Johannesburg - School Report Question and Answers
Are Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) courses available in upper grades? If this is an IB school, is the full diploma required of all students?
I believe both are available. We are focused on the IB, but the IB diploma is not required for all students. - Sep 2022
IB only. NO AP. There are two diplomas offered, but unfortunately the HSP Diploma program (the none IB program) is not as popular so they don't have as many course options particularly for 11th and 12th graders. This is a disappointment, but the pandemic is partially to blame. Hard to recruit teachers for classes that will likely be smaller. We found the IB program to be really challenging; kids are truly burned out at the end so we're not sure if IB is really worth it. The pandemic has also affected this "cost-benefit" calculation. One calculation to figure out is the ability for a student to get college credits in a US university for a high IB score, vs. all the work and stress during the 2 intense years of the program. Some of the kids have told me that they wish they hadn't gone the IB route. It's NOT for everyone. Our child has learning differences so it did not make sense for him. However, there are several IB certificate courses available to students who do not choose to do the full IB program. Among those courses are Economics, Film and Art! These are still a lot of work - think WRITING about film making, not watching movies - but these are good options for kids who still want to be challenged in areas of interest/talent who are the HSP Diploma Program. - Mar 2021
