Dear Head of School/Coordinator,
A very Happy New Year to you all. I hope that you and your educators were able to get some much-needed rest. I know that we all share the hope that 2021 will bring the peace and the relative normality that we are all longing for.
We recognize there are still uncertainties and changing situations around the globe that might impact the May 2021 examinations session, as part of our careful planning, we need to capture a full picture of the situations our schools globally are facing.
In the week commencing 11 January your school coordinator will receive a short online form to complete on your school’s ability to administer the May 2021 examination session safely. The survey will close on 20 January.
It will be sent to one coordinator per school, who should respond on behalf of the whole school if there are multiple programmes. This information about your school’s local context, restrictions and the impact of COVID-19 will be vital to our continued planning and preparation.
We will provide further information about the May 2021 examinations in early February 2021.
We know that you also need information about the May 2022 examination session to be able to plan for and support your students in DP and CP year 1. We will also provide further information about May 2022 in February 2021.
Our teams continue to be available to support you as we all work together to prepare for the May 2021 examination session and beyond.
Listening to your feedback
We are continually listening to the feedback from our schools and as such, have implemented some changes that we hope will help ensure you have easy access to the information you need to be able to continue learning, teaching and assessment safely in your school.
Improvements to the programme resource centre
Navigating the programme resource centre will be made easier through reorganization, and will mean that every programme has at least these three top-level sections:
- Curriculum—for learning and teaching of all subjects in the programme
- Learning and teaching—for resources central to learning and teaching that are not subject-specific
- Implementation—for resources to guide coordinators on performing their role.
In MYP, DP and CP these are complemented by a new Assessment section, containing all resources needed for planning, organizing and conducting examinations.
FAQs and recent communications from the IB
The IB has published the latest COVID-19 FAQs on the IB Answers support site. To access the FAQs log on to My IB>IB Answers>COVID-19 updates.
A list of the most recent communications sent to schools has also been published on the Programme Communities channel, also accessed via My IB. If any of these communications have not been received, please ensure that the IB has up-to-date contact details and that spam filters are removed for IB emails.
We wish you all the very best for 2021 and hope that you can stay safe and well.
Best regards,
Adrian Kearney
Director IB World Schools
