Buckland Mills Elementary School is an Authorized International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme World School

The Buckland Mills Elementary School community is committed to academic excellence. We believe that the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (IB PYP) is the model that will support our goal to guide students in becoming lifelong learners, critical and compassionate thinkers and responsible citizens of our country and world. The IB PYP framework is student centered, rigourous, and based on best teaching and learning practices.

As an IBPYP school, we teach and learn through inquiry.An inquiry-based education empowers students to reflect on, find, and solve problems in their lives. Our students construct meaning and talk about their thinking while exploring new concepts. We believe that students need to be engaged in their learning and must be given multiple opportunities to explore and show their knowledge. In inquiry-based learning, the students are highly active participants in their own learning. They make personal decisions about what and how they will learn and have a thorough understanding of what is expected of them.

Our students share their learning through a variety of products as well as traditional methods of assessment. We share expectations through the use of rubrics and provide specific feedback. These open-ended opportunities for demonstrating mastery of standards-based education encourage creativity and diversity. Student learning also includes self awareness and a responsibility to recognize our common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet. The Learner Profiles coupled with the Approaches to Learning are essential to these understandings.

Currently, our students are beginning to speak Spanish, and they are learning to value other cultures. We are learning about other perspectives and traditions. We also have a learning garden and a Rooted in Education living labratory garden for students to create authentic connections with local and global connections. 5th grade refers to the UN Sustainability Development Goals to support their Exhibition research, with academic ties to actionable ways we can become caring and compassionate citizens of the world. Buckland Mills has begun a composting program, and all classrooms have access to recycling bins to continue our positive impact on our environment.