Holy Family Catholic Academy Accepted as IB Candidate School

On the heels of national recognition for their innovative middle school curriculum and instruction, Holy Family Catholic Academy announced it has more exciting news to celebrate. The Inverness school is the first school in the Archdiocese of Chicago, the nation's largest private school system, to apply for and be accepted as a candidate for the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Programme.

States Principal Kate O'Brien, "For the past two years, as part of our continued commitment to our families, HFCA has been reviewing and evaluating various ways to take our curriculum from our current 'best practices' to tomorrow's 'next practices.' We found that HFCA shares a common philosophy with IB World Schools-a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education."

Rev. Terry Keehan, Pastor of Holy Family adds, "The Catholic Church is a universal church with over 1 billion members worldwide. Our faith complements the IB framework and is consistent with our calling to be one, holy, Catholic church."

As a candidate school for the Primary Years Programme, HFCA will be pursuing authorization as an IB World School for 3-year-old preschool through Grade 5. While candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted, HFCA will now participate in IB teacher training and professional development, have access to research-based curriculum resources, and have the opportunity to participate with IB practitioners worldwide in online forums. Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its three academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme, the Middle Years Programme, or the Diploma Programme.

States Principal O'Brien, "IB's comprehensive framework will enhance our faith-based 'thinking curriculum,' and provide a network to expand our students' global awareness." She sums up the decision to pursue IB World School authorization by saying, "IB provides an infrastructure that will ensure that HFCA consistently focuses on the knowledge, concepts, skills, attitudes, and actions that young students need to develop to be productive and successful in the 21st century."