s commencement a year earlier. The
programme will grow each year and will be running from year 1 to year 6 by the year 2021.
Foreign staff numbers have increased at a steady rate and will be at 17 by September 2016,
and further increment is planned according to increasing no. of DP students.
The school has promoted the programme to the extent that this year we had two year 7
classes for the first time which is likely to continue into the future, providing opportunities for
more staff and DP subject choice in the future.
The ordinary budget for the programme is 6 million yen a year for the DP only and another 9
million yen per year is allocated for the MYP. In addition to those budgets, special budgets are
granted as necessary for any extraordinary events.
Develops systems for implementing and monitoring the programme with input from all
constituencies, including students, formally setting up systems to monitor their
concerns. [Practice B#3]
The DP coordinator holds a DP study hall period once a week with the year 11 students
(moving to year 11 and 12 in the next academic year). In these classes he holds one to one
meetings with students to give them the opportunity to express their concerns. A student
questionnaire has opened up discussion with students which have resulted in some of their
requests becoming reality. An example is changing study halls times when possible and
changes to some lesson times--again, where possible.
The DP coordinator meets students to discuss their concerns on a one to one basis.
The Homeroom teachers have conferences with parents and students where concerns can be
expressed. These are passed on to the DP coordinator or head of IB programmes.
The DP coordinator has built links with the school counsellor. When a teacher raises a concern
about a student the coordinator does a round robin and presents the information to the school
counsellor who starts any possible relationship with the student and parent if necessary.
Parents have the opportunity to air concerns via emails, homeroom teacher meetings and four
Teacher / Parent conferences a year.
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Ensures that its goals, strategies, timelines and accountabilities are available to all
members of the community. The school has numerous staff and management members
supporting the IB Diploma, and it was felt that the respective roles and responsibilities
should be clarified so as to avoid role confusion and potential mixed messages. One
strategy is to create job descriptions and also to recognise that communication and
accountabilities will more likely resemble a web or matrix rather than a simple linear
structure. [Practice B#4]
Job descriptions for teachers, coordinators and the Programme Director have been rewritten
and are shown in the evidence.
The new organisational chart clarifies each member of staff`s responsibilities, as can be seen
in the evidence. These have helped to clear up the confusion from previous coordinator`s roles
and responsibilities (as raised in the 2013 MYP evaluation visit).
The organisational chart is referred to at whole staff meetings by the Programme Director and
is explained as part of new teacher`s orientation.
The staff office / room has been redesigned to replicate the new organisational structure
between curriculum and non-curriculum roles.
Ensures a programme coordinator is appointed with sufficient support and resources to

carry out the responsibilities of the position. To continue to properly develop the DP, the
school should monitor the time allocation of the DP Coordinator. This is especially
important given the pedagogical leadership needs and other responsibilities, and later
when there are students in both grades 11 and 12. The need to clearly define roles and
responsibilities, e.g. job descriptions, is particularly important with regard to the
various administrators who manage areas of the DP Coordinator role or circle of
concern. [Practice B#7]
The DP coordinator teachers no more than 10 periods per week.
There are support staff in the office who help the coordinators with their role. Job descriptions
have been given to them to clarify their responsibilities.
Establishes a process for monitoring the work of the programme coordinator in

accordance with the programme coordinator’s job description. An appraisal system
should be established to properly monitor the work of the DP Coordinator. [Practice
B#9]
The work of the coordinator is monitored in weekly Leadership meetings. An appraisal system
needs to be formally established.
Ensures at least one teacher per subject group completes subject specific IB training at
a regional workshop as soon as practicable before the start of teaching. [Practice B#11]
Teachers are put on relevant training as soon as possible after they start work at the school.
Teachers are sent on face to face training sessions when possible and are put on online
training sessions if this is the only option. Each group has at least one teacher who has
completed an IB workshop in the subject.
Develops strategies and processes to ensure continuity of the programme; including an

induction system for new staff and ongoing staff evaluation and professional
development. A comprehensive induction programme needs to be developed. A system
of ongoing classroom observations and teacher support should be established. A
proper "hand over" system will need to be developed as teachers start to leave the
school, to ensure programme continuity. [Practice B#14]
Induction for new staff includes meetings with the DP coordinator and the Programme director.
Induction with the DP coordinator includes An overview of Diploma Programme, the core of the
Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge and Creativity, Action and Service, Approaches to
Teaching and Learning, our students, their classes, the timetable, unit planning, The OCC, the
Lesson Observation procedure, Teacher trios, TOK and Academic Honesty. A meeting with the
librarian and school counsellor are also included in the induction process.
Email support for new staff starts as soon as a teacher has accepted a contract. Examples are
unit planners and IB documents being sent to them.
The DP Coordinator observes teachers twice a year in a formal capacity. A DP observation
booklet was launched in April 2015 and can be found in the evidence.
All staff curriculum documents such as unit plans, Internal Assessments and resources must
be updated on the staff share document to establish continuity in the programme. Staff are
regularly reminded of this.
12
The Programmes Director has a teacher leaving check list which must be completed before
staff leave the school.
Considers strategies to expand the role of the library/media centre in the

implementation of the programme. The school should put plans in place to give the
teacher librarian a greater role in collaborative planning with DP teachers. [Practice
B#18]
The librarian at the Multi Media Research Centre (MMRC) gives workshops to staff and
students explaining the facilities it has to offer and how to utilise them.
The DP coordinator has created IB book shelf in MMRC. This is small at the moment and staff
need to build it up with relevant materials.
Year 11 and 12 study halls are held in the MMRC so that students are in close proximity with
the array of resources.
Extended Essay workshops with the DP coordinator, librarian and subject teachers are held in
the MMRC. The coordinator has used the MMRC for his core DP study halls to help students
with their research.
Reviews and updates its current written language policy (including its provision for
second language teaching and mother-tongue language support). Tamagawa has made
an excellent start of its Language Policy, and now needs to develop this beyond what
appears as an MYP Language Policy with DP added into a comprehensive IB Language
policy. The Language Policy should outline specifically how ESL support will be
structured in the IBDP. [Practice B#20]
The language policy has been updated and is now a joint MYP and DP Language Policy. The
leadership team and English Department have worked together in the update of the policy.
Standard Level is now taught in English A and English B.
Establishes systems to guide and counsel students whenever the need arises. The
school should develop proper admissions/academic counselling/university advising
systems to properly assess, inform, and schedule students into the DP. In addition, the
IBDP is a very stressful experience and the school will need personnel or systems in
place to support students seeking support during the programme. [Practice B#22]
The programme has built up links with our school counsellors. A counsellor has been to an IB
assembly, IB staff meeting and homeroom sessions to explain her services to both students
and staff. The DP coordinator has written to parents and spoken to parents at DP workshops
explaining how the counsellor can help their children, this information was also given to
parents through a letter.
The student counsellor is available to students at all times. This is highlighted to students
through homeroom teachers a monthly newsletter, and discussions with the relevant
coordinator. The Counsellor`s room is in central school area with private student access.
The DP coordinator relays staff concerns about a student to the school counsellor who takes
appropriate steps to support the student. If a student is deemed worthy of getting support from
the IB, such as extra time in exams, the DP coordinator and school counsellor work together to
get the student assessed. The counsellor provides the link between the school and
assessments from external educational psychologists.
The University Counsellor gives parent and student workshops, speaks in DP study hall
lessons and runs university open days, She works closely with year 12 homeroom teachers.
The programme has expanded its administration support so the University counsellor can
concentrate on university counselling.
A teacher went to a counselling workshop in Jakarta in October which will focus on non-
Japanese university applications as well as academic counselling for students. A draft job
description has been written for the position of Academic Counsellor which is presently under
discussion.
Provides appropriate resources and staff to support the delivery of creativity, action,
service (CAS). The school needs to address the issue of time allocation for its CAS
Coordinator. [Practice B#30]
The CAS budget in 2014 was 100,000 yen.
The present CAS coordinator has been allocated 3 hours per week for the role.
A CAS period once a week has been written in to the year 11 timetable (next year it will be part
of a DP Core slot on the timetable). The CAS Coordinator with the support of the DP
Coordinator when necessary, has run CAS lunchtimes for year 12.
Managebac is used for CAS. The CAS Coordinator has trained students and parents on how
to use this. This has led the Diploma Programme to use Managebac in the Extended Essay
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from September 2015.
The CAS coordinator has encouraged staff to run CAS activities in the school with some
success.
Provides appropriate and adequate space, supervision and security arrangements for
examinations. The school will need to confirm where IBDP exams will be conducted,
and what provisions there are for the safe storage of examination materials. [Practice
B#31]
DP exams are held in the International education centre, university building and Multi-Purpose
Room, photos are included in the evidence.
DP final examination papers and the relevant documents are safely kept in the main office
(K12 Academic Affairs), and the access to the office are strictly controlled by the campus
security office: to enter the office, authorized person’s ID card: DP Coordinator’s ID card must
be scanned at the entrance’s card reader.
There needs to be more regular communication and contact between the school governing
body and The IB Leadership Team.
We are looking to appoint an Assistant DP Coordinator to support DP coordinator with CAS
and the Extended Essay (Our present CAS coordinator is leaving in March 2016).
Add more teachers (particularly in Japanese) that are International Baccalaureate teacher
only. We are constrained by music, PE teacher schedules by the mainstream. This will help us
gain ownership of the schedule and reach the recommended class times with more ease.
Ideally the IB should be more efficiently coordinated with the mainstream, through the
timetable, events and staffing,
As we continue to grow we will need more physical space.
Standard B2: Resources and support

The school’s resources and support structures ensure the implementation of the Diploma
Programme.
Low High
1. The governing body allocates funding for the x

implementation and ongoing development of the
programme(s).
g. The allocation of funds includes adequate resources x

and supervision for the creativity, action, service (CAS)
programme and the appointment of a CAS coordinator.
h. The allocation of funds includes adequate resources x

to implement the theory of knowledge course over two
years.
2. The school provides qualified staff to implement the x

programme(s).
3. The school ensures that teachers and administrators x

receive IB-recognized professional development.
i. The school complies with the IB professional x

development requirement for the Diploma Programme
at authorization and at evaluation.
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Low High
4. The school provides dedicated time for teachers’ x

collaborative planning and reflection.
5. The physical and virtual learning environments, facilities, x

resources and specialized equipment support the
implementation of the programme(s).
j. The laboratories and studios needed for group 4 and x

group 6 subjects provide safe and effective learning
environments.
k. There are appropriate information technology facilities x

to support the implementation of the programme.
l. The school provides a secure location for the storage x

of examination papers and examination stationery with
controlled access restricted to senior staff.
6. The library/multimedia/resources play a central role in the x

implementation of the programme(s).
The library/media centre has enough appropriate x

materials to support the implementation of the
Diploma Programme.
7. The school ensures access to information on global issues x

and diverse perspectives.
8. The school provides support for its students with learning x

and/or special educational needs and support for their
teachers.
9. The school has systems in place to guide and counsel x

students through the programme(s).
The school provides guidance to students on post- x

secondary educational options.
10. The student schedule or timetable allows for the x

requirements of the programme(s) to be met.
m. The schedule provides for the recommended hours for x

each standard and higher level subject.
n. The schedule provides for the development of the x

theory of knowledge course over two years.
o. The schedule respects concurrency of learning in the x

Diploma Programme.
11. The school utilizes the resources and expertise of the x

community to enhance learning within the programme(s).
12. The school allocates resources to implement the Primary x

Years Programme exhibition, the Middle Years Programme
personal project and the Diploma Programme extended
essay for all students, depending on the programme(s)
offered.
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e. Complete the table. (Indicate with X.)
Standard B2: Resources and support Requires significant Shows satisfactory

The school’s resources and support

structures ensure the implementation of the x
Diploma Programme.
f. Describe any major achievement(s) related to this standard during the period under review.
A CAS coordinator position has been created and established. The coordinator has been given
3 periods a week for the role as well as IB training.
The school only employs staff who are fully qualified in their own country. Each department in
the Diploma Programme has got at least one member of staff who has been given an IB
workshop and in most cases all staff are given one or more workshops in their subject area.
The only staff not having had an IB workshop are a new full time and part time teacher who will
be given one soon.
Teachers collaboration and planning has been built into the programme There is a weekly
whole staff meeting and each department has a DP meeting every other week (the other
weeks are used for MYP meetings).
Workshops are held by the DP Coordinator at the start and end of the term and on non-contact
time.
In July 2015 an in house workshop was held on Approaches To Learning.
The Programme makes use of the information technology facilities provided by the school
(often at the programme`s request). These include computer and ipads for all teachers.
Teachers are able to book computers and ipads for their classes. The MMRC has computers
for students and sound rooms which are used for language orals. Each IB classroom has got a
projector and sound system. Teachers are able to book ICT computer rooms. Students in
years 9-12 can bring their own device to school and have internet WIFI.
The Multimedia Resource Centre (MMRC) has been given a more central role in the
programme and now holds student study halls, staff training and workshops and Extended
Essay workshops. Resources in the MMRC include a new IB bookshelf, English books and
computers. The computers have research programmes built in to them—students receive
training on how to use these.
Every IB student has the opportunity to participate in the Super Global High School, Round
Square and the Model United Nations General Assembly. These initiatives give them exposure
to global issues and diverse perspectives, as well as giving them the opportunity to visit an
array of different countries. The school has a wide range of international speakers throughout
the year, in both English and Japanese. IB students can participate in exchange programmes
throughout the MYP programme and have the opportunity for foreign travel as part of the
Super Global High School and Round Square in the Diploma Programme.
The MMRC has got international newspapers and magazines which students are able to
borrow. The IB corridor has got an International Mindedness Board where CAS students keep
it up to date with news and events from around the world.
Students can share their experiences and different cultures during presentations at the
monthly IB Assembly.
Emotional support for students is provided by the school counsellors. The IB programme has
built links with one student counsellor who speaks English and Japanese and who has given
workshops to staff and spoken to students about her role. The DP coordinator, counsellor and
Homeroom teacher worked closely to obtain extra time in the DP exams for a Special
Educational Needs Students. This included working with the IB in the creation of a bilingual
form for educational therapists to use in the process of diagnosing the students. The Special
Education Needs policy has been rewritten to include the process of identifying and supporting
students and the help the IB gives—which has been shared with parents at workshops and in
16
letter form.
The programme supports students through the programme. The homeroom tutor and DP
coordinator hold meetings with students and/or parents on a regular basis to gain an overview
of their progress and find any issues and concerns. Staff are asked to inform the coordinator of
any issues who then contacts the student counsellor, homeroom tutor and parents if
necessary. Parent workshops are held advising parents on how we and they can support the
students through the programme. Pre-DP support is given to MYP year 10 students by the DP
coordinator who visits their MYP Interact classes. Students are supported by study halls in the
MMRC, CAS lessons and support documents on each subject and the core to guide them
through the process. Teachers give directed study hall work, and their own time to support
students. As lessons can be lost due to main school activities teachers hold classes before
school, after school and at the weekends when necessary.
Post-secondary guidance and support is given by the university counsellor who holds
workshops for students and parents, speaks in year 11 lessons and works directly with
students though the application process. Outside speakers from countries such as Australia
and Britain have visited the school. Alumni students who are now at university have given
workshops to DP and MYP students. Homeroom teachers guide students through the process
and give workshops to parents.
A lot or work has been done by the DP coordinator to support students through the Extended
Essay process. Staff have training where they cross mark essays to get used to the
assessment rubric. Staff create subject specific information to students to support them in
writing the essay. Student workshops are given by the librarian, subject teachers and the DP
coordinator on research skills and the essay writing process. Year 11 students have been
given a DP core workshop where they can work on the Extended Essay in the Multi Media
Research Centre. Documents have been created to help students keep a check of their
progress. Managebac now incorporated the Extended Essay with the aim of improving
communication between supervisors and students. The Extended Essay is explained to
parents at a core workshop.
g. Describe the progress made with regard to any IB recommendations for this standard from the
These recommendations have been addressed in part B1 of this self-study.
h. As a result of this self study, describe the current school practice(s) that has/have been identified
Space issues need to be thought about in the future.—the science laboratory, the art room,
classroom space on the 5th floor IB corridor.
A computer room is a future goal of the programme.
To continue and expand the start made to include the library and MMRC in the Diploma
Programme
Provide further support for ESL students in the Diploma Programmes.
To continue to expand university guidance to students and parents.
The amount of hours on the schedule is an issue as students are only just making the correct
number in some cases.
We would like to look at the possibility of starting the Diploma in September rather than April.
17
Section C: Curriculum
How to complete this section:
1. The teachers of each Diploma Programme subject group must meet and, after reaching a consensus, must complete the
whole of Section C: Curriculum, which includes standards C1, C2, C3 and C4 for each subject group. If there is only one
teacher from a subject group, he/she will complete the whole of Section C for that subject group.
2. Teachers responsible for TOK and CAS will follow the same procedure as described in 1 above.
3. When the first two steps have been completed, a group formed by one representative of each subject group, one
representative from TOK and one from CAS must meet with the Diploma Programme coordinator and complete the whole
of Section C, which will be included in the self-study questionnaire to be sent to the IB.
4. The documents completed by the subject group and TOK teachers and CAS coordinator, as described in 1 and 2 above,
must be kept by the school because they may be requested by the IB as further evidence of the process. The overview of
the achievement of the standards, as identified by each of these groups, should be provided in Chart 5.
1. Identify who was involved in the completion of this part of the questionnaire (C1, C2, C3 and C4).
Add rows as necessary.
Name or group Position Role in the completion of this

