Academic Excellence

Alonso Otárola, 2007 Dux Medal winner

I would like to congratulate the 51 students who entered for the IB exams in November 2007 and who all passed. They have broken two important school records: from a possible maximum score of 45 points their average was 32.1 (the previous record was 31 points); from a possible maximum subject score of 7 their average was 5.20 (the previous record was 5.06).

We continually emphasize that our educational aims are not restricted to academic excellence. However, we are very proud of students who obtain the IB Diploma because they have learnt skills that will last them a lifetime, have achieved very high academic standards and have proven they can be active, compassionate, lifelong learners.

In the UK there are only 114 IB schools but the Sunday Times recently chose one of them, Sevenoaks School, as the Independent Secondary School of the Year , being the first IB World School to receive such honour in the UK.
(See: http://www.ibo.org/announcements/schoolhonour.cfm).

In the USA there are only 564 IB Diploma schools, however, 42 of them were named in the top 100 of Newsweek’s annual list of “America’s Best High Schools” and 5 IB schools were amongst the top 10.

In Peru there is still the misconception that the IB Diploma is not so important because it is not necessary to enter a Peruvian university. The Diploma Programme offers much more than entrance to university or getting course credits. Recent studies by universities around the world indicate that the Programme favours the understanding of difficult concepts. More importantly, it develops international mindedness: recognition of our common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, understanding of the urgent need to create a better and more peaceful world.

Only about 600,000 students in the whole world at present follow IB programmes. Newton students are very privileged to form part of this select group.

Andrew Cino
Headmaster