Secondary Years at Domuschola
Grades 6 to 10
Domuschola offers a full Secondary program from Grade 6 to 12 designed to prepare students for college and university admission.
The Secondary School employs an integrative, rigorous, concept-based and inquiry-driven model for teaching and learning an internationally competitive, relevant, and university preparatory curriculum for students ages 11-19. The inquiry-based approach to learning is patterned from the International Baccalaureate Programme.
Using the IB PYP framework as a starting point, and backward planning from the IB Diploma Programme, classes in the Secondary School employ identifed best practices that provide opportunities for students to engage with, and demonstrate understanding of, skills, concepts and content in the different subject areas through relevant conceptual and contextual inquiry. Both the Domuschola program for Grades 6-10 and the IB Diploma Programme in Grades 11 and 12 promote the development of the IB Learner Profile in students, appropriate approaches to learning skills, a balanced bilingualism, and a design thinking mindset to prepare them for life beyond Domuschola, including university studies in a variety of fields, locally and overseas.
Domuschola is recognized by the Philippine Department of Education, and is authorized to offer the IB Diploma Programme by the International Baccalaureate Organization, and the General Academic Strand for Senior High School by the Philippine Department of Education.
Curriculum Framework
Aligned with the prerequisites of the IB Diploma Programme and university studies in the Philippines and overseas, the Secondary School curriculum is informed by elements of Philippine national standards and relevant elements of other relevant and current curricular programs. Subject areas are taught in integrated courses that allow for student engagement in inquiry-driven and integrative units.
Grades 6 to 10
Aligned with the prerequisites of the IB Diploma Programme and university studies in the Philippines and overseas, the Secondary School curriculum is informed by elements of Philippine national standards and relevant elements of other relevant and current curricular programs. Subject areas are taught in integrated courses that allow for student engagement in inquiry-driven and integrative units.
Some key elements of the Secondary School mode are:
• The Domuschola learner is at the heart of the program, whose development is the goal of teaching and learning at the Secondary School.
• Concepts and contexts provide the backbone to teaching and learning at the Secondary School.
• Approaches to teaching and approaches to learning enable students to ‘learn how to learn’. These bridge the transdisciplinary skills in the PYP, and approaches to learning in the DP. Students focus on developing five categories of ATL skills: social, communication, thinking, self-management and research skills.
• Personal inquiry and development is a dimension of holistic development that both permeates and transcends the academic discipline. Students are encouraged to engage in opportunities for socio-emotional learning, health and fitness, citizenship education and the pursuit of their passions through clubs, student organizations, community action activities, guidance sessions and activities, houses, and the Grade 10 Personal Inquiry.
• Transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary learning ls key in the Secondary School as students are encouraged to make connections across skills, content, and concepts they learn in the different academic disciplines. The Connections and Philosophy courses, the Community Action program, as well as the Grade 10 Personal Inquiry, serve as vehicles for making explicit these connections and for the synthesis of learning.
• Community engagement and leadership. Faithful to the school’s mission to develop action-oriented individuals, students at the Secondary School are expected to engage in community immersions, community service initiatives, and school-based community work to develop local and global citizenship and leadership. To this end, students will participate in community action activities, student organization and clubs, work internships in grades 9 and 10, and the Grade 10 Personal Inquiry.
• A broad, balanced range of academic disciplines. Students take a broad, balanced range of courses that engage a variety of student contexts and prepare students for the rigor of the IB Diploma Programme. At the Secondary School, students also have the element of choice in some aspects of the curriculum, from engagements in the Connections class to their choice of Arts concentration in Grades 9 and 10.
• International-mindedness is the context in which all elements of the Secondary School are engaged. It is important to note that international-mindedness requires an understanding of and appreciation for, the local, national and regional.
Course offerings
Courses taken by secondary students include English language and literature, Filipino language and literature or Philippine studies, integrated humanities, integrated sciences, integrated mathematics, Visual Arts, Music and Drama, Physical and Health Education, and Philosophy (for Grades 9 and 10). All courses have three weekly hours of engagement, except for Mathematics (4.5 hours weekly) and Connections/Philosophy (1.5 hours weekly).