part of the questionnaire
(eg leader, contributors)
Oliver Furnival DP Coordinator Evaluation coordinator
All IB Teachers. Teachers Teachers worked in

departments to come to a
subject group consensus. A
subject leader was chosen for
each department. The subject
leaders met the DP Coordinator
to come to a Programme
consensus. These meetings
were used to get the opinions
of all teachers and to come to
agreed standard grades.
11. Describe the system that is in place for the induction of students into the Diploma Progamme and how
each student’s programme of study is put together.
In the final year of the MYP, grade 10 students have MYP Interact lessons focusing on the Diploma
Programme as a whole, TOK, EE and CAS. Language A and B teachers have also given
presentation on the different requirements of each courses in the Diploma Programme.
Some year 10 subject teachers guide students in their class time, highlighting the links between
their work now and what will come up on the DP.
DP teachers hold a workshop where students can question them on their subject—aims, curriculum,
assessment, links to future careers. Prior to this workshop each subject produces a booklet with
relevant information, which are given to students to help formulate their choices.
The DP Coordinator holds a workshop for students and parents explaining the course and the
options open to the students and how they will affect their future. A translator translates the
information into Japanese.
The DP coordinator and Japanese homeroom teacher hold meetings with students, both formally
and informally to discuss their choices.
Students are given a DP course choice booklet (shown to parents at the workshop). Students and
parents are given the winter holiday to discuss choices with parents. The course choice booklet
includes choice restrictions based on the blocking of subjects on the timetable.
The DP coordinator collates the students’ choices and presents it to the programme manager who
creates the student timetable, based on staffing, teaching allotments and timing.
18
The DP coordinator shares the student choices with staff and invites comments on their suitability.
This is especially relevant for language A and B groupings, where MYP experience is taken into
account. Year 10 students do an exit exam in English to help guide their choice for group 1 and 2
subjects.
Any subjects that can`t be run due to numbers, staffing or timetabling are shared with affected
students who are counselled on making new choices.
A final timetable is shared with the parents, students and staff.
Standard C1: Collaborative planning

Collaborative planning and reflection supports the implementation of the Diploma Programme.
Low High
1. Collaborative planning and reflection addresses the x

requirements of the programme(s).
a. Collaborative planning and reflection includes the x

integration of theory of knowledge in each subject.
b. Collaborative planning and reflection explores x

connections and relations between subjects and
reinforces knowledge, understanding and skills
shared by the different disciplines.
2. Collaborative planning and reflection takes place regularly x

and systematically.
3. Collaborative planning and reflection addresses vertical x

and horizontal articulation.
4. Collaborative planning and reflection ensures that all x

teachers have an overview of students’ learning
experiences.
5. Collaborative planning and reflection is based on agreed x

expectations for student learning.
6. Collaborative planning and reflection incorporates x

differentiation for students’ learning needs and styles.
7. Collaborative planning and reflection is informed by x

assessment of student work and learning.
8. Collaborative planning and reflection recognizes that all x

teachers are responsible for language development of
students.
9. Collaborative planning and reflection addresses the IB x

learner profile attributes.
19
12. Indicate the practice(s) that produced more diverse answers in the group. In one or two paragraphs,
identify the differing views and how the consensus was reached.
The practices that produced the most diverse answers were in 1b and 3. The different views were
due to mixed interpretations of whether certain practices were looking at the school as a whole or
within departments. The amount of teachers in each group also led to a range of views. In group 2
(Japanese), group 3 (economics and history) and group 6 (visual arts) there is only one teacher
teaching the subject. Where this has been the case, the teacher has used the coordinator to
collaborate with. There were also diverse answers reflecting the differing amounts teachers in each
group have collaborated with each other.
Standard C1: Collaborative planning Requires significant Shows satisfactory

