Bearden Middle is a Knox County, Tennessee public school and the only middle school in the county that is a certified International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) World School. IB World Schools share a common philosophy—a commitment to improve the teaching and learning of a diverse and inclusive community of students by delivering challenging, high quality programmes of international education with a shared vision.
ALL students at BMS participate in the IB MYP. The MYP focuses on supporting student academic and personal growth through the following components:
- 8 subject areas that focus on TN State and KCS local curriculum through a challenging IB MYP framework, which encourages students to make connections between their studies and the real world.
- Areas of Interaction to tie learning to both the real world and other subject areas. These include: Health and Social Education, Community and Service, Environments, Approaches to Learning, and Human Ingenuity.
- Approaches to Learning help students to develop skills that have relevance across the curriculum that help them to “learn how to learn”. They help to provide our students with a solid foundation for learning independently and with others.
- Learner Profile attributes are characteristics that all faculty encourage our students to embody in all aspects of their lives. IB learners are: Thinkers, Communicators, Risk Takers, Knowledgeable, Inquirers, Balanced, Reflective, Principled, Open-Minded, and Caring.
- Personal Project is the culminating MYP experience that West High School 10th graders develop and create throughout the sophomore year. If a student continues on to West High School to complete his/her IB education, he/she will complete the Personal Project. This is a mandatory experience for all 10th graders at West, and gives each student the chance to create a truly personal and creative project of their choosing. Through this endeavor, each student will be able to demonstrate his/her ability to take initiative, think creatively, and communicate effectively—a few of the many skills our students needs to be college and career-ready.
Bearden Middle School promotes and nurtures a supportive, dynamic learning environment, by challenging every child to meet high expectations and therefore succeed in a diverse society.