Somersfield Academy: 100% M5 Pass Rate
Somersfield Academy is extremely pleased to have a 100% pass rate in their fifteen strong M5 (Grade 10) graduating class of 2009-2010, with all fifteen graduates receiving their International Baccalaureate [IB] certificates.
The fifteen graduates were: Asha Caisey, Ryan Whiting, Aliche Donadelle, Spencer Burrowes, Savannah Frey, Kelly Howe, Daniel Emery, Emerson Krebs, Sean Stapley, Harley Sapsford, Nathaniel Sussman, Omar Turner, Nick Hall, Ceildh Blood and Ethan Martens.
Dr. Jim Christopher, Head, speaking of the Somersfield Graduating Class of 2010: “We are very proud of our students and the level of excellence that they have demonstrated in meeting IB’s exacting international standards. A great deal of credit must also go to our faculty who each made a personal commitment to do everything in their power to ensure that every one of our students was successful.”
In following the IB curriculum, Somersfield Academy, whose students are 62% Bermudian, graduates its students in M5 – equivalent to Grade 10. This means that they’re about fifteen when they graduate from Somersfield.
This is about the same time that students at Bermuda High School, Saltus Grammar School, and Warwick Academy are taking GCSE’s or equivalents. Somersfield’s M5 (Grade 10) is equivalent to S2 in Bermuda’s public system. From Somersfield, most students move on to enter post-graduate years at WA, SGS, and BHS.
Somersfield Head, Jim Christopher says: “Recent studies out of Australia have demonstrated that graduates from IB Middle Years Programmes outperform their peers in international testing in Mathematics, Reading, and Writing. Consequently, we know that our Somersfield students are exceptionally well prepared to take on the challenges in their next level of schooling.”
Jeneba O’Connor, IB Coordinator at Somersfield Academy says that in order to fulfill the requirements of the IB certificate; students must receive a minimum of 36 out of 63 points, fulfill all Community and Service requirements, and submit a personal project, (which is a 4,000 word essay and product that the student designs, such as a documentary, a piece of artwork, a game, or a novel.) Students, with some guidance from teachers and within parameters set by the IB program, are free to select their own projects.
Samples of the students’ work is marked internally at Somersfield and then sent to The International Baccalaureate in Cardiff, Wales. Here external checks are carried out on the internal assessment by IB examiners. This ensures that all schools using the IB programme adhere to worldwide consistency of standards.