Collaborative planning and reflection

supports the implementation of the Diploma x
Programme.
The Leadership team have implemented department subject meetings as part of the weekly
timetable Meetings alternate between the MYP and DP on a weekly basis. The DP coordinator
has led and participated in subject meetings across the 6 subject areas and CAS. These
meetings give teachers and the coordinator the chance to collaborate on a wide range of
curriculum matters such as: Approaches to Teaching and Learning, Course Pacing, The
Evaluation, Exams, Homework, Internal Assessments, Internal Assessment dates and forms,
International Mindedness, Lesson Observations, Moderation, Reports, Resources, Sharing
good practice, Student concerns, Teacher Observations, TOK. Subject teachers also use these
meetings to collaborate on lessons, pacing of the course, moderating grades, student
performance, the need for resources and how to teach to meet the needs to certain students.
The meetings are held in a supportive atmosphere and in the larger groups more experienced
teachers have used this time to support less experienced staff.
Departmental meetings are also used to gain an overview of what is happening across the
whole programme. In order to support this the DP Coordinator has created a variety of Google
Docs which are discussed with staff in meetings, including: An Internal Assessment deadline
Google Doc which is shared with students and parents, A homework Google Doc to keep an
eye on the amount of work students are being set each week, A yearly overview Google Doc
where staff put a brief description of what they are teaching in each month of the programme, A
graduation overview Google Doc where teachers can nominate students for academic and
learner profile based achievements and know what their responsibilities are in the graduation
ceremony process, An Extended Essay Google Doc so staff can see the students` top three
choices and who has been assigned to each student, An Extended Essay deadline Google Doc
for final drafts and Viva Voces to keep an understanding of who has completed each one and
an Internal Assessment Google Doc so staff are aware of deadlines and can check off the work
as they complete it. These meetings also allow time for the coordinator to plan and reflect
directly with each teacher, coaching on how to implement the subject guide, IAs and prepare for
exams as necessary.
Whole staff meetings are held on a weekly basis. The time is split between the Middle Years
Programme and the Diploma Programme and Approaches To Teaching and Learning across
both programmes. Whole staff meetings are a change to give updates to the programme, check
progress in areas such as the Extended Essay, speak about student concerns and collaborate
over curriculum matters.
Staff training workshops are held throughout the year, usually at the start of every term and
20
during the term in non-student contact days. These meetings and workshops allow staff from all
subject areas and year groups to collaborate on a wide range of curriculum issues. These
meetings and workshops are designed to be as interactive as possible and include activities
where staff do activities that the coordinator uses in TOK so that staff get an idea of what the
students are experiencing in the DP Core.
Areas of collaboration in staff training include: Generic issues facing the DP at the school
where staff can discuss areas such as teaching strategies and DP goals with teachers from
different departments. Teachers working in groups to find important subject and programme
documents from the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC), with a focus on the Support material
which teachers are encouraged to use when standardising grades in their moderation process.
Multimedia Resource Centre (MMRC) training is given to all staff to show staff how they can
build the available resources into their lesson planning and how to support students with their
research, using the MMRC and its various databases as resource also helps to build links
between the MMRC and the Diploma Programme.
Staff training is used to collaborate over the Extended Essay process as well as giving teachers
the chance to raise any questions or concerns. Different parts of the year require different
training on the Extended Essay. At the meetings and workshops teachers from different
departments get together to work in pairs to grade all or parts of exemplar essays, which can
be found on the OCC. Essays are split into parts such as the abstract, introduction and
conclusion. In pairs, teachers move table to table grading different parts of the essays. The real
grade given by the IB is shown to the staff and each part of the essay and why each grade was
given is discussed. Together we look at the way the criteria is broken down and how students
can get marks just for following instructions. Training on how to hold a Viva Voce and how to
make the final report on the student`s essay is given towards the end of the process.
TOK across the curriculum is highlighted during collaborative training. A Cross curricular TOK
document has been made and shared with staff, which shows the TOK assessment rubrics and
ways it can be built into each subject`s curriculum and highlights how they can get students to
meet the assessment criteria in their classes. Staff collaborate by discussing example
knowledge questions from the TOK guide and participating in activities which the coordinator
uses in TOK, one of which is answering example knowledge questions from each Area of
Knowledge and Way of Knowing and how to meet the requirements of the rubric. Teachers
grade a TOK essay in pairs using the TOK essay rubric, which helps them to see the aims and
objectives of the subject and how the rubric looks in reality as well as helping staff see how
they can support students in meeting the rubric through their own subjects. Teachers from a
variety of subject areas such as language, ethics, maths and natural science have taught guest
lessons in TOK. Although there is only one discrete TOK teacher, staff training has been given
to show all teachers how they can help students learn / improve TOK skills within their own
subjects.
In April 2015 the DP Coordinator created a DP Library in the Staff Share. This gives staff a
central place to find documents, created by the coordinator, as well as important documents
from the International Baccalaureate. The folders allow departments to find important
information on a wide range of issues as well as for staff to collaborate and share their
resources. The folders in the DP library are: Academic Honesty, Academic Literacy, Approaches
to Teaching and Learning, Assessment Principles into Practice, CAS, Citing and Referencing,
Coordinator`s Notes, Core Handbook, Enquiry Upon Results, Examinations, Extended Essay,
General Regulations, Grade Descriptors, Handbook of Procedures, IA forms, November 2015,
International Mindedness, Language and Learning, Learner Profile, Learning Diversity in the IB,
Lesson Observations, Meeting Template, Online Courses, Pass Requirements, Points Matrix,
Policies, Principles into Practice, Reports, Rules for IB Schools, Special Educational Needs,
Standards and Practices, Subject Guides, Teacher Trios, TOK, Unit planner.
The Coordinator has created a Subject Documents folder on the Staff Share. Meetings are
used to show the subject folders on the staff share and explain that the following information
must be put on it: Assessment rubrics, Course Overviews, DP Internal Assessments, Formula
Booklets, Guide, Lesson Resources, Past Papers, Results, Revision Materials, Student Guide,
Student work, Syllabus, Internal Assessments, Unit planners. These folders allow staff in each
department to find information for collaboration in areas such as standardising results, using
previous students` work and to upgrade and improve unit planners and materials for students.
The coordinator uses the TOK subject folder as an example and make it clear to staff that the
folders need updating to ensure continuity in the programme. Uploading the IA forms and
21
student work each year helps to support staff who are going through the process for the first
time.
Academic Honesty meetings and workshops are used for staff to collaborate in this area. A
wide range of documents are shown to staff such as the academic honesty guide, policy and
handout. These documents are then used within each department`s collaborative planning.
Turnitin is used by the school and the Coordinator highlights how to use it and how to read the
data the website provides in whole staff and one to one meetings. New documents from the
International Baccalaureate such as the one on Citing and Referencing are shown to staff to aid
collaboration and planning. The coordinator gives a school context by focusing on the final
page which explains what is required for the MLA referencing system.
The Coordinator uses meetings support staff on unit planning, including sharing the new DP
unit planner and support document he has created. After starting in the role, the DP
Coordinator created a unit planner template which was used from April 2014 to April 2015. In
January 2015 the International Baccalaureate launched its Approaches to Teaching and
Learning website which included three unit planner templates. The Coordinator decided to
follow their lead and launched template one from the website for our school in April 2015, at the
start of our academic year (making it clear to staff that the new template was to be used when
new units were designed or big updates were created from the previous ones, and staff didn`t
need to change existing units onto the new template, unless they wanted to). The Coordinator
created a filled in TOK example as a reference point and a unit planner staff support guide. This
support guide gives comprehensive advice on how to fill in the new unit planner. Each section
of the planner has advice on what information is needed and relevant links to show how to find
the correct documents, guides and websites to help staff fill in the planner correctly. This
document is shown throughout the school year in departments and one on one meetings to
support staff. It gives staff the base to collaborate and update their planners in their subject
meetings—often with the coordinator starting proceedings.
Staff meetings and workshops have been used to collaborate with staff and keep them up to
date with new initiatives in the school and the Diploma Programme. The new initiatives brought
in at our school are often designed to enhance the chance for collaboration between staff and
staff and students. Example initiatives include: The introduction of a year 11 DP study hall one
period a week, where students can work on the Extended Essay and homework (I make it clear
to staff that they can come and speak to students if they are free), The introduction of a CAS
period on the timetable once a week, Asking for information to be put on the International
Mindedness Board, Evaluation updates, Advertising and inviting staff on whole year CAS
activities such as hiking, Plans for the IB website with a description of the information I would
like to put on it such as a coordinator`s welcome, learner profile details, the programme and
Core guidebooks, the syllabus and school policies.
Meetings and workshops are used to support staff regarding lesson observations. The
coordinator uses meetings to show, and talk through the new Diploma Programmes
observation booklet that he has created, going through the different sections in detail. The
coordinator explains the aims and objectives of the process and the pedagogical thinking such
as the link between the lesson observations and the Approaches to Teaching and Learning.
New processes such as the teacher and DP coordinator agreeing on an Approaches to
Teaching and Learning focus point before the observation and the introduction of lesson
reflection handouts are designed to enhance collaboration between teachers and the
coordinator. Lesson observations are designed as a collaborative experience with the
coordinator. The teacher and coordinator agree a lesson to be observed and the teacher has
the opportunity to provide a focus for the observation. The coordinator and teacher reflect on
the lesson together, setting relevant goals to aid future planning for the teacher, which should
be shared with his/her subject department when necessary.
Whole staff meetings have been used as a platform to collaborate over the evaluation process.
Staff have collaborated to agree to the indicators which staff will use when grading their
departments against sections C1-C4 (which staff are included in forming), to go through dates
and how meetings are set up. Folders have been set up on the staff share to support teachers
through the Evaluation process including: Evaluation questionnaire, aims of the process,
overview of the process, steps of the process, self-study timeline, self-study indicators, self-
study evidence, self-study comments and grades, meetings minutes, DP units of work,
Japanese translation, charts, IB recommendations, Documents to be sent to the IB, Parent
22
Student questionnaires.
Whole staff meetings are a good place to set out the school`s policy on moderation. A
moderation process was set up between the coordinator and the science department has been
written into the school policy and shared with the rest of the DP departments. Moderation and
standardisation are now used across the programme, within subject departments and the
Extended Essay, with the coordinator and mainstream staff also helping when required in
subjects with smaller numbers of staff such as group 3 and group 6. Moderation shapes future
planning based on the agreed performance of students across different areas of content in the
course.
Staff meetings and workshops are also used to explain to teachers that teachers and the
coordinator if necessary, must collaborate to create formative Diploma Programme
assessments that adequately prepare students for their final exams and Diploma Programme
Internal Assessments. Meetings are a good chance to speak to staff about our school`s context
where the student`s formative assessments in the Diploma Programme are put on their school
report and go towards the school diploma where they are transferred into a Grade Point
Average (GPA). It is important to remind staff to grades accurately so that the GPA and the
Diploma Programme predicted and final grades match as closely as possible.
The DP Coordinator has collaborated with the MYP Coordinator and Assistant MYP coordinator
to create Approaches to Teaching and Learning presentations in staff meetings which occur
twice a month. In these presentations the presenting department focuses on an agreed
Approach to Teaching and Learning and shows examples of their work across both
programmes. After the presentation teachers are put into groups (designed to have teachers
from different departments) where they discuss the evidence and issues that the presenting
department has shown. This allows staff to share their good practice and learn from each other,
with the new ideas and information being put into future planning where necessary.
The Leadership team and the DP coordinator launched the teacher trios programme in June
2015 to follow on from a previous programme where staff worked in teaching and learning
partners throughout the year. To help introduce teacher trios into the school`s IB programme
the coordinator created a booklet that was shared with staff. The Learning partners scheme
was expanded into teacher trios to ensure teachers get a wider understanding of the
experiences students have in different parts of the Diploma programme as well as the Middle
Years Programme. The aim of the Teacher Trios is for teachers to coach and support each
other in a wide range of pedagogical areas, focusing on the Approaches to Teaching and
Learning across both programmes offered at our school. The Teaching Trios Programme gives
teachers the opportunity to gain an understanding of aims, objectives and teaching styles in
different subject areas from grades 7 to 12. It allows staff to share good practice with their
teaching partners without the stress that observations can sometime cause. The programme
requires teachers to share the different teaching and learning strategies they implement in their
teaching practice with the others in their trio. It is hoped that when teachers are exposed to new
teaching and learning strategies they will implement them into their own teaching and learning
when necessary. Teacher trios is also a useful tool for teachers to liaise with each other and
share ideas on how they support the language development of our students.
As well as sharing good practice, the teacher trios allows staff to discuss the content and
learning experiences of their subject group. Teachers will benefit from seeing how their
students respond to different experiences and different teaching styles. Teachers are
encouraged to pick up new ideas from each other, not just in the form of teaching activities but
also in communicating with students, setting up assessment tasks, differentiating learning
activities and grading student work. The booklet created by the coordinator gives a detailed
overview of the whole process and includes all the information teachers need to work and
collaborate in their trios, including: The aims and objectives, An overview of the process, Goal
setting, How to set and log goals and meetings and The ATL checklist from the IB website to
help teachers their goals.
Meetings and workshops are also used to collaborate on writing reports. To support staff in
writing reports the coordinator has created a `Writing reports` document. This document has
been written through his experiences in report writing as well as through advice from The Times
Educational Supplement (TES), which has been adapted to fit into our school context (including
writing reports for parents whose first language isn`t English), The coordinator has run report
writing workshops with new and existing staff and commented on and amended report
comments with staff where appropriate. Staff have been put into pairs to check each other`s
23
reports for spelling, grammar or content issues before they are sent to us to read through.
Students are used to pass on their curriculum knowledge and experiences to other students,
teachers and parents. Extended Essay lunches have been set up where year 12 students give
advice to year 11 students at the start of the process. Year 11 students have given advice to
year 10 students on the Diploma Programme as a whole—this has been done at lunch times
and in year 10 MYP Interact class time.
Videos of year 11 and year 12 students have been created to explain why they took the DP,
how they selected their classes, CAS activities, TOK and the Extended Essay. These are used
for parent workshops and to show other students and staff. Alumi students have been invited to
speak at the graduation ceremony to reflect on their experiences in the DP at Tamagawa and
their time at university.
The coordinator has collaborated with staff in dealing with behaviour issues, sharing a
document that he has created to support staff with rare occurrences of poor behaviour.
The DP coordinator has collaborated with both IB and main school homeroom teachers in
planning the year ahead. The coordinator has created a document to help Homeroom tutors
plan for their form for the year. When homeroom teacher meetings are held he refers to
different parts of the document. The advice on the form room and its role of giving a form its
identity, for example, is shown at the start of the academic year when staff have their new
forms. This document allows the homeroom teachers to collaborate when planning different
issues such as: how to motivate pupils, form activities, the form room, mentoring pupils,
relationships with parents, end of term / half term, assemblies, sports Days, Relationship
problems between pupils.
The coordinator has used whole staff meetings to collaborate with staff and, set staff
collaborating within their departments, in the planning of upcoming events and deadlines and
sufficient time to collect the relevant information. To do this the coordinator has create
supporting documents for staff to enable them to plan accordingly. An example of one is a
document created in September 2015 which includes the following events the coordinator has
facilitated collaborative planning on: Important dates this term, Internal Assessments 2015,
Moderation, Grading, Academic honesty, Extended Essays, Evaluation, Policies, Approaches to
Teaching and Learning through Whole Staff meetings, Target Setting and Reporting, DP Google
Calendar.
The coordinator has collaborated with staff during meetings and workshops to help the students
with their work / life balance. A Google Calendar has been created where staff input upcoming
assessments, allowing the staff, students and the coordinator to gain an overview of the
students` workload and allowing departments to collaborate and plan so that the student
workload is spread as fairly as possible throughout the course. The coordinator has also
worked with each department to create an Internal Assessment Deadline document which is
shared with parents and students. The coordinator, staff and students collaborate to plan for a
suitable student workload though working with students to get an overall picture of their work
load which is shared with staff, keeping in contact with homeroom teachers and parents over
the students` homework habits, responding to situations when students stay up all night
through doing homework by having meetings with the Programme Director and the teachers
involved to make sure students are being set a fair and adequate workload and know exactly
what is expected of the in each subject.
In order to support staff and help them with future teaching and planning, the coordinator has
ordered copies of previous students` exam papers and Extended Essays from across each
subject area from the International Baccalaureate. The coordinator has used the Extended
Essays in staff training sessions. Staff have been encouraged to look at the previous student`s
work in their departments to find their strengths and weaknesses and use them to plan for
future exams and Internal Assessments.
The new Approaches to Teaching and Learning in the Diploma Programme drive was started in
April 2015 to coincide with the new academic year. A wide range of documents to aid
collaborative planning have been created by the coordinator which are explained in C3 and
include Reporting the Approaches to Teaching and Learning, Approaches to Teaching and
Learning Target Setting, Teacher Trios, Approaches to Teaching and Learning Lesson
observation booklet, Unit planner support guide, Peer and Self-Assessment Strategies,
Classroom Activities and Activities to Support ESL students. These documents are explained in
24
staff and department meetings and pave the way for teachers to be able to collaborate with
each other and the coordinator. An in-house Approaches to Teaching and Learning workshop
was held in July 2015.
The DP coordinator has led staff analysis on exam results. The coordinator created an analysis
document which teachers in each DP department fill in together. Good practice, reasons for
underachievement and subject needs are collated by the coordinator and shared with the whole
staff with the aim of guiding teaching and planning in the next year.
Different times in the school year call for staff training focuses on collaboration in the DP. This
can include different parts of the Extended Essay process, Theory of Knowledge assessment
skills and results reflection.
The DP Coordinator collaborates with individual teachers when necessary on all of the areas
shown in C1. This can come from lesson observation feedback, from issues raised at a meeting
or from a teacher approaching the coordinator.
There is a weekly whole staff meeting allowing for collaboration on student matters and both
the Diploma and Middle Years Programmes. Student concerns are raised by the Programme
Director and DP Coordinator on a daily basis in staff briefing
ESL in the Mainstream was held from 2012 to 2103. This was a collaborative planning course
taken by all teachers at the time (except two who already held the qualification). The course
was held as workshops where teachers worked with colleagues from different subject groups.
Language A and Language B teachers and the DP coordinator have led workshops on
language learning within the Diploma Programme, with the aim of raising the status of every
teacher being a language teacher. The coordinator shared his strategies and activities to
support language learning with the aim of them being used in future collaborative planning
within departments and in post lesson observation feedback with the coordinator when
necessary. The workshops will continue throughout 2015/2016. The DP coordinator has shared
IB resources such as `Learning in a Language other than the Mother tongue` `Language and
Learning in the IB Programmes.` and `Meeting student learning Diversity in the classroom`
with staff. Student`s language issues are raised in weekly staff meetings, including a separate
session on the use of incidental language run by the coordinator.
Non student days have been used for DP training on a variety of issues such as the use of the
Multi Media Resource Centre, Extended Essay workshops and Group 4 Science project
collaborate planning. Non student days at the beginning and end of the term are also given to
staff to plan together within their departments, using the help of the DP coordinator when
necessary.
The CAS and DP coordinator have met with year 12 homeroom tutor and Head of Super Global
High School, Mr Soai, to raise awareness of CAS opportunities for students throughout the
whole school. All three exchanged ideas which the CAS coordinator used in planning activities
for the new school year. Activities have been shared with students and staff through the
creation of a CAS handbook which includes links to community bodies in the local area.
The learner profile has been highlighted through collaboration of IB assembly awards. Year 11
and 12 students receive graduation awards called `Honourable Mention awards` based on the
Learner Profile attributes. Students are nominated by all teachers. The IB corridor celebrate
Learner Profile in the DP through a Learner Profile board, including certificates and
photographs of students showing the attributes. IB Learner profile subject award certificated
have been created (through staff meetings) and staff are able to use these in their classes (see
targets)
Comments from DP subject groups.
With our growing number of DP students, a few positive adjustments have been made to place
CAS more firmly in the core of our programme, including a time-tabled period for CAS and CAS
field trips. We also feature CAS achievements at each IB Assembly and showcase student
activities with our CAS website gallery which as been started this year.
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Staff have collaborated within their subject areas and / or with the Diploma Programme
Coordinator to create rubrics for the students` Tamagawa High School Diploma in line with the
aims and objectives of their Diploma Programme Course.
A full staff workshop, “Teaching ESL Students in Mainstream Classes,” was held in 2012 and an
IB In House two day workshop on Approaches to Teaching and Learning in the Diploma
Programme was held in July 2015
English A Language and Literature maintain a consistent standard of cross-marking all major
assessments, perhaps best shown in our team efforts in preparing towards the Individual Oral
Commentary. They also collaborate well with content and team-teaching, using each other’s
strengths to add a fresh voice to classroom activities. This has been achieved through having
more than one subject teacher for English A Language and Literature, we rotate teachers on a
2-year cycle.
Japanese B and English B teachers have collaborated together regarding curriculum, rubrics,
assessments and Internal Assessments. Group 2 bi-monthly DP subject meetings now include
English B and Japanese B teachers instead of them being held separately.
Visual arts consists of only one teacher. The teacher has collaboration regularly with the DP
coordinator and Japanese art teachers working in the mainstream on issues such as language
for students, work for student differentiation, students at risk, guided units and course
overviews, exam support for document submission for students, Reflection on possible
plagiarism.
Subject teachers have collaborated with teachers in the mainstream, primarily ones who are
also IB Homeroom teachers. This has been done through their subjects, such as the examples
in art above, and also through issues such as possible Special Education Needs, student
performance, lateness of work and as a link between staff and the students` parents. Staff are
consistently advised to communicate with the Japanese IB Homeroom teachers on these
issues.
A technology committee has been set up to oversee the school`s technology use and
application to help them prepare for electronic exam submission & the type of files and formats
that are required for IBIS exam submission
The Programmes Director set up a meeting between all IB Teachers and some Mainstream
teachers with the aim of collaborating and building links between the programmes. The DP
Coordinator gave a presentation outlining the Programme and IB Philosophy to the mainstream
staff.
Builds on the positive start it has made with collaborative planning and establish
structures to ensure that meaningful collaborative planning (horizontal and vertical) is
taking place over the year. [Practice C2#2]
Each subject group is allocated a bi-monthly DP meeting where collaborative planning on a

wide range of issues is able to take place. Issues include Approaches to Teaching and
Learning, Course Pacing, The Evaluation, Exams, Homework, Internal Assessments, Internal
26
Assessment dates and forms, International Mindedness, Lesson Observations, Moderation,
Reports, Resources, Sharing good practice, Student concerns, Teacher Observations, TOK.
The whole staff take part in a weekly meeting, split between the DP and the MYP where the
coordinators lead staff to plan and share experiences on a wide range of issues. Since
January 2015 ATLs have been a main focus, in both horizontal and vertical planning. The IB
website has been used as a basis of staff discussion, sharing good practice and planning.
The Coordinator has created strategies and templates in order to better keep track of class
progress, timing and assessment requirements. Smaller, more directed meetings now take
place at shorter, regular intervals. Minutes are taken, agendas are in place beforehand,
specific areas targeted. Moderation of assessment samples across group subjects has begun.
Coordinator observations of teachers’ lessons now systematized and regular, along with
feedback.
The English department (MYP and DP, language A and B) has started a live, collaborative
document as our Scope and Sequence, working backwards from the expectations of the DP
Language and Literature course and reaching into both MYP Language and Literature and
MYP Language Acquisition. As we develop our understandings of language A and B in the DP,
we are better able to discuss, determine, and improve the outcomes from MYP to best prepare
students for DP. This document also helps Group 1 and Group 2 teachers understand each
other’s courses and tasks.
Develops strategies to ensure that all teachers can gain an overview of the students'
whole learning experience, looking at upcoming key demands on students’ time and
student concerns. [Practice C2#3]
We recognize CAS achievements in through presentations in IB Assemblies once a month and
also showcase CAS activities on our CAS Board.
The formation of an IB Student Council in 2012 provided students with an additional outlet for
concerns with. The council creates student learning experiences through their action days,
which staff are invited to watch and take part in.
Students provided with extra class choices and study halls from 2014. Creation of DP Study
Hall and CAS class periods once a week for all DP students from 2015. Staff are welcome to
work with students during all of these periods. Some staff use the study halls to help students
who are behind with their work or need extra support.
Upcoming key demands on students` time are shown in a live Google Calendar created by the
DP coordinator where staff include deadlines of student projects, assessments and formative
tests. A Google Doc shows Internal Assessment hand in dates, which is shared with parents
and students. The Programme Director and DP Coordinator inform staff of demands on
student time during daily staff briefings.
Staff have the opportunity to raise student concerns at weekly staff meetings and during daily
staff briefings. Concerns on issues that may have happened in the main school are shared
with staff by the Programmes Director. If and when staff raise concerns about a student the DP
Coordinator shares them with the school counsellor.
Moderation is designed to help teachers and the DP coordinator gain an understanding of
students’ demands. The document set up by the coordinator for Programme wide scheduling
of assessments is helpful, though not all staff are using it consistently.
Teacher Trios was brought in in June 2015. It is currently being discussed as how to include
mainstream teachers. The programme will give teachers the opportunity to Gain an overview
of different student learning experiences our students come across in the MYP and DP, gain
an understanding of aims, objectives and teaching styles in different subject areas in the MYP
and DP, share good practice with teaching partners, share different teaching and learning
strategies you implement in your teaching practice, be exposed to new teaching and learning
strategies used implement the Approaches to Teaching and Learning and liaise with your
teaching partners on supporting the language development of our students.
Outlines the procedures and practices in the language policy to clearly describe and
emphasise the role of teachers in language development and the support available to
them. The plans to implement the ESL in the mainstream are a positive first step.
[Practice C2#7]
The language Policy states:

