The Pre-K-12 IB Programmes, in the eyes of the HCHS Principal
An Interview with Dr. Angeline Tan
By Rmgania
A day to remember
May 30, 2025, at 8:00 am, the flurry of activities started with a devotional at the HCHS Chiong Phai Hun Theater Hall. The prayers by the Board of Trustees, administration, and students were full of divine thanksgiving and praise for the opportunity to showcase student culminating work for the PYP and MYP.
Ribbon Cutting of PYP and MYP Exhibition
At 9:30, the activities moved to the gymnasium of the school. It was a double exhibition–the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the Middle Years Programmes (MYP) Personal Project Exhibitions. Dr. Tan, and the HCHS Leadership cut the ribbon to open the exhibition.
PYP/MYP Exhibition
At each exhibit booth, warm voices of guests and students in their formal attire cut the air with chatter of discussion at the exhibit booth about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)–health and well-being, human rights and poverty, peace and justice . The grade 10 topics were varied as well, from creative writing of sonnets to codes of games.
At 2:00 pm, the adrenaline brought by all the excitement has gone down. As the school’s Principal sat in her office, Dr. Tan checked her email. In bold letters from the International Baccalaureate’s regional office popped out of the incoming mail. Dr. Tan clicked on the email. It read: “Congratulations, your application for the IB Diploma Programme has been approved!”
Dr. Tan muses on the journey that started five years before, in 2020. “It seems like yesterday–amidst the uncertainty of the great Pandemic of 2019–when Hope Christian High School PYP programme was granted authorization,” she muses. “Then, last January the school was granted authorization to implement the Middle Years Programme for junior high school.”
Her voice warms as she shares another milestone. “The Lord has blessed us abundantly. Last May, we received confirmation of our authorization for the DP,” she adds, referring to the Diploma Programme as her eyes glisten. “Our senior high students also deserve to have the best we can give them. We now have all the three major programmes working for all our students.” With the Diploma Programme, Hope Christian High School stands as a full IB World School.
For Dr. Tan the IB journey has been transformative–not only for the school but also for the student body. “It’s amazing how our students in grades 6 and 10 can now do independent inquiry, develop their own inquiry questions, create and implement an action plan, and at the same time, be comfortable and confident in presenting it,” she remarks. She is referring to the PYP Exhibition and Personal Projects—capstone projects showcasing the years of creative, critical, collaboration, and communication skills that students have been developing for the last few years. “Now, we can build on this and take this forward to the Senior High School with the DP.”
Dr. Angeline K. Tan
The PYP Exhibition and MYP Personal Project
Last May 30, was the double exhibition of student independent inquiry into the Sustainable Development (SGD) Inquiry for the grade 6 and Personal Project exhibit for the grade 10 students. Both groups of students had been frantically preparing for this for almost a year, creating their own independent lines of inquiry, writing their statements of inquiry, developing their own timeline, and implementing their own action plan with minimal guidance. “This is the consolidation of their training throughout the school year,” she explains. It was highly student- directed.”
With the three programmes in place, the school–under Dr. Tan’s leadership–looks forward to implementing them in full throttle. “We kicked off this new school year, 2025-2026, more renewed, more focused on the end goal—providing them with a world-class education and making our graduates competitive in the world economy, at the same time God-fearing, value-driven, and service-oriented.”
IB Diploma Programme Core Components
The Diploma Programme is uniquely framed with the three core subjects—Theory of Knowledge, CAS (Creativity, Action, and Service), and the Extended Essay as cornerstones of the DP curriculum.
“In a sense, TOK is the keystone of the IB Diploma Programme,” says Dr. Tan. “It holds together all the subjects into an intellectual and ethical structure.”
In addition to the six subjects in the Diploma Programme, students take the Theory of Knowledge (TOK), a subject which allows them to explore the nature and scope of knowledge, the tools and methods of gaining knowledge, the ethics involved in the process, and the perspectives that each discipline provides. While students in PYP have the transdisciplinary schedule and in MYP the interdisciplinary integration between subjects, TOK provides them the time to connect and integrate the knowledge from different disciplines.
“In a sense, TOK is the keystone of the IB Diploma Programme,” says Dr. Tan. “It holds together all the subjects into an intellectual and ethical structure.” It gives students time to ask questions about what and how they are learning. Examples of such questions include “Is there a limit to the knowledge we acquire, especially in the sciences?” and “Can different opinions be right at the same time?”
The CAS Programme
At its core, IB DP also includes the CAS programme, where students are required to participate in a holistic program involving creativity, physical activity, and service to others. “Something for the body, mind, and soul,” she smiles, pointing to a drawing portraying the CAS programme.
Quality Control and Standardization
“What makes the IB Diploma Programme highly credible as a curriculum framework is the standardization of the curriculum and validation of our grades.” She continues to explain, “At the end of the Middle Years Programme in grade 10, students can take an optional validation test in four key subjects—Individuals and Societies, Language and Literature, Mathematics, and Science and another one in interdisciplinary learning.
In IB DP, students have to sit for external assessments to get a certificate for a course or an IB Diploma for the full programme at the end of the two-year programme. Both MYP external assessments are scored by trained examiners from other parts of the world.
The DP has internal and external grade moderation systems in place. This process makes sure that grades among subject teachers in an IB World School–and elsewhere in the world–adhere to the same standards. The whole process makes sure the grading is consistent among teachers and across all IB World Schools. In effect, it is a quality control system aligned with world standards.
“We really have our work cut out for us,” Dr. Tan enthuses with a sense of determination. “We are lucky. We have a trained and committed faculty and staff, a board of trustees that is very supportive, parents who are very engaged, and a student body that is highly capable. We will succeed in bringing the best possible educational programmes to our students. That is our commitment at Hope Christian High School!”
Launchpad for the Future
In the end, it’s not all about programmes that carry big name acronyms like PYP, MYP, or DP or about authorizations. The Diploma Programme is not the finish line. It’s about the school’s vision for its students. It’s about getting students to become future ready, students who can compete and collaborate on the world stage. It’s about students who care about the world they live in, who are compassionate and God-fearing!
