Secondary School
Welcome to ISPP Secondary!
ISPP’s rigorous International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum provides appropriate academic challenge for all Secondary students. The Middle Years Programme (MYP) caters to students from Grades 6 –10, and the Diploma Programme (DP) is our curriculum for Grades 11 – 12.
The IB programmes reflect the vision and mission of International School of Phnom Penh. We strive to develop lifelong learners who possess international mindedness and the attitudes to engage positively with the global society.
The Secondary School provides a diverse cultural environment for learning and interaction among students, teachers, and parents. It is a hub of activity both inside and outside the classroom. The combination of our curriculum and co-curricular programme offerings enables us to pursue our mission of empowering students to achieve their potential for personal growth and academic excellence.
Ms Katie Ham
Secondary Principal
Each grade level is made up of three classes with six small Home Groups within each grade. Each class has two Home Group teachers who provide the first level of pastoral care. Our Home Group teachers also teach daily classes and therefore know the students very well.
The ISPP Mission reflects our understanding that education encompasses much more than filling students’ minds with academic knowledge. In order to facilitate genuine personal growth, ISPP provides many channels through which students engage in issues of significance to themselves and their world. In so doing, the quest for responsible global citizenship takes meaningful shape. A few of the aspects of the holistic education offered at ISPP:
Throughout their experience, students progress in their understanding of what it means to be a responsible contributor to society. Cambodia offers ample opportunity for involvement with real problems facing real people. Every year ISPP students are expected to take part in service activities. See our Service Learning Page for more information about this important part of ISPP’s programme.
Leadership opportunities abound for ISPP secondary students. From taking responsibility for enhancing school life through the Student Council to addressing global issues through participation in Model United Nations, students learn how to think through challenging problems and design viable solutions.
Through Week Without Walls and the CAS programme, ISPP encourages all students to be involved in action beyond the regular curriculum. In addition, sports are offered for students across Grades 6-12 through our participation in an inter-city league and the Mekong River International Schools Association (MRISA), an association of regional international schools. Sports exchanges occur three times a year.
ISPP strongly endorses student-centered, inquiry-based learning. The structure of both the Middle Years and Diploma Programmes supports this approach. A central focus of the final year of the MYP is the personal project, a culminating project in which the student works over an extended period on a product of their own initiative. The personal project is designed to encourage individual creativity and to provide students the opportunity to demonstrate skills—including communication and reflection—that they have developed during the course of the Programme.
Similarly, the Diploma Programme puts the inquiring student at the centre. The core requirements of the Diploma Programme are CAS (Creativity, Action and Service), the Theory of Knowledge class, and Extended Essay. The CAS Programme fosters student initiative outside the classroom through involvement in creative, physical and service activities. Theory of Knowledge is a unique course designed to engage the students in critical thinking about learning on a broader scale. The culminating essay requires the students to apply multiple perspectives to contemporary issues of their choice.
Similar to the MYP personal project, the Extended Essay grants the student the flexibility to pursue a topic of interest well beyond the curriculum, requiring extensive research and analysis similar to that expected at the university level.