Tamagawa Academy is committed to supporting teachers in using effective differentiation
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strategies for learners with specific language learning needs.
As part of the twice-yearly lesson observation process, the Middle Years and Diploma
Programme coordinators provide feedback highlighting language and text scaffolding
strategies to support teachers in the planning and teaching of their lessons. Teachers are also
provided with a Diploma Programme Coordinator's booklet of differentiation strategies and
classroom activities for language and literacy learners for any necessary guidance. The
booklet is reviewed with staff in language and Diploma Programme workshops.
The Tamagawa Academy English Department and Programme Coordinators run Language
workshops throughout the year. These workshops:
 focus on the needs of language learners, promoting an understanding of each
language phase.
 provide staff with opportunities to share their own experiences and strategies for
teaching language in the subject areas.
 support teaching key Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme Command
Terms to allow students to access the curriculum.
Staff may utilise the Language and Learning folder in the Diploma Programme Library section
of the staff shared drive, which has up-to-date IB documents supporting the teaching of
language and language learners in the IB Programmes.
The Diploma Programme unit planner support document supports staff with their planning and
preparation regarding language learners.
ESL in the mainstream was implemented at the school from 2012 to 2013.
The DP coordinator has completed a recent revision of the Language Policy and has worked
with the Leadership team including the MYP coordinator as well as the English department
comments, suggestions and editing.
The English department and DP coordinator conducted two orientation workshops for all staff
in April 2015 focussing on scaffolding of language and language differentiation in the
classroom.
The DP coordinator has created a document showcasing different ways to differentiate for
students based on language needs. This is directly from the DP Coordinator`s experiences in
the classroom. Each teaching example explains how the activity has been differentiated to
support ESL students.
The DP coordinator has shared IB documentation on language learning with the school
community through the staff share— which was made clear to staff during a workshop.
Sustain the `Teacher trios programme`, (where teachers observe each other in groups of three
and can get a horizontal and vertical understanding of the connections and relations between
subjects and the range student learning experiences, both in the MYP and the DP) The
programme was launched in June 2015. It is designed to allow staff to take responsibility in
their teams to meet the requirements, though the Programme Director will oversee that the
minimum amount of observations has been met—without looking at the findings of each group,
which is kept among them.
Build on the work started with the librarians and the DP. From this academic year include
librarians and relevant staff to give study skills and research guidance to students at the start
of the Extended Essay process. The DP coordinator has started and IB resources shelf in the
MMRC which will need to grow to include more study guides and support materials to support
students through the programme.
Dedicate more staff meetings and non student days to collaborative DP unit planning and
reflections. While some of this will entail teachers working in their subject areas, other parts of
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the unit planning such as TOK, CAS and Learner Profile Links can be done in a cross
curricular manner. Two staff meetings in October 2015 are dedicated to this process.
Teachers need a better understanding of students’ entire learning experience, across subjects.
One plan of action is to create a `Student shadowing` programme where staff can shadow a
student throughout a school day getting an overview of his/her different learning experiences
within the school and the programme. Staff will be asked to give an overview of the aims,
objectives and learning experiences in their subjects at whole staff meetings, staff can find
common issues and solutions within similar aims and objectives in their subjects.
IB learner profile attributes and Approaches to Teaching and Learning need to be made more
evident to students during their lesson time, not just through whole programme initiatives. A
handout with footers has been produced for staff, who need to use it as a starting point to
highlight when students are meeting a profile attribute or specific aspect of ATL. Connections
to the Learner profile and ATL need to be highlighted in the new unit planners and transferred
to worksheets/assessment instructions for students. Staff need to be encouraged to make
better use of the IB learner profile subject award certificates.
More TOK workshops needed to reinforce the TOK learning experiences, skills, rubrics and
curriculum to staff. Involve staff in the TOK essay and presentation assessment process
through moderation of the final pieces of work—this may require TOK training. Open up final
TOK student presentations to year 10 and 11 students as well as staff. This was started in
September 2015 when presentations were shown at the school festival and to staff and needs
to be built on for next year.
Explore ways to include a wider range of staff into our student`s CAS experience. (Mr
Maoate`s boxing and offering participation in hiking is a start). Build on the existing CAS links
with community partners. This may need an in school link person to facilitate. Build on the
work done to find out existing CAS opportunities in the main school, which should lead to links
being built between the CAS coordinator and the responsible teachers.
Greater collaboration between Japanese A and B teachers regarding the testing of new
students` Japanese levels when they arrive in the MYP programme to give them the best
subject choice for the DP. Improved identification of the students` Japanese levels is needed
as some previous returnee students have been judged at a native Japanese level when this
has been proved untrue, resulting in students being moved `down` a level. This has been
given a good start due to the introduction of students in September 2015 who have low level
Japanese.
DP planning and preparation needs to be more formalised into the year 9 and 10 MYP Interact
Classes. An introduction to the DP, the DP core and the subject choice process are currently
explained to students during these classes but this needs to be opened up into study skills,
research skills, exam techniques, revision techniques and college counselling. A variety of staff
including the DP coordinator and college counsellors should be involved in this collaborative
planning.
Vertical alignment between year 5 of the MYP and Year 1 of the DP needs more attention for a
smoother transition for students. While this is happening in some subjects such as Science,
Visual Arts and English, it needs to be more formalised through staff workshops and subject
meetings.
Moderation of student work needs to be continued, with the Coordinator ensuring that all
subjects, and every teacher within each group are meeting the expectations outlined in the
school policy. Systematic moderation and collaborative planning of assessment and units.
TOK directly embedded into the teaching of Group 4 subjects. Staff must ensure that TOK
questions and activities are included in their lesson plans, used in lessons and are reflected
upon. The Coordinator will continue to lead workshops on this.
A DP wide approach to subject specific language acquisition should be developed, building on
the training started since April 2015. Teachers need to work together to create glossaries,
including command terms. A core glossary for staff and students needs to be created.
A more formalised system of reflecting on the information obtained from the IB such as
Moderator IA comments and previous year`s exam papers to look at successes and difficulties
and use these to frame our teaching needs to be developed. In subjects where staffing has
changed staff need to share knowledge and reflection in order to refine unit plans and teaching
29
and learning activities. This can be done in subject workshops and, in the case of exam
techniques, at staff training. A lot of work has been done on this in departmental meetings over
the last year but this needs to continue in earnest.
To continue to encourage staff to share resources, such as language acquisition, revision
strategies and exam techniques, which has been formalised through whole staff meetings with
a teaching and learning folder being created on the staff share. Whole staff workshops have
recently be dedicated to sharing good practice and these need to be sustained.
A higher involvement in other school communities that are teaching the IB. Teacher exchange
visits, job-a-likes and subject workshops can be created with local schools. The school needs
a higher profile in local activities: for example, Tokyo Artscape for visual arts.
Standard C2: Written curriculum

The school’s written curriculum reflects IB philosophy.
1. Indicate what subjects or levels were added to or removed from the offer to students and indicate the
reasons for these decisions. If the school does not offer a subject from the group 6: the arts, explain
why.
In the last year the school has added an SL course to both Language A and Language B courses.
This is to help students be matched with the language course that matches their needs. It also gives
more options to students who would like to take HL courses in other subjects, such as taking two HL
science courses.
The school has changed ESS from a compulsory subject to a group 3 / 4 subject choice to given
students more options.
Economics has been added to group 3, which previously only had history.
Presently staffing allows for Biology, Chemistry and Physics to be offered in group 4.
Low High
1. The written curriculum is comprehensive and aligns with the x

requirements of the programme(s).
a. The curriculum fulfills the aims and objectives of each x

subject group and the core.
b. The curriculum facilitates concurrency of learning. x
c. The curriculum is balanced so that students are x

provided with a reasonable choice of subjects.
d. The school develops its own courses of study for each x

subject on offer and for theory of knowledge.
2. The written curriculum is available to the school community. x
3. The written curriculum builds on students’ previous learning x

experiences.
4. The written curriculum identifies the knowledge, concepts, x

skills and attitudes to be developed over time.
30
Low High
5. The written curriculum allows for meaningful student action x

in response to student’s own needs and the needs of others.
6. The written curriculum incorporates relevant experiences x

for students.
7. The written curriculum promotes students’ awareness of x

individual, local, national and world issues.
8. The written curriculum provides opportunities for reflection x

on human commonality, diversity and multiple perspectives.
9. The written curriculum is informed by current IB x

publications and is reviewed regularly to incorporate
developments in the programme(s).
10. The written curriculum integrates the policies developed by x

the school to support the programme(s).
11. The written curriculum fosters development of the IB x

learner profile attributes.
Different views came out in part 5 and part 6 based on the language of the standards. There was
discussion and disagreement over what was seen as `meaningful student action` and `relevant
experiences` with some departments thinking they did it while others disagreed. Some departments
said they are led by the guide and may not have the chance to score highly on parts 5 and 6. Part 7
was also an areas that some saw as difficult to achieve in their subjects.
A consensus was reached by each department giving their grade, we then looked for the most
common grades. When it was evenly split we held a further discussion on the language of the
standard and our understanding of it until we could find a majority for one number.
There was discussion on how it might be difficult to give a `4` grade on some standards due to how
it was written, as some said it was impossible to exceed expectations in areas such as making the
written curriculum available to the school community.
Standard C2: Written curriculum Requires significant Shows satisfactory

