What do our students say?

Teaching French
As part of my IB service activity (part of the CAS module), I have been spending one afternoon each week helping out teaching year five pupils, as a French assistant at Diocesan Payne Smith primary school in Canterbury.

This weekly project usually involves addressing the entire class with an introduction for the day and outlining the vocabulary to be studied, before I take my individual group of six to eight children for speaking practise. Since September we have managed to cover a whole range of topics, from numbers and basic introductions to animals and health.

Working at the school is a great experience, thanks to the high levels of enthusiasm from my students, who manage to test my own vocabulary as well as their own!

CAS and the IB
Having joined the school in September, I can honestly say that I have now fully 'integrated' into Barton Court... aside from the typical 'northern' jokes (I'm from Stratford, for goodness sake) about whether or not you should say 'grass' or 'graaarss' as they do round here.

For its part, studying the IB has helped. You can't fail to find friends when you're studying such a broad curriculum, and the CAS module helps you get to know people with similar interests and hobbies. Coming from an incredibly sporty high school, where I was used to being in the gym or on the river most days, not having compulsory PE lessons came as a bit of a shock at first. But through 'Action' I've managed to keep up a few of these interests and have found myself partaking in an even broader range of activities. I ran the Race for Life for the first time this year - something I never thought I'd do. My confidence has improved, thanks to the experience I've gained working with others, most notably teaching French at a local primary school. Diocesan Payne Smith has been fantastic in offering me this opportunity, and it is something that I thoroughly enjoy. Yet another activity I never dreamed of doing is debating, which takes place every Friday lunchtime. I've managed to prepare debates on top of my schoolwork and, after a wobbly start, I can now speak to an audience without turning quite as red as I used to. Aside from this, debating has also developed my interest in current affairs and political issues, and I have researched a whole range of topics - from immigration policies to a footballer's wage! I spent one particularly memorable Tuesday at the British Academy in London listening to a history lecture by Cambridge Professor Quentin Skinner...all in the name of CAS.

I wouldn't recommend the IB to anyone and everyone, you have to have a genuine interest in what you're studying and a desire to learn that can be hard to maintain at times. CAS has to be done on top of what can seem like an unconquerable workload. However, looking back I would say that I have enjoyed my first year of IB. CAS has allowed me to pursue a variety of new interests and do things that I wouldn't have had the chance to do had it not been for this course.
Molly, Year 12

My name is Nissan and I am currently doing the IB in Barton Court Grammar School. For my IB subjects, I am doing Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics as my higher subjects, and ITGS, English and Italian. I just joined Barton in 2007-2008, where I was informed they were doing IB, so I had a look at the prospectus and found the information a breath of fresh air. When I was told that I had to do a foreign language, I wasn't very keen as I didn't do any languages in my previous school. Then when I heard, for Italian everyone was going to start from the base, then I thought it wouldn't be as bad as first thought. But now,though I'm doing Italian as my standard subject, I feel very much confident. To be honest for the first few months, I was finding couple of subjects quite hard, but I got used to the situations. I was also very worried about my CAS hours thinking that it wouldn't reach to 150 hrs, but now I think it might exceed. I am currently working on my extended essay, which the subject is on biology.

My name is Niklas and I am from Gernsheim in Germany. I read about Barton Court Grammar School on its website, which is linked to the ibo.org website, where I searched in the first place.

I am studying the IB at the school, taking Chemistry, Maths, Music, Geography, English and Italian. I am also getting a lot of support in terms of my language and if I struggle in any topic, which is very helpful. Barton Court is offering a lot of support for international students, in return the teachers are asking for good efforts in the students work. The curriculum is clearly structured, so we know exactly what is expected of us. The IB is a really hard program, which presented a lot of challenges; I enjoyed overcoming with the help of teachers.

I am enjoying my time at Barton Court. Teachers, mentors, etc. are trying their hardest to help all students and to integrate new students in the school. To get to know some people I went on an induction week to Swattenden in the first week of the term.

The stay in England gave me more self-confidence and independence. It is great fun, but also hard work, everything life is about!

Mein Name ist Niklas. Ich komme aus Gernsheim am Rhein in Deutschland. Ich war auf der Suche nach einer IB Schule und stoß dabei auf der ibo.org auf die Barton Court Grammar School in Kent. Ich informierte mich auf der Schulwebseite und beworb mich schließlich.

Ich habe die Fächer Chemie, Mathematic, Musik, Erdkunde, Englisch und Italienisch. Außerdem bekomme ich sehr viel Hilfe, wenn ich Probleme mit der englischen Sprache oder einem Thema im Unterricht habe. Die Schule bietet ihren Schüler sehr viel Hilfe, im Gegenzug wird on den Schülern erwartet, dass sie sehr viel Arbeit in Schulaufgaben investieren. Der Lernplan ist klar strukturiert, sodass immer klar ist was von einem verlangt wird. Das IB ist kein einfacher Abschluss, aber mit Hilfe der Lehrern, habe ich alle Herausforderungen geschafft.

Mir gefällt die Zeit an Barton Court sehr gut. Lehrer, Tutoren, etc. geben ihr möglichstes um Schülern zu helfen und neue zu integrieren. So hatten wir zum Beispiel eine Einführungswoche in Swattenden (im Süd-Osten Englands) am Anfang des Schuljahres. In dieser Woche bestand die Möglichkeit neue Leute kennenzulernen. Der Aufenthalt in England hat mir ein besseres Selbstbewusstsein und Eigenständigkeit gegeben.
Es macht viel Spaß, ist aber auch harte Arbeit, kurz gesagt alles um was im Leben geht!

My name is Tomàs and I come from Slovakia. The main purpose of my stay in England was improving of my English, meeting new people and experiencing a new culture.

I chose Barton Court from a few English schools with the help of an agency. It was a good choice. Teachers in Barton Court are very helpful and if I didn't understand they've helped me every time. At the beginning of the year we went to Swattenden Centre, which I think was a very good idea for the new students that came to do the IB. We were all divided into groups and did many activities and quickly made new friends. It was a good to have few days before the start of school.

I studied the IB program at the school, taking Biology, Maths, German at higher level and Geography, English and Physics at standard.
The IB diploma is a very hard course but it is worth doing it. It is a big advantage and it prepares students for university. The whole IB course is a very big challenge, and I've enjoyed it. The year in England gave me more self-confidence and independence. It is hard work, but also great fun, everything life is about!