DBS programme suits experimental, inquisitive minds

Diocesan Boys' School (DBS) is catering to different learning styles by offering a parallel IB programme for students in senior years.

Grade 9 students at the school, the equivalent of S3 students under the new senior secondary (NSS) curriculum, have the option of either switching to the bridging programme for the two-year IB Diploma or remaining in the new curriculum when they reach Grade 10. As a direct subsidy school, DBS is allowed a maximum of 60 IB places. Its bridging programme, introduced two years ago, has seen a growing number of applicants, which reached 80 this year. Currently, 51 students are enrolled in the programme, about a fifth of the total number of students in each grade. They have spent the past year familiarising themselves with the IB system of continuous assessments and various skills sets.

Deputy headmaster Ronnie Cheng Kay-yen stresses that they put quality ahead of student number. For example, each applicant was interviewed to assess his suitability for the bridging programme. Those opting for it are usually interested in furthering their studies abroad or at the best local universities, he adds. Some are children of returnees - parents who had moved or worked abroad and chosen to return to Hong Kong.

'We have students from Taiwan, Shanghai, Chengdu, Singapore, or the United States joining the bridging programme,' Cheng says. 'There are two who had left for [the United Kingdom] and Italy, and then their parents were transferred back to Hong Kong. One joined year one of our IB Diploma Programme.'

Cheng calls it a 'natural extension' for the school to branch into IB, which he thinks suits the profiles of some of its learners. 'We are not an entirely local or international school,' he says. 'The nature of our boys is that they are more experimental, naturally inquisitive and do not like to be handed information over.'

The school's IB diploma co-ordinator, Michael Higgitt, adds: 'We are looking for students who may benefit from the programme, not necessarily the brightest - students who can open out. Because of the academic requirement, we have to look for breadth and depth so one of the criteria is they have to be very strong in two languages. A lot of our language courses are literature based. If they enjoy it, it will be a real bonus.'