The school’s written curriculum reflects IB

philosophy. x
The DP coordinator has led staff on creating subject guides to support the year 10 students
with their Diploma Programme option choices, working closely with staff in every subject to
make sure their guide is presented in a way that it can be made accessible to the students and
31
their parents with Japanese as a first language. The guides have been used in an Options
meeting where year 10 students can talk to staff about their subject at the DP level, helping
them to make their choices. The student guides are adapted from the International
Baccalaureate guides, including all the students need to know about the curriculum and
assessments. These guides are shown to potential students in year 10 and given to students
at the beginning of the course in year 11. This guide is designed to be referred to by the
students throughout the course building on the information they receive in the syllabus.
In order to support year 10 subject choice the DP coordinator worked with all subjects to
create a Diploma Programme booklet, which is designed to give the year 10 students and their
parents an overview of each subject offered at the school. The booklet includes information on
the following for each subject: Aims, Learning objectives, Course outline, Assessment, Skills
you will need, Links to university courses / career choices.The Diploma Programme booklet is
also designed to guide students and parents in their subject choices and throughout the
programme as the course progresses.
In order to help staff plan their written curriculum the DP Coordinator has created an overview
of what is expected from the International Baccalaureate for the Internal Assessments.
Relevant work needed and the dates are also shared with students and parents. This helps
staff plan their course, building in assessments so they fit their subject`s deadline. The
document is based on information from The Handbook of Procedures so staff know when the
final Internal Assessments from the IB are and the forms they need to fill in, as well as how the
information must be given to the IB (uploaded, posted or both).
The format of the Diploma Programme Syllabus has been changed to make it clearer and
more accessible to students and parents. The syllabus has been shared with students and
parents in the Programmes Guidebook. The DP coordinator has used the syllabus to work
closely with staff in planning the order and timing of the curriculum and working in formative
and summative assessment task dates so that the students` workload is spread among the 18
months of the course as far as possible.
The IB Programmes Guidebook has been updated on a yearly basis, in both English and
Japanese. The guidebook covers both the MYP and the DP, including the school`s and the
IB`s mission statements and an explanation of the IB Learner Profile. The Diploma Programme
section includes an overview of it and what it looks like at our school including the subject
choices the students have. It also includes information on the DP Core, the requirements need
to earn the Diploma, a timeline of important dates, including Internal Assessment deadlines
and grade descriptors. Updating the guidebook has included working, and collaborating with
relevant staff to gain the information needed. The finalised documents have been shared with
students, parents and staff through the book in soft and hard copy, workshops and weekly
student study halls.
In order to support staff with the written curriculum the DP coordinator introduced an IB
recommended DP unit planner template to the programme taken from the IB`s ATL website.
The DP coordinator adopted template 1 from the site and added our school`s Zenjin
philosophy to it, to add our school`s context. To help staff updates their unit plans the DP
coordinator created a comprehensive support document which he regularly goes with staff, in
whole staff, departmental or one to one meetings. The support guide explains what information
is needed in each unit and where they can find it, providing links to support materials and
pedagogy from the International Baccalaureate and the DP coordinator. This has led to Unit
Plans becoming more detailed and linked to the learner profile, international mindedness and
TOK as well as building on prior knowledge and skills, although this needs to be done
consistently by all members of staff and through all departments. Before introducing the new
unit planner and support guide to staff the DP coordinator filled in an example unit plan for
TOK, showing staff the information needed for unit planner such as IB Teaching and Learning
pedagogy, lesson planning and formative and summative assessment. These units have been
used to help new and existing staff, showing them the information that is needed when
planning and updating units. Unit planning workshops are given to new staff as part of their
orientation and unit planning is visited in subject meetings throughout the school year. The unit
planner used by the school requires all staff to plan for the aims and objectives of each course.
Changes have been made to the written curriculum. Mock exams have been moved from
September to July to give more time for students and teachers to work thorough any gaps in
knowledge. There is severe disruption to DP lessons in September due to the school`s
Pegasus festival and Sports Day practice which would leave less time for any post mock
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provision to be put into place. It was explained to parents students to that the mock exam
results are not all that is taken into consideration when giving the Japanese university
predicted grades in July, or the IB predicted grades in October, as this had been a consistent
worry for previous cohorts.
A DP board has been created in the staff room to give staff easy access to relevant
information. The board includes exam schedules, Internal Assessment Schedules,
Coordinator`s Notes, class lists, Approaches to Teaching and Learning, Academic Honesty and
information for exam invigilators.
The written curriculum has been kept up to date to comply with changes to subject guides
since the accreditation visit. At least one member of staff for each subject, and often all staff in
each subject have been given training on the new curriculum. The programme has developed
and become more formalised over the period of review. A variety of subjects such as DP
Group 2 Languages, Group 4 Sciences, Group 6 Visual Arts and TOK have implemented new
guides during the last five years and during this time teachers have collaborated substantially
in order to update our curriculum to match the changes, including across subjects in group 2
and 4. New resources have been purchased to meet the changes in the curriculum. As no DP
Japanese textbooks exists the Group 2 teachers have worked hard to build materials for the
new written curriculum.
A DP Core guidebook has been created to give all staff, students and parents a
comprehensive guide to the written curriculum of the three parts of the core. This guidebook is
used to support students and staff throughout the process by clearly indicating the assessment
expectations of each part of the core with clear guidelines on how staff can support students in
meeting them.
The CAS written curriculum has been used to create a CAS guide by the CAS Coordinator,
with a summary included in the Core guidebook.
The written curriculum for the Extended Essay has been explained to staff, students and
parents through DP coordinator, librarian and teacher led workshops. The Extended Essay IB
guide has been put into a student friendly guide that students and their supervisor can use
throughout the process. This student guide to the Extended Essay, based on the guide has
been provided to students at the start of the process during a workshop. The DP coordinator
has worked with subject teachers to create a subject specific Extended Essay guide, which is
used to help students make their subject choice, help them to form a research question and
show clear links between each subject and the assessment criteria. The Extended Essay
written curriculum is shared with parents during a DP Core workshop where they are also
provide with the IB Extended Essay guide in Japanese. The Extended Essay written
curriculum was put on to Managebac in September 2015 following a visit to the school from a
Managebac representative in July 2015, training has been given to staff and students on how
to access the curriculum. As explained above, a detailed overview of the Extended Essay is
included in the DP Core handbook.
The TOK curriculum is regularly shared with staff and parents at workshops. At these
workshops both staff and parents have the chance to activate the curriculum by participating in
the same activities that the students do. The DP coordinator has created a document called
`Cross curricular TOK` which offers all teachers advice on how they can help students use
TOK skills in their own subjects, through working the TOK criteria into their own curriculum,
and offers examples of knowledge questions for each subject. It includes advice in how
teachers can support students in using the TOK assessment criteria in their subjects and
overview of the knowledge framework, which is central to the written curriculum, and example
knowledge questions for each subject, as well as for the ways of knowing. This document is
referred to in staff workshops and used in departmental meetings. Good progress is being
made by staff in making explicit links between TOK and their subject area`s written curriculum.
Subjects such as English B use new textbooks for TOK links.
The written curriculum is used as part of ATL presentations in the weekly staff meetings
To raise the status of the core curriculum, Creativity Action and Service and Extended Essay
comments have been added to the termly reports, which also makes parents aware of their
child`s progress in fulfilling their responsibilities. This has also had a positive effect in making
students aware of their importance and has helped some meet deadlines.
The school has created a shared Drive called the `Link Station` that teachers have access to
at all times while in the school building. The DP coordinator has created a `subject documents`
folder where staff in each department are required to upload various documents related to the
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written curriculum including: Assessment rubrics, DP Internal Assessments, Subject Guide,
Lesson resources, Past Papers, Results, Revision materials, Student guide, Students work,
Syllabus, Tamagawa exams, Tamagawa Internal Assessments and Unit planners. This is
designed to keep a record of the curriculum and present and previous students` work to
ensure the continuity of the programme when teachers change. The transparency and
maintenance of the written curriculum has been vastly improved by the use of this shared drive
that allows all teachers access to the written curriculum under the supervision of the IBDP
Coordinator.
Whole staff meetings are used to provide time collaborate over different areas of the written
curriculum. Examples include working on TOK, unit planning and discussing and sharing ideas
on how the ATLs can be incorporated into each department`s written curriculum.
DP teachers in some subjects have shared their workshop experiences with each other,
though this process needs to be formalised
The DP Coordinator has facilitated the moderation of student work within departments to work
towards a standardised understanding of the standards required in the written curriculum.
High, medium and low work is moderated across the year and in all final Internal Assessments.
This process allows consistency across the curriculum when there is more than one teacher in
the subject area such as English A, who also moderate when preparing towards the Individual
Oral Commentary. Subjects such as English B and Japanese B work together to moderate
each other`s work. The school has bought previous students` exam papers and Extended
Essays to help teachers understand the quality of previous students work against the
prescribed mark scheme.
Documents such as activities to support ESL learners have been created and shared with staff
allowing for the creation of support materials and lesson plans which can be put on updated
unit planners. An English A teacher created ESL support material in the form of a TOK writing
frame to support ESL students.
As well as support material for ESL learners, the DP coordinator has created a classroom
activities document which includes a wide range of ideas that support teachers in developing
their own courses of study. Teachers from all departments create and find resources to meet
their style of teaching and the students` styles of learning.
The written curriculum in English A is used to provide clearly articulated frameworks for
students; the Language and Literature curriculum is given to the students and articulated in a
variety of written formats. Subjects such as Language A and TOK use staff to collaborate well
with content and team-teaching, using each other’s strengths to add a fresh voice to classroom
activities.
The DP teachers have worked collaboratively to create shared Google Docs resulting in
vertical alignment between not only MYP and DP, but also between English A and B as
students have multiple pathways once they enter the program.
All DP teachers are also MYP teachers giving a greater understanding of the demands of each
written curriculum and a better idea of how to prepare students going from the MYP into the
DP.
Where possible, two DP teachers are rotated through the DP to enhance collaboration/cross
marking and knowledge of the curriculum. This process helps with moderation of Internal
Assessments.
The DP coordinator has worked with each department to ensure that the formative
assessments that are used for the students` High School Diploma are more aligned to the
curriculum in the IBDP’s guides and they challenges they will face in their final assessments.
Subject teachers across the Diploma Programme have created supplemental resources to
support the written curriculum and develop student research, analytical, study skills in line with
IBDP requirements.
MYP and DP subject teachers communicate more regularly and this has led to better
horizontal and vertical alignment of the written curriculum.
Instituting the English A: Language and Literature HL course in 2012 and HL/SL course in
2014 has allowed more students the opportunity to an English A class that not only suits their
interests, abilities, and goals, but works with Japanese A to provide a reasonable reading load,
as pre-Lang/Lit, it was determined that two Group 1 A1 courses was too demanding for our
students, and thus bilingual students could only choose one language to study in Group 1.
Department meetings are used for discussion of documentation and resources.
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The new Language B guide from April 2014 led to a course textbook being bought and lessons
built around it. The curriculum includes contemporary news stories from around the world for
students to respond to.
The English Department and the DP Coordinator have run workshops for staff with the aim of
making the written curriculum accessible to all students, focusing on ESL student, who make
up the vast majority of the student cohort.
Students are used to explain the written curriculum to parents and younger students through a
variety of measures. Student videos have been created by year 11 and 12 students and are
used at workshops throughout the year, explaining different parts of the Diploma Programme
curriculum such as TOK, the Extended Essay and CAS. Alumni students have spoken at
parent workshops explaining the written curriculum. Extended Essay lunches have been
created where year 12 students speak to year 11 students who are taking the same subject,
explaining different parts of the Extended Essay curriculum.
Student have been encouraged to reflect on their performance and set targets based on the
written curriculum. The DP coordinator has created a peer and self-assessment document for
all staff to give them ideas on how to do this. Some departments have created their own
documents which are used to allow students to engage in the written curriculum they are
studying, making them aware of the rubrics they are working towards. Standardised
documents need to be created.
Staff respond to current and new IB publications in their subject area. Information covering a
new developments can be found in the DP library section of the staff share. The DP
coordinator shares the Coordinator`s Notes with staff to keep them up to date with new
developments.
Continues to develop and actively monitor its written curriculum and take steps to
ensure that it is readily available to its community to support horizontal and vertical
collaborative curriculum planning and review. [Practice C1#1]
In order to monitor the curriculum the DP coordinator has created a variety of Google Docs,
which are discussed with staff in whole and departmental meetings. These include: Creating
an Internal Assessment deadline Google Doc that is shared with students and parents and
allows all staff to see upcoming assessments and constraints on student time, A homework
Google Doc so the coordinator can see the amount of work students are being set each week,
A yearly overview Google Doc where staff put a brief description of what they are teaching in
each month of the programme allowing the coordinator and each department to keep an eye
on the pacing of the curriculum and plan for any necessary changes, An Extended Essay
Google Doc so staff can see the students` top three choices and who has been assigned to
each student, An Extended Essay deadline Google Doc for final drafts and Viva Voces to keep
an understanding of who has completed each one and an Internal Assessment Google Doc so
staff are aware of deadlines and can check of the work as they complete it.
The core curriculum of TOK, the Extended Essay and CAS are all monitored through
Managebac. This hand has been occurring via CAS for many years and has recently been
expanded into TOK and The Extended Essay after a visit from a Managebac representative.
All of the Google Docs and Managebac are available to the teaching community and are
referred to in staff meetings. The Internal Assessment Google Doc is also available to students
and parents via the Programme Guidebook.
Ensures that the curriculum is developed with consideration of students’ previous

learning experiences and future educational needs. This will likely include the
articulating the curriculum from pre-DP to Diploma, and keeping under review students’
university destinations and matriculation requirements. [Practice C1#2]
A dedicated network hard drive for DP curriculum documents has been instituted, formatted
and is in use by all DP teachers. This drive is monitored regularly by the DP Coordinator. The
DP Coordinator and all DP teachers have ready access to all DP curriculum documents at all
times, especially during regularly occurring Group meetings (every two weeks) for horizontal
35
and vertical planning purposes.
In order to prepare the existing year 10s for the Diploma Programme and their future
educational needs, the DP coordinator has led staff in creating a Diploma Programme subject
overview booklet. The booklet gives information on the aims, objectives, content, assessment
details and future job/university careers of each subject. This booklet was shared with students
before and Diploma Programme course selection options meeting where students could
question staff from each department on their course, gaining an overview of the assessment
objectives and requirements. This meeting is held 3 months before the end of year 10, the
students are given the Christmas holiday to make their decisions.
As part of the process the DP coordinator has held workshops to explain the Diploma
Programme to parents and students, with existing and alumni Diploma Programme students
sharing their advice and experiences, including how they will use these when applying for
university education. The workshop explains the course as a whole, assessment details, the
core, academic honesty, how to make subject choices and links to universities, as well as
going over the Diploma Programme booklet.
At our school the Middle Year Programme has got an `MYP Interact` class once a week where
students go over a variety of material such as the learner profile, personal project
requirements and study skills. In order to prepare student for the Diploma Programme, the DP
coordinator visits year 10 MYP interact classes to give demonstration lessons on Theory of
Knowledge and the Extended Essay. The Creativity Action and Service coordinator gives an
overview of the CAS programme and year 11 students give advice to the year 10 students
about different aspects of the Diploma Programme. As well as this the DP coordinator goes
into the lessons to hold question and answer sessions. The DP coordinator has also visited
year 9 MYP Interact classes to give them an early introduction to the Diploma Programme,
answering previously prepared questions. The year 9 MYP Interact class needs more
information on the DP, including study skills.
Working with the homeroom teacher is important in the Diploma Programme preparation
process. The Homeroom teacher can also meet the students to get an overview of their
through process when deciding what choices to make. The DP coordinator has met students
on a one to one basis and with the homeroom teacher to discuss their choices and their Higher
Level / Standard Level options. In these meetings they discuss their interests at university and
performance in the subjects at the Middle Years Programme level to help the students make
the right choice. Information is gathered from their year 10 MYP teachers and data from their
performance across subjects over the whole of the Middle Years Programme before the
meeting when necessary. The DP coordinator has advised students to speak to parents, their
teachers and the college counsellors to help them make their decision. Year 11 and 12
students have also held informal meetings with students about subject choices and matched
students in the same after school clubs to discuss issues such as coping with the workload
and doing the club throughout the programme.
Each year the DP coordinator has updated the course choice leaflet, which students fill in
when making their final choice, to include clear, succinct descriptions of the subjects for the
students. This leaflet is shown at the student/parent workshop to help explain how students
can make the choices and what subjects are blocked with each other on the timetable,
meaning they can`t both be chosen.
Our university guidance counsellor work closely with students, parents and teachers in
supporting the university application process. The counsellor holds parent and student
workshops where she gives an overviews of the process of applying to Japanese universities.
The counsellor also visits year 11 DP study hall class to give a presentation to the students
and answer any questions they have on the process. The counsellor works closely with the
year 12 homeroom teachers to ensure the students understand how to apply for relevant
universities. The school has opened a position for an Academic Counsellor who will deal with
the application process for foreign universities. This counsellor is due to go on a three day
workshop in Jakarta in October 2015. Both university counsellors have arranged for Japanese
and foreign universities to visit the school to give workshops and make students aware of
university fairs in Tokyo.
As of 2014, we have begun offering English A at the SL level in order to reach the students
whose interests in literature go beyond English B, but may not have a high enough English
level to achieve desired results at the English A HL level. Our Cambridge English Test/CEFR-
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based English testing conducted semi-annually in the MYP helps inform students of their
English skills, giving them the knowledge to choose the most appropriate English course.
Our IB Authorization recommended a Scope and Sequence to help with vertical and horizontal
collaboration. The English department have started a live document as the Scope and
Sequence, working backwards from the expectations of the DP Language and Literature
course and reaching into both MYP Language and Literature and MYP Language Acquisition.
The SL Math Studies course has been introduced to cater for students who with guidance,
decided they would no longer need the SL and HL math content in their tertiary studies.
Ensures the curriculum encourages students to develop strategies for their own
learning and assessment, and to assume increasing levels of responsibility. [Practice
C1#7]
DP Study Halls have been implemented into the programme. When students have a free
period they are able to work in the Multi Media Resource Centre (MMRC) and are expected to
take responsibility for their own learning. The study halls are in the MMRC so students have
access to a range of resources to help them with their studies and there is always a teacher
with them. If a student is behind with work or has missed homework they can be assigned
work to catch up on by a subject teacher which they are expected to do in these `directed`
study hall periods.
The DP coordinator takes year 11 students for a DP Study Hall once a week where he covers
a range of strategies to help students with their own learning. The DP coordinator uses the
IB`s ATL self-reflection tool to help students set themselves Approaches to Learning targets
which are shared with staff and revisited in future lessons to see the progress the students
have made.
The DP coordinator has created a range of peer and self-assessment strategies to help
students with their learning and in taking responsibility for it. These strategies have been
shared with staff in meetings as they can be transferred to any subject and with the students in
TOK classes. A range of different subjects use peer and self-assessment strategies which
have been shared in a whole staff ATL session led by the Assistant MYP Coordinator.
In order to support students through the Extended Essay process the DP coordinator has run,
and arranged for other teachers, to run Extended Essay Workshops. These workshops are
delivered to students at the start of the Extended Essay process, where we go through an
overview of the process, including reading the student guide, looking at the different
requirements for each subject, brainstorming potential research topics and resources based on
student interests, and peer mark exemplar essays from the IB`s Online Curriculum Centre
website. The DP coordinator has used staff with different experiences and skills to lead these
workshops. The Librarian has held a workshop on how to research in the Multi Media
Research Centre and a History and Biology teacher have both held workshops in how to
research for, and write an academic essay, focusing on the different skills needed for different
subjects. It has benefitted the students to hear a variety of different voices from different
subject backgrounds giving advice. The workshops have purposely been held in the Multi
Media Research Centre so students can make a start with their research process. The
workshops give students the tools to develop strategies for their own learning and take
responsibility for it. Students are given Extended Essay contracts and deadlines for them and
their supervisor which helps with their self-management skills.
Extended Essay workshops are followed up with one to one meetings with students. These
meetings have been designed to focus on the students experiences as in the programme as a
whole, focusing on any issues they are facing on a number of matters, including the Extended
Essay and their work / life balance.
The CAS coordinator runs a CAS class once a week where she supports students to make
themselves responsible for their own CAS learning, helping them with strategies to reflect and
record their progress.
Each DP subject gives students at least one week`s notice for upcoming assessments and
puts the responsibility of time and resource management onto the students, while supporting
students who need it. Additional support in terms of time management can be given after
consultation with the DP coordinator and the homeroom teacher if necessary.
37
The DP coordinator has taken an active role in looking at the work / life balance of students in
the programme. In order to give students as wide a range of subject choice as possible, some
students have to be at school for eight periods some days. On top of this many students
belong to clubs and go to cram school, as well as completing their CAS responsibilities and
Extended Essays. The DP coordinator has worked with students to get an overall picture of
their work load and re-laid his concerns to staff, reminding them of the allotted homework time
for each year group per night. The DP coordinator has been in contact with homeroom
teachers and parents over the students` homework habits. The DP coordinator has responded
to examples of students staying up all night through doing homework, having meetings with
the Programme Director and the teachers involved to make sure students are being set a fair
and adequate workload and know exactly what is expected of the in each subject. The DP
coordinator has subsequently visited the class with the classroom teacher involved to establish
a workable workload for the students. The DP coordinator regularly has one to one interviews
with students in Study Hall time to gain an insight into their workload, time management and
stress. A Google Calendar has been created where staff input upcoming assessments,
allowing the staff, students and I to gain an overview of the upcoming.
Puts into effect and keeps under review its plans to provide JSL support for its
Japanese students. [Practice C1#14]
Japanese B has been consistently offered for each cohort for the last 3 years. As the large
majority of our students are native speakers of Japanese, a very personalized plan can be
implemented based on personal circumstances and needs of the student. Students in question
are interviewed and tested, both formally and informally to assess their level. A personalized
action plan is then formulated, implemented and monitored in both the MYP and DP. Since
April 2015 Japanese B has been offered at an SL level.
Reviews and develops its university counselling and course counselling structures to
ensure that they are appropriately articulated, supported and integrated in order to
support DP students’ course selection and progress to university. [Practices C1#32,36]
Information on this recommendation can be found in [Practice C1#2] above.
Develops a balance of subject options to ensure that there are more pathways through
the programme to cater to the range of abilities and needs. Particular attention in the
first instance should be given to Group 3. [Practice C1#33]
Subject choice has grown over the last five years. Students can choose from two subjects in
group 1, 2 and 3 and three sciences in group 4. ESS is offered as a group 3 or 4 subject.
Maths Studies has been brought into the programme to give more choice in group 5. There is
still only the option of visual arts in group 6. ESS, Economics and History, particularly in Group
3 have been offered to more personalize the program according to student needs and abilities.
Builds on the positive start in making TOK central to the programme. This should
involve ongoing measures to explain the nature of TOK to its community, embedding it
in the curriculum for DP subjects, and monitoring its presence in regular classroom
practice. [Practice C1#34]
The Diploma Programme coordinator`s Cross Curricular TOK booklet has been used to
support staff in teaching TOK in their subject area. It includes advice in how teachers can
support students in using the TOK assessment criteria in their subjects, an overview of the
knowledge framework and example knowledge questions for each subject, as well as for the
ways of knowing. This document is referred to in staff workshops and used in departmental
meetings.
TOK is a regular part of staff workshops where teachers are given the role of students and
work through different TOK activities in theirs and other subjects. The DP Coordinator has
invited staff to give TOK lessons which has helped them and the students get a better idea of
the demands of TOK in their subject. Teachers from Science, Art, Maths, History and English
have all given successful lessons in TOK. The DP Coordinator regularly works with teachers in
subject meetings to explain how to plan for TOK and how to incorporate it into their lessons.
This has led to some staff taking a lead in including TOK activities in their lessons, which has
spread to other teachers.
TOK is a central part of each unit planner. Through internal PD, TOK is constantly reinforced
as central to the programme, as strategies and links to subject areas are often discussed and
shared.
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Make it a priority to get CAS activities into the school year on school days; involve as many
teachers as possible in CAS so that students feel its importance with a consistent message.
CAS opportunities need to be highlighted in lessons (there is a section for this on the unit
planner), but staff will need guidance from the CAS coordinator on this.
Unit planners have evolved during the 5 year review period. The new coordinator updated the
unit planner in January 2014, giving staff training on it and providing staff with examples of how
to complete it. The planner changed again in April 2015, taking an example from the new IB
ATL website. Training has been given on this planner with a very detailed user guide being
produced, but this needs to be a constant process with departments as some teachers in
some departments are keener to update than others, which can lead to friction.
To put the written curriculum onto the new DP part of the Tamagawa Website, which is
presently under construction.
Structured teacher planning time on helping students develop strategies for their own learning
and assessment, as well as collaboration with other subject areas needs to be built into the
school year.
Some departments have made very good progress in developing their Scope and Sequence in
both the MYP and DP. A target is to dedicate time for departments to be able to work on this.
Half day or whole day departmental sessions would be very useful with March or July being a
good time for this to happen.
Vertical curriculum development leading from grade 10 of the MYP into year 11 of the DP
needs further attention and refinement. Taking Group 3 as an example, more of the skills,
background knowledge and requirements of the History, Economics and ESS courses need a
better elaboration in grade 10 to lead to more success in grade 11.
A termly unit planner day dedicated to the writing and reflection of units taught needs to be
implemented onto the school calendar. A day had been agreed for July 2015 but mock exams,
grading, reports and an in house workshop as well as MYP responsibilities made this
impossible. Deciding on a PD calendar at the start of each academic year is a target.
Progress has been made in highlighting the Learner Profile and it`s links to the curriculum through a
DP Learner Profile board in the IB corridor and awards in the IB assemblies and Graduation
ceremonies as well as a Learner Profile footer being created but it needs to be built into lesson
planning. The Learner Profile is on the new unit planner with a link to help staff and time has been
given to this in October 2015 but it is acknowledged that more of this needs to be given.
School curricular practice needs to incorporate more opportunities for students to meaningfully
address the needs of others and to further develop connections to the IB core. TOK would be
a clear example of this. Tamagawa Academy K-12’s educational principles and the IB Learner
profile could be expanded upon as well.
More course offerings should be investigated that may be better at targeting students career
choices and abilities. Particularly in Group 3, courses like Geography, Business Management
and International Politics may better tap into students’ strengths and desires. One of the goals
of the programme is to continue to offer as wide as possible. The Leadership team is in the
early stages of putting forward a proposal to start online Diploma Programme courses, with
psychology a popular starting point.
Teachers could be cycled through different classes more to give them a better understanding
of the students learning experiences, and allow them to better collaborate on unit and lesson
plans, and the vertical needs of curriculum planning.
More extracurricular activities to support the written curriculum need to be built into the
curriculum, such as visiting art galleries. We are aware of the stress on the timetable and the
lack of time teachers and students have but need to work ways into giving broader
experiences to students based on the curriculum.
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Standard C3: Teaching and learning
Teaching and learning reflects IB philosophy.
Low High
1. Teaching and learning aligns with the requirements of the x

programme(s).
a. Teaching and learning at the school addresses all of x

the aims and objectives of each subject.
2. Teaching and learning engages students as inquirers and x

thinkers.
3. Teaching and learning builds on what students know and x

can do.
4. Teaching and learning promotes the understanding and x

practice of academic honesty.
5. Teaching and learning supports students to become x

actively responsible for their own learning.
6. Teaching and learning addresses human commonality, x

diversity and multiple perspectives.
7. Teaching and learning addresses the diversity of student x

language needs, including those for students learning in a
language(s) other than mother tongue.
8. Teaching and learning demonstrates that all teachers are x

responsible for language development of students.
9. Teaching and learning uses a range and variety of x

strategies.
10. Teaching and learning differentiates instruction to meet x

students’ learning needs and styles.
11 Teaching and learning incorporates a range of resources, x

including information technologies.
12. Teaching and learning develops student attitudes and skills x

that allow for meaningful student action in response to
students’ own needs and needs of others.
13. Teaching and learning engages students in reflecting on x

how, what and why they are learning.
14. Teaching and learning fosters a stimulating learning x

environment based on understanding and respect.
15. Teaching and learning encourages students to demonstrate x

their learning in a variety of ways.
16. Teaching and learning develops the IB learner profile x

attributes.
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Practice 8 created a lot of discussion. We found that different subjects have different experiences in
this. Some teachers found it hard to do this with the pressure of fitting all of the subject content into
the allotted time. While the school has made strides on language development for students through
workshops, it is an areas we need to focus on.
It was found throughout this strand that some subjects were working better than others. Staffing
issues have been, and are continuing to be sorted out. With a small programme and no heads of
departments, some teachers feel that others in their department are not meeting all of the standards
as they should be. The IB Director and DP Coordinator are aware of some issues and have been
working with teachers on a range of these issues.
Practice 13 created debate, with different views on the need to make the `why` we are learning
more explicit in some subjects—this is not being done consistently throughout the course.
Practice 3 create debate as to how much and in what ways different subjects are able to build up
what students can `know and do` before the DP starts. Subjects such as economics are at a
disadvantage as it is not taught as a discreet subject in the MYP, and needs to be written into the
year 10 I&S curriculum.
A general consensus was that some teachers are doing well in this category but there are weak
areas in some departments that will need to be looked at closely by the DP Coordinator.
Standard C3: Teaching and learning Requires significant Shows satisfactory

Teaching and learning reflects IB philosophy. x
Different areas of teaching and learning are regularly highlighted and discussed in whole staff
and departmental workshops throughout the year.
The DP coordinator has worked with the MYP and Assistant MYP coordinators to introduce
Approaches to Teaching and Learning training into staff meetings. Every other week a
department gives a presentation on teaching activities they have done connected to an agreed
ATL. The DP coordinator volunteered to present first, focusing on the ATL of Self-Management.
Before the meeting the DP coordinator created an overview of the work he had been doing
with Year 11s based on homework and peer assessment. After the presentation staff have a
discussion about the issues that have been raised. The presentations are designed to be cross
programmes and teachers are purposely put in cross curricular groups to give them a wider
understanding of the different learning experiences happening across the MYP and DP.
Before this initiative, the DP coordinator used whole staff meetings to go through the new
Approaches to Teaching and Learning website from the IB and how we will incorporate
Approaches to Teaching and Learning at our school through: Teacher Trios, Lesson
Observations, Sharing good practice in meetings, Approaches to Teaching and Learning Target
Setting and Reporting the Approaches to Teaching and Learning. The DP coordinator has used
the new IB website to show videos on different areas of the Approaches to Teaching and
Learning. The DP coordinator has led activities which included examples his and other
teachers` lessons (that the DP coordinator had observed) and watching videos from the IBO
Approaches to Teaching and Learning website, with teachers having pre read the website`s
information on the Approaches to Teaching and Learning we were studying and commenting
on the video using the IBOs Approaches to Teaching and Learning self-reflection tool. Before
teachers watched the video they looked at the IB checklist which was used as a point of
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discussion when working in their groups after watching the video. These meetings are
designed to improve teaching and learning practice throughout the programme.
The DP coordinator has used meetings to show staff the Approaches to Teaching and Learning
folder on the staff share in the DP Library and how they can add their own activities to share
good practice.
The DP coordinator has created a Reporting the Diploma Programme Approaches to Learning
document. This document supports teachers in their reporting of the Approaches to Learning,
which is done on a half termly basis. It gives a rationale, explaining why we are reporting on
the Approaches to Learning and a variety of different ways teachers can find evidence of the
students` performance. It uses information from the Pedagogical Leadership section of the
IB`s Approaches to Teaching and Learning website to show how to determine a student
Approaches to Teaching and Learning level for the report and the criteria for each Approach to
Learning. The Approaches to Teaching and Learning reports are based on the student`s ability
to demonstrate each Approach to Learning rather than give them an attainment level. This
document is used to support staff throughout the term as they build up a picture of the
students` Approaches to Learning skills through a range of tasks.
The DP coordinator has created a Lesson observation booklet which has been used since
April 2015. This document is a comprehensive overview of the DP Coordinator lesson
overview process. It includes an overview of the process before, during and after the lesson,
an example lesson planner, the DP Coordinator`s lesson observation form, the lesson
reflection handout and the Approaches to Teaching and Learning observation checklist,
adapted from the International Baccalaureate`s Approaches to Learning website. This
document supports staff in their planning of lesson observations and also helps them to focus
on goals for their teaching and learning activities. It is a framework for a supportive relationship
between teachers and the Diploma Programmes Coordinator. The booklet is designed to keep
the new Diploma Programme Approaches to Teaching and Learning directives and learning
philosophies at the forefront of teaching and learning at the school. The booklet includes a
Lesson plan template, which is shown separately in which can be used by staff throughout the
year to support their planning to support staff in their lesson preparation.
The DP coordinator has created an Interactive and Inquiry based Classroom activities booklet
to support new and experienced staff with Teaching and Learning activities. These activities
are based both on his teaching experiences in the National Curriculum of England, Wales and
Northern Ireland as well as teaching in the International Baccalaureate, in both the Middle
Years Programme and Diploma Programme. The activities in this booklet are ones that he
regularly uses in lessons and show interactive and inquiry based learning, covering many
aspects of the International Baccalaureate`s Approaches to Teaching and Learning. Each
activity has a description and learning outcomes, as well as a photograph or picture to help
staff visualise how it looks in the classroom. The activities have been put up in his classroom
and are referred to in staff meetings and in one on one teaching conversations with staff. It is
made clear to staff that these activities are relevant to teaching and learning within the
Diploma Programme and can be used for revision activities as well as in teaching content. The
activities are designed to be cross curricular and can be differentiated by staff depending in the
age, ability and learning styles of the students.
The DP coordinator has created a Peer and self-assessment ideas document in order to
support staff in giving students the opportunities for assessing their own and their peer`s work,
as well as setting achievable targets. These strategies are based on the one he use in his TOK
classes. It includes six peer and self-assessment techniques for both formative and summative
assessments. It also comprises of ideas for teacher feedback on class, homework or
assessment tasks. He created the document to support staff across the whole of the
programme as these techniques can be modified and applied across all the Diploma
Programme subjects.
The DP coordinator has created a document called Classroom activities to support English as
a Second language students. The majority of students at our school are learning the DP in
their second language, with a wide range of English abilities in each year group. This
document has been created to support staff in making their lessons accessible to English as a
Second language (ESL) students. The document helps teachers in both the planning and
delivery of lessons and shows eight different sets of classroom activities used to support ESL
students in the mainstream classroom. The activities are ones the DP coordinator has created
and used in the classroom, in the United Kingdom and both Middle Years Programme and
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Diploma Programme lessons. Each set of activities starts with an explanation of the
techniques used, explaining how they can help second language learners. The examples
shown in this document can be transferred to a wide range of subjects and age groups in both
programmes offered at our school. The ideas are not just for ESL students but as the
techniques can also be used to support differentiation for students who require extra support.
The teacher trios initiative explained in part C1 of this self-study allows staff to work in threes
to observe and discuss their lessons and approaches to teaching and learning on a semi-
formal basis. As part of this initiative, each teacher must set themselves an Approaches to
Teaching and an Approaches to Learning target, as well as a target of their own, which can be
the basis of the group`s lesson observations. Teachers will have feedback sessions where
they will comment and advise each other on the agreed Approaches to Teaching and Learning
targets, discuss teaching pedagogy and learn from each other’s experiences and gain a
greater understanding of the different experiences and challenges the students face as they
work through the programme.
In order to share the Approaches to Learning goals with students, the DP coordinator has
created a student Approaches to Learning target setting document. To make it clear to
students that the Approaches to Learning are cross curricular, the DP coordinator has worked
through this document with them in the Diploma Programme Study Hall period. Each student
sets themselves an Approaches to Learning goal for each part: Thinking skills, Self-
Management skills, Communication skills, Research skills and Social Skills, which they will
apply to all of their subjects. Once the student has chosen their goals they are checked by the
DP coordinator, making sure they are relevant and achievable. The goals are revisited in future
study halls, discussing each student`s progress and reflect upon any issues they have faced.
The students` goals are shared with staff who can check whether the student has met them in
their subject, helping them make a judgement when giving a half termly report on the students`
Approaches to Teaching and Learning progress. This document is linked to the new IBO
Approaches to Teaching and Learning criteria with targets the students can choose from also
taken from the new IBO website on the Approaches to Teaching and Learning. If teachers
require, they are able to use this document on a subject for subject basis. The Coordinator has
used it to raise the students’ awareness of the Approaches to Teaching and Learning being
cross curricular skills and that they should be using throughout their six subject areas and the
Diploma Programme Core.
Staff training is used to highlight the academic honesty policy and guide, which was adapted
from the IB`s guide, with the DP coordinator emphasising the main procedures and
terminology. Staff are regularly reminded about an in-school Academic honesty handout which
has been created and updated over the five year period, and is signed by students when they
hand in Internal Assessments. Academic Honesty posters have been bought and are on show
in the corridor and in DP Homerooms, with staff being asked to draw the students` attention to
them. As a school we use the Turnitin website as a way of checking for plagiarism. The
coordinator has used staff workshops to go through the website using examples from the work
his students have handed in and how to read the data the website provides.
The profile of the Multi Media Resource Centre (MMRC) has been raised within the
programme to improve teaching and learning for staff and students. This has been done
through getting the librarians to hold workshops for both staff and students at the start of the
academic year. The workshops focus on how to use the MMRC for research and to explain all
the resources available including how to book rooms. The workshops are held in Japanese
with English translation. Staff have also started to get the librarians to speak to their classes on
subject specific research information. The DP coordinator has worked with staff to create an IB
bookshelf in the MMRC, where teachers have ordered books to help students with their
studying in their subject and in the core. Study halls for year 11 and 12 are held in the MMRC
to ensure that students make the most of the facilities that it has to offer. These study halls are
supervised by a member of the teaching staff but the librarians are also in the MMRC to offer
any support to the students. Year 11 Extended Essay workshops have been moved to the
MMRC and focus on how to use it to help students with the Essay. The librarian and IB staff
have held these workshops, in both English and Japanese. Languages hold their individual
oral Internal Assessments in the MMRC, making full use of the sound rooms. The DP
coordinator has made himself available to support both Language A and Language B teachers
by sitting with the students who have to plan their assessment under supervision.
As shown in part C1 of this report the programme has implemented whole staff meetings once
a week and DP meetings once every two weeks with the aim of collaboration. Teaching and
learning is often at the heart of these meetings. Teachers in a variety of departments opt to
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also meet in their own planning and preparation time to enhance their delivery of teaching and
learning to students. In these meetings new resources have been created such as Visual Arts
scope and sequences and a student-teacher diary. In subjects such as English Language and
Literature, Mathematics and Group 4 sciences there has been an increase in the amount of
teachers who use meeting times to share their teaching strategies, ideas, and challenges with
one another.
The English A: Language and Literature course has only existed since the 2013 exam session,
and before its introduction, our students could only take one Group 1 course due to reading
demands, and Japanese is generally considered the default. Now, bilingual or near-bilingual
students can study Group 1 in both their languages.
In July 2015 we held a two day in-house DP Approaches to Teaching and Learning workshop
for the whole staff. The aim was to build on the work we had started in the Approaches to
Teaching and Learning and to gain new ideas on how to meet the needs of our DP students.
The DP Coordinator`s unit planner staff support guide has a wide range teaching and learning
activities for teachers to consider when planning their units including:Group discussions, Peer
marking of essays and assessments, Jigsawing, Card sorts, Ranking activities, Textbook
readings with content &skills based questions, Provide comments, opinions and questions in
small group discussions, Participate in knowledge building and reviewing quizzes and games,
Skills practice: comparison, evaluation, and making conclusions, Writing descriptive analytical
and interpretive answers and short essays, Structured writing exercises, Oral presentation.
Through preparation in pairs and small groups and as a whole class. These debates will
respond to facts that have been found, Preparation and presentation of analytical essay on a
citizenship topic, Peer assessment of student presentations, Responding to evidence, both
visual and written, Open ended questions based on all 7 components of Bloom`s Taxonomy,
Evaluating information through ranking activities, Gathering and responding to evidence from
sources, Self assessment, Student / teacher led talking point discussion, Whole class debates
with notes and follow worksheets, Develop source work skills though practice questions
individually and teacher directed, Short knowledge based quizzes and games, Guided
readings with comprehensions questions, Research activities, Lesson worksheets based on
textbook reading and internet research, Guided essay writing exercise, Student and teacher
led discussion circles, Pair work activities to enable pupils to teach and learn from their peers,
Envoying activities to aid retention of facts, Think-pair-share, Hot seat activities to help
formulate questions and respond to new ideas, Research items using the library and internet.
The DP coordinator has shared different learning activites based on Bloom`s Taxonomy which
is aimed at supporting teachers in the differentiation from Special Educational Needs to the
more able.
The CAS programme is set up to directly match the IB expectations. The MYP
Service@Tamagawa Programme gives students four years of important experience in the
service part of programme before they start CAS.
The MLA referencing is taught explicitly and consistently throughout the MYP Programme to
prepare students for its use in the Diploma Programme.
Teachers make full use of the new DP Guides in Language B with clear topics stated such as
‘Cultural Diversity’ to give students exposure to a range of ideas and experiences.
Teachers are making good use of the resources to support teaching and learning both in the
Sci Tech building and the Multi Media Research Centre including: mini whiteboards,
newspapers, laptop computers and ipads which are easily available for students to use.
Considers strategies to ensure teaching and learning at the school builds on what
students know and can do. The curriculum in the years preceding the diploma should
be developed to ensure that students are prepared for entry into the DP. This should
focus on key concepts as well as skills and attitudes.[Practice C3#1]
The school has an MYP Programme from years 7-10. All DP teachers teach in the MYP
programme which gives them the opportunity to backward plan from the DP to the MYP.
Departments have been working both in their DP and MYP meetings to design courses based
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on what the students know and can do. Science, Group 4 and Visual Arts have made good
headway in updating their MYP curriculum to ensure it prepares students for the DP as shown
by the Language A Teachers and the Mathematics teachers:
English A:“The implementation of semiannual CEFR-based English testing in the MYP, the
addition of MYP Phase-based Language Acquisition SL and HL classes, and the experience of
the language teachers (who teach both DP and MYP) have made our curriculum much more
targeted toward the diploma. For example, in both Japanese and English MYP Year 4-5
classes, students do Written Task-esque assessments, complete with rationale, as that applies
to both Group 1 and Group 2 DP courses.” Discussions and changes have been made to the
MYP math content to accommodate preparation for the DP better
The Individuals and Societies Department are bringing in an Economics element to year 10
I&S this year. At MYP level the school must ensure it follows the Japanese National
Curriculum.
The school`s Service@Tamagawa programme is fully developed and really allows our DP
students to start CAS with a solid base
In year 10 the students undertake the Personal Project which is designed to prepare them for
The Extended Essay
Develops strategies to ensure teaching at the school meets the needs of students who
are not proficient in English. Given the ability range of the students it is likely that
comprehensive, articulated and integrated ESL support systems and procedures will be
needed across the board. [Practice C3#9]
From April 2015 the English Department has led teacher workshops based on every teacher
being a language teacher and promoting ESL support in teaching and learning. These
workshops need to be sustained throughout the year. English systems from MYP Year 1 to DP
Year 2 have become much clearer, as we have more and more ESL students in our program.
Starting from the introduction of the Next Chapter MYP English B / Language Acquisition
course, which brought in the language phases. The English teachers regularly assess
students` English ability and share their phases with staff. More support needs to be given to
staff on how to put these ideas into practice. The DP coordinator has created a comprehensive
booklet designed to help teaching and learning strategies for ESL students. These strategies
are based on TOK lessons but are easily adapted to other subject areas.
Keeps under review the implementation of its Academic Honesty policy. Particular
attention should be given to clearly establishing in each assessment component for
each subject (e.g. World Literature essay, science practical exercise) what mix of
strategies will be employed to ensure compliance with the school’s policy. [Practice
C3#10]
The Academic honesty policy has been updated in April 2014 and August 2015. It will be
reviewed on a yearly basis. The DP coordinator wrote the policy based on guidelines from the
IB. The policy was then put to the Leadership team and staff for comments and suggestions.
The policy outlines: the Philosophy of Academic Honesty, the purpose of Academic Honesty,
maintaining Academic Honesty, a definition of Malpractice, the investigation of Intentional
Malpractice, externally assessed IBDP assessment tasks, consequences of Malpractice, the
roles and Responsibilities of the Programme Coordinators, teachers and students.
The IB guide on academic honesty has been shared with staff, students and parents in DP
Study Hall classes and at parent workshops. It is used to guide students, parents and teachers
throughout the course with the aim of making every student`s piece of work match the
International Baccalaureate`s guidance on Academic Honesty. Awareness of the guide is
raised throughout the year so that students, staff and parents understand the Academic
Honesty Expectations. The guide covers: Academic Honesty, What is an authentic piece of
work?, Types of Academic Misconduct, Referencing, The difference between collaboration and
collusion in The Sciences and Mathematics, The Internet, The Arts, Duplication and the
Extended Essay, Using sources from different languages, Malpractice in written examinations,
Academic Infringement, Penalties for Academic Misconduct.
The academic honesty signature sheets allow students to know the proper procedures when it
comes to submitting their Internal Assessment components. The form shows the links between
academic honesty and the Learner Profile attribute of `principled` and explains academic
malpractice to students, focusing on plagiarism, collusion and duplication. I have asked staff to
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make sure the form is signed by students when they hand work in for assessments.
The use of turninin.com is used by staff when checking for authenticity of student work.
Sustain this year`s focus on Approaches to Teaching and Learning to help students be more
actively responsible for their own learning. The coordinator is working with year 11 students to
create Approaches to Learning goals which are shared with staff. We now need to take the
next step in ensuring all teaching staff, the DP coordinator and homeroom teachers are holding
students to account with these goals and pushing them adequately to meet them.
Ensure that the work done in ATL presentations and discussion in staff meetings is followed up
during lessons. This can be done through DP lesson observations where the coordinator and
teacher will agree on teaching and learning focus before the lessons. Staff must be given
adequate time during their departmental meetings to talk through different Approaches to
Teaching and Learning Strategies, discussing activities that work for different students and
different situations.
Introduce `shadowing student` days where staff can observe a student in his/her lessons to get
a better ideas of the learning experiences they have in a day. This will also allow the member
of staff to see a range of teaching styles in a range of different subjects.
Create a greater focus on horizontal and vertical planning for the DP in the MYP. Some
subjects such as languages and Science have made good progress in this areas but the MYP
and DP coordinator need to ensure that this is dome programme wide to make sure our
students get the best preparation for the DP course across the six subject areas. Greater
collaboration would ensure smoother transition between MYP and DP and greater levels of
student achievement at DP.
There needs to be more emphasis on integrating CAS into subject lessons. CAS was put on
the unit planner in April 2015 and the CAS coordinator has worked to build awareness of the
opportunities for students both inside and outside of the school but teachers will need
guidance on linking their curriculum content with CAS activities. This can be done through
building teacher awareness of CAS activities, which could be shown in staff training—the CAS
coordinator has created a guidebook to help staff.
More explicit and frequent promotion of the Learner Profile Attributes both inside and outside
of the classroom
The unit plans have a wide range of teaching activities. These will need to be modelled to
some staff, which can be done through the progression of the ATL presentations in whole staff
meetings, teacher trios and the DP Coordinator inviting staff into his TOK lessons (focusing on
particular activities).
As a result of this self-study current school practices could improve by more securely
connecting CAS, TOK, and the IB Learner Profile to the daily environment in which students
learn their content. Also the language development component and ATLs need consistently
addressed. However, given the following issues: tight time constraints; the necessity of
completely delivering the content; losing lessons due to school events; language learner
issues; and preparing students for examinations the programme needs to secure time in the
yearly plan to ensure that adequate time and training can be given to staff.
The programme needs to improve teacher reflection on unit planners, which to date have been
done off the teacher`s own back or orally in post lesson observation discussions with the DP
coordinator or though discussion with teachers in departmental meetings. Structured reflection
needs to be given to teachers at certain times in the school year, such as the end of units or
the end of term/the school year when departments can reflect upon the teaching and learning
in the unit(s) taught. There is a unit reflection part on the DP unit planners which can be filled
in after reflection has taken place.
Departments need to build up command terms in their subjects to prepare students for the
terminology they will need in assessments and in the exam. This will help enable ESL students
to access the curriculum. The mathematics vocabulary wall can be a model to work from. The
terminology can be put into the subject`s student guide.
Integrate a CALP framework into courses.
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Standard C4: Assessment
Assessment at the school reflects IB assessment philosophy.
1. Include a brief analysis of the examination results within the period under review and any action taken
as a consequence (include Diploma Programme subjects, TOK and extended essays).
Low High
1. Assessment at the school aligns with the requirements of x

the programme(s).
a. Assessment of student learning is based on the x

objectives and assessment criteria specific to each
subject.
2. The school communicates its assessment philosophy, x

policy and procedures to the school community.
3. The school uses a range of strategies and tools to assess x

student learning.
4. The school provides students with feedback to inform and x

improve their learning.
5. The school has systems for recording student progress x

aligned with the assessment philosophy of the programme(s).
6. The school has systems for reporting student progress x

aligned with the assessment philosophy of the programme(s).
7. The school analyses assessment data to inform teaching x

and learning.
8. The school provides opportunities for students to participate x

in, and reflect on, the assessment of their work.
9. The school has systems in place to ensure that all students x

can demonstrate consolidation of their learning through the
completion of the Primary Years Programme exhibition, the
Middle Years Programme personal project and the Diploma
Programme extended essay, depending on the
programme(s) offered.
The quality and amount of feedback in Practice 4 and reflection in Practice 8 across the whole
programme caused debate. These are done consistently and well in some subjects but not buy all
teachers across the programme. The assessment of data is also another issue where some staff
47
and departments do it better than others. These diverse answers gave good ideas for an action
plan. Our final grades were decided by voting, and if need be, averaging out of different numbers.
Standard C4: Assessment Requires significant Shows satisfactory

Assessment at the school reflects IB

assessment philosophy. x
Each department has created a variety of documents to support students in their Internal
Assessments. These documents show students how to follow the assessment criteria and take
into consideration the ESL status of some students.
Students have been given the chance to peer and self-assess formative assessments across a
range of subjects. TOK documents have been shared with staff as examples of good practice,
with departments either taking these designs on or creating their own to fit into their course, as
shown in the evidence.
Good progress in peer and self-assessment, student feedback and moderation has been
made throughout the programme as shown in these quotes from different subjects:
CAS: “Adopting ManageBac as our school reporting system for ManageBac has improved
how we keep track of CAS; The CAS coordinator also gives students specific guidance and
training on how to use ManageBac, since it is a lot of writing in English for them. ManageBac
is also explained to parents at the DP Core workshop.”
English A: Language and Literature: “We have increasingly shaped our formative and
summative tasks to reflect what is expected from the DP, as informed by subject reports and
marked student work. We are also incorporating DP-type assessments in MYP Language and
Literature to help ensure that students are prepared for the course. Using the DP criteria and
grade boundaries to determine scores helps students to get a good understanding of their
overall performance and to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses.”
Group 2: “We have worked to ensure that formative assessment tasks have been updated to
more closely match IB Final Weightings and actual Criteria”
Economics “Being able to see how they were assessed externally, both in the IA’s and
exams is invaluable. These being available to all teachers, at all times on the shared drive
ensures all teachers have almost constant access. Moderation is now occurring in both
internal and external assessments, giving more teachers a view of others’ assessment tasks,
grading. This leads to greater collaboration on the tasks and marking themselves, which
should lead to a more accurate final result for students.”
History: “Our feedback is in both written and verbal formats. Students also provide peer
feedback to each other based on the IB curriculum. The assessments themselves show
planning, creativity, and provide opportunities for student reflection. Unit planners, the variety
of assessments given and the connections to TOK provide students with the structure and
opportunity to demonstrate consolidation of learned with the MYP.”
Group 4: “Unit plans are starting to have more detail and linking to assessment. Assessment
tasks are improving in complexity and clarity of expectation.”
Group 5: “The use of past paper questions has given students a very good idea of what to
expect in the actual DP exams. Also using and explaining the actual mark schemes provided
by the IB helps the students understand how important it is to show all working in the exams.”
The school`s Assessment policy was updated by the DP coordinator and shared with staff for
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comments and suggestions, the last time being in August 2015. The policy includes: Statement
of philosophy: Tamagawa and IB philosophy, Assessment practices at Tamagawa, Formative
assessment, Summative assessment, Grading / marking, Recording and reporting, Homework,
Teacher collaboration, moderation and standardisation of grades, Internal Assessment
timeline, Academic Honesty.
Mock exams have been moved to July from September. One reasons is to give students more
time to respond to the feedback from staff and to make improvements based on them before
the exams in November.
Assessments and exams are returned to students with teacher feedback to highlight where the
students have achieved well and where they need to make progress against the assessment
criteria.
Teacher training is given to staff to support them in helping students meet the TOK
assessment criteria in their lessons.
Teachers and the DP coordinator regularly go through Internal Assessment forms at subject
meetings. IB Internal Assessment feedback is acted upon to ensure that previous mistakes are
rectified and previous good practice is repeated.
Parents receive four reports per academic year. Midterm reports consist of assessment results
and a generic paragraph explaining the work done by the class over the half term. Approaches
to Learning, CAS and Extended Essay comments are included in the report. The two end of
term reports consist of all assessment grades which are amalgamated into an IB grade out of
7 which is shown alongside a Tamagawa grade out of 5. They also come with detailed
individual comments and targets (teachers use the report writing document produced by the
coordinator if necessary). These comments are cross read by teachers and checked by the DP
Coordinator before being sent home.
The IB Programme Director is currently working on creating data bases based on student
assignments. This will help us predict future results and provide more personalised advice for
students.
Internal assessments are kept on the staff share. This is to keep continuity in the programme.
New and existing teachers can look back at past IA`s and filled in forms for guidance and for
standardisation when moderating in future years. The work can also be used in staff training
for cross marking and for security in case work is lost in the post or is called on by the IB.
The DP coordinator has formally introduced moderation into the Diploma Programme, through
each department in dealing with their Internal Assessments, and the programme as a whole in
dealing with the Extended Essays and TOK, giving staff an idea of the requirements of the
core subjects. The DP coordinator has created a moderation document which was first used
with the science department, who had been having issues with some teachers` inconsistency
and timing, and implemented it with all other departments across the programme. When
assessing Internal Assessments each department moderates examples of high, medium and
low scores. Staff have been shown how to find exemplar assessments on the OCC website to
help with standardisation, which has also been written into the school policy. Teachers have to
save students work and forms with the aim of helping teachers complete the process in future
years. Staff also look previous years` Internal Assessment feedback from the International
Baccalaureate, which is used to guide teachers and to use previous years` grades to guide
marking. As part of staff training the DP coordinator has introduced moderation of Extended
Essays and formative TOK essays. Staff have worked together in groups to moderate different
parts of Extended Essays, to give them the opportunity to discuss how to mark against the
rubric and to gain experiences of different types of Extended Essays. The moderation
document has been put into the school`s Assessment policy.
The DP coordinator has led training on how to teach to external exams for example: creating
student resources such as quizzes and revision booklets, using past papers, using the IB
Teacher Support Material on the Online Curriculum Centre Website, using information from
examiner reports, observing and giving feedback to staff on their revision classes.
As discussed in this report, students have received support for their Extended Essay through a
variety of measures such as workshops, guides and feedback from supervisors. An Extended
Essay lunch has been created where year 12 students, who have finished the essay can pass
on advice to students in year 11 who are writing an essay in the same subject area. Teachers
moderated the final Extended Essays, having has staff training on how to grade the essays.
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To prepare staff for invigilating the DP exams, the DP coordinator has led training on
invigilation based on the year`s IB exam conduct document, clearly explaining the
responsibilities of the invigilators as well as the procedures for setting up and running the
exams. The Coordinator sets up the exam room and starts and finishes each exam, training
another teacher to do this in case he cannot be at the school on the day in case of an
unforeseen circumstance such as illness.
The DP coordinator holds pre-exam sessions with the year 12 students to go through the
exam regulations, exam stationary, timetable, rules in the exam room and the equipment
needed for each exam.
Documents have been created by the DP coordinator to support staff with IB Internal
Assessment procedures. This includes creating documents on the staff share showing the IA
forms, deadlines and instruction on how the IB wants the assessments for each subject. The
DP coordinator has worked with each subject to give himself an overview of the information
needed for each Internal Assessment form and has filled the form in step by step with teachers
when they have required it.
Exam analysis occurs after each exam session. The DP coordinator has created an exam
analysis document which is filled in by each department, giving them a chance to analyse the
following: their overall result, good practice the departments have put into place which helped
gain good results, focuses on pupils who exceeded expectations and ones who failed to reach
their potential, areas the departments needs to focus on to improve results and the support
department would like in the following academic year. After all analysis has been received a
whole programme summary is created. The findings are designed to guide departments in the
next academic year and for future exam sessions, and staff are encouraged to use the good
practice from other departments where applicable.
IB subject reports are distributed to each subject. The DP coordinator has summarised the
TOK subject report for his students, highlighting the common mistakes made in the previous
exam session and advice from the examiners on how to gain maximum marks. This document
has been shared with staff so they can create one for their own subject.
At our school students complete their High School Diploma which runs concurrently with their
IB Diploma. The DP coordinator has worked closely with staff to make sure their subject`s IB
Diploma formative assessments (which are used for the student`s summative High School
Diploma assessments) closely follow the experiences the students will come up against in the
final Internal Assessments and Exams and that the difficulty is aligned with the requirements
from the IB. The DP coordinator has also worked with teacher to make sure the criteria they
set for their formative tasks are connected to the skills the students will need to succeed in the
DP assessments. Together, the coordinator and teacher make sure the criteria is fairly
weighted to give an accurate account of how the students are working towards the final
assessments and to give a fair reflection on their reports and predicted grades. Departments
have worked to ensure grade boundaries are consistent with the ones in the DP.
The DP coordinator has also moderated Internal Assessments with staff, including in subjects
he does not teach. This has allowed him to get an overview of the requirements of different
subjects and to support teachers in marking towards the rubrics in their subject`s guide.
Builds on its experience and practice in the MYP and ensures that learning
expectations and assessment strategies are made clear to students and parents.
[Practice C4#3]
Learning expectations, DP task descriptions, and criteria directly taken from the subject guide are
given to parents and students from the start of the course in the course guide and are reinforced by
the subject teachers throughout the course. Tasks in the MYP are increasingly aligned to DP
assessments (For example, in languages, introducing the concept of a rationale in years 9 and 10).
50
IB Criterion-based Rubrics and ATLs are utilized similarly in MYP and DP.
Learning expectations and assessment strategies are told to parents and students in
workshops at the school. An introduction to the DP workshop is held every April with a core
workshop being held in May. Year 10 parents have a workshop in the December before their
children start the DP.
All staff take part in a meet and greet for students as part of the subject choice process where
teachers have the chance to explain assessment to them (with the information being part of
their subject choice booklet).
Learning expectations are made clear to students in the subject guide for each subject. These
guide also explain the assessment of each subject.
Assessments are given with assessment task description sheets. There is not a generic DP
assessment task sheet that all subjects have to use, apart from in end of year and mock
exams. This is presently left up to each department. A more consistent approach has been
raised as part of this self-study process and is part of the action plan
Throughout the course teachers give at least one week`s notice to students before every
assessment. All assessment notifications are put on the school`s ChatNet system.
Rubrics are used in DP assessment tasks, which follow on from the same design as the MYP.
We have a strong Service@Tamagawa programme in the MYP, so the students understand
the service expectations of CAS very well. We could expand Service@Tamagawa to include
creativity and service. We are also actively looking for ways to partner with the mainstream
side of the school with CAS. A World Food Day held in October 2015 is a start.
.
Ensures the use of a balanced range of strategies for formative and summative
assessment. The team notes the assessment plan template which the school is looking
to use. This will help with the development of this practice. [Practice C4#4]
The assessment plan template mentioned in the recommendation above was not introduced
by the last coordinator.
Class activities and assessments are all targeted towards the course outcomes and Internal /
External assessments, with formative activities designed to develop explicit skills that will be
needed for the final assessments. (eg writing a rationale and planning a Written Task before
formally doing a WT) for summative tasks.
The school has bought past paper CDroms, Questionbanks and ebooks to help teachers
create assessments. Teachers are also advised to look at the OCC`s Teacher Support Material
for ideas on creating assessments. Unit Tests, Quizzes, Homework, and Investigations are
used to prepare students for Exams.
The DP coordinator has shared his assessment ideas, handouts and feedback strategies to
support staff.
Formative and Assessment tasks are on the DP Unit planner with links given with more
information on them if needed.
Ensures that student learning is regularly assessed against the objectives and
assessment criteria specific to each subject. The establishment of an assessment plan
for each unit, as previously mentioned, clearly identifying formative and summative
assessment tasks for the various objectives emphasised in that unit, will help
considerably in this area. [Practice C4#19]
It is school policy that each student is assessed against each part of the assessment criteria at
least once a term (twice a year).
The unit plan has a formative and summative assessment section, with an explanation for
teachers. This allows staff to clearly identify formative and summative assessment tasks at the
start of each unit.
51
All assessment tasks are designed against the subject`s assessment criteria, as found in the
guide. The subject assessment criteria are clearly labelled on the school reports for students
and parents with the grades for each assessment highlighted. A total grade is given against
each criteria at the end of each term which is turned into an IB grade of 7 and Tamagawa
Academy Grade of 5, which is used to inform teacher, parents and students and allow for
action and target setting.
Establishes systems, in collaboration with teachers, and monitors their implementation

to ensure that its processes for recording data about student learning are in keeping
with the requirements of the programme. [Practice C4#9]
The school reporting database uses the criteria from the rubrics for each subject to record
relevant data on the students. The Students` progress can be monitored against this reporting
system.
The reporting database has been updated in the past year to build in a new system for
monitoring student progress in the Extended Essay, CAS and ATLs
Our rubrics, reporting program, and regular cross-marking sessions (informed by subject reports
and testing feedback) keep us assured that we have the data necessary to meet the requirements
of the programme.
An IB Academic Affairs staff member position has been created, with the new teacher being sent to
IB training in October 2015.
The DP Coordinator is available at any time to discuss student progress
We record CAS entirely on Managebac, and completely align with the requirements of CAS.
Moderation of assessments is regularly held in department meetings.
Refines its reporting template and keeps under review its summative assessment of
students to allow for meaningful reporting to parents about students’ progress.
[Practice C4#10]
The reporting system has been reviewed and updated in the past year.
The DP coordinator has worked with staff to create a subject report page that assesses
students against the criteria in the IB subject guide.
Changes have been made to ensure that the assessments are graded as closely as possible
to match the weighting in the IB subject guides. This ensures that the grades given in the
reports, which are turned into a Tamagawa High School Diploma reflect the grade the students
will receive in the DP as closely as possible. This helps us to give as accurate predicted
grades as possible. The criteria in the school reports reflects the criteria for the exams and the
Internal Assessments.
A greater variety of assessment strategies is needed throughout the programme. Presently the
students are assessed throughout the programme, at least once per subject criteria per term.
Assessments are currently designed to match the assessments, focusing on exams, essays,
presentations and speeches according to the criteria of each subject. We need to widen the
range of assessment tasks to match the Approaches to Learning and to keep the students`
motivated.
Written feedback, while good in some departments, needs to be more structured throughout
the programme. The self-study process has highlighted the need for a more structured
feedback to be given to students. The DP Coordinator has introduced teacher feedback
templates to guide staff but this needs to be put into formal handouts for each department with
their specific needs, which will be part of the action plan.
Student feedback, similar to teacher feedback, is happening in some subjects but needs to be
more formalised. Training has been given on this by the DP Coordinator and through
52
Approaches to Teaching and Learning training by the Assistant MYP Coordinator. Structured
student reflection of teacher assessment will be part of the action plan. More teacher and
student reflection is needed in some departments.
More detailed data analysis of student results is needed as more results are recorded and
become more statistically significant. Tracking students assessment from MYP to DP needs to
be made more explicit to staff and the results need acting upon throughout the programmes.
This is an areas the Programmes Director is working on.
The CAS part of the school website is being redesigned to explain the programme to our community
with a CAS webpage and Gallery. Successful events in the past need to be built on to offer our
students more opportunities for CAS. We would like to establish traditions uniting the mainstream
side of the school with IB in creativity, action and service activities. The CAS website has been
designed by the CAS Coordinator and is in the process of being updated. The draft website is
presently being reviewed.
Formative assessment needs to be clearly documented on all unit planners.
While moderation has improved substantially in recent years, some departments need to work
closer together when creating assessment tasks and filling in Internal Assessment paperwork,
which needs to be moderated by the DP Coordinator.
53

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What is the purpose of the self-study questionnaire?

What is the purpose of the self-study questionnaire?

What areas for improvement has the school identified?

What areas for improvement has the school identified?

Diploma Programme

Programme evaluation guide and

© International Baccalaureate Organization 2010

IB merchandise and publications can be purchased through the IB store at http://store.ibo.org.

Phone: +44 29 2054 7746

Add rows as necessary.

Name or group Position Role in the completion of this

Oliver Furnival DP Coordinator Evaluation coordinator.

Tamagawa Academy K12 School Administration Contributors

IB Parents (11-12) Parents Representatives Contributors

IB Students (11-12) Students Representatives Contributors

1. Transcribe the school’s mission statement.

 Not enough subjects to choose from.

 MYP does not prepare for DP.

 In DP stage, it needs to more consider how to rationalise ichijyoko-programmes within IB

A selection of positive comments from students.

A selection of negative comments from students.

A selection of comments from alumni students:

Practice Level of implementation

1. The school’s published statements of mission and x

2. The governing body, administrative and pedagogical x

3. The school community demonstrates an understanding of, x

4. The school develops and promotes international- x

5. The school promotes responsible action within and beyond x

6. The school promotes open communication based on x

7. The school places importance on language learning, x

8. The school participates in the IB world community. x

9. The school supports access for students to the IB x

a. The school provides for the full Diploma Programme x

b. The school promotes access to the diploma and x

c. The school has strategies in place to encourage x

7. Conclusions on the standard

a. Complete the table. (Indicate with X.)

Standard A Requires significant Shows satisfactory

The school’s educational beliefs and values

Further investigates strategies to encourage student learning that strengthens the

Further investigates strategies to emphasize the importance to language learning

In 2012 all staff participated in ESL in the mainstream.

The DP offers English A: Language and Literature and English B.

Practice Level of implementation

1. The school has developed systems to keep the governing x

2. The school has developed a governance and leadership x

3. The head of school/school principal and programme x

4. The school has appointed a programme coordinator with a x

5. The school develops and implements policies and x

a. The school has an admissions policy that clarifies X

b. The school develops and implements a language X

c. The school develops and implements a special X

d. The school develops and implements an assessment X

e. The school has developed and implements an academic X

f. The school complies with the IB regulations and X

6. The school has systems in place for the continuity and x

7. The school carries out programme evaluation involving all x

9. Conclusions on the standard

a. Complete the table. (Indicate with X.)