IB World School

IB Programs and Montessori Principles

An International Baccalaureate (IB) education is the perfect framework of Montessori approach as it has so many parallels:

  • both are child-centred (rather than teacher-centred)
  • both are based upon Method rather than Content
  • both promote individual enquiry
  • both promote social and community behaviour
  • both promote children’s education for peace
  • both believe in self-discipline and integral sense of purpose
  • both have diversity leading to global perspectives
  • both promote the value of solid, hard and uninterrupted work

Advantages of IB Education and Montessori Approach

Discover International School is IB® Continuum World School

We are proud to announce the official authorisation of Discover International School as an IB World School offering the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP) of the International Baccalaureate (IB).

Since September 2023, Discover International School has been implementing the IB PYP and MYP programs, and in February 2026, it was authorised to offer IB DP and became IB® Continuum World School. Being an IB continuum school means providing a coherent learning journey and fostering internationally minded, reflective and capable young people.

International Baccalaureate (IB)

Today, there are more than 5,000 IB schools in more than 140 countries. Moreover, the IBDP is recognised by universities and employers worldwide.

Lauded for nurturing principled, knowledgeable, and open-minded young adults, the IB equips and encourages students to become active, responsible global citizens. As such, the IBO has developed a set of attributes that constitute the ideal learner profile, which includes the following:

  • Inquirers
  • Knowledgeable
  • Thinkers
  • Communicators
  • Principled
  • Open-minded
  • Caring
  • Risk-takers
  • Balanced
  • Reflective

Our teachers incorporate these attributes in each lesson and foster them in each of our students.

Programmes

Primary Years Programme (PYP)

The Primary Years Programme (PYP) has an enriching impact not only on students aged 3–11 and their school communities worldwide but also on the course of international education. As a transdisciplinary, inquiry-based, and holistic program, the PYP remains reliable, timeless, and transformative.

The PYP curriculum framework starts with the premise that students are agents of their own learning and partners in the learning process. They have an innate potential to inquire, question, wonder, and theorise about themselves, others, and the world around them. Our school community recognises the individuality, potential, and competencies of children, creating an educational context that values them for who they are today and who they will become in the future.

At the heart of the program is collaborative action, a central principle embedded in the three pillars of the curriculum: the learner, learning and teaching, and the school community. The curriculum emphasises that every participant in the learning process has a voice, choice, and ownership to impact learning and teaching. These holistic components complement and reinforce one another to form a unified whole.

Our curriculum focuses on transdisciplinary learning as a program organiser, enabling students to experience learning across, through, and beyond traditional subject boundaries. It provides in-depth guidance for authentic learning and teaching, driven by curiosity and designed to be engaging, meaningful, challenging, and personalised.

At the heart of the program is collaborative action, a central principle embedded in the three pillars of the curriculum: the learner, learning and teaching, and the school community. The curriculum emphasises that every participant in the learning process has a voice, choice, and ownership to impact learning and teaching. These holistic components complement and reinforce one another to form a unified whole.

Our curriculum focuses on transdisciplinary learning as a program organiser, enabling students to experience learning across, through, and beyond traditional subject boundaries. It provides in-depth guidance for authentic learning and teaching, driven by curiosity and designed to be engaging, meaningful, challenging, and personalised.

Middle Years Programme (MYP)

The Middle Years Programme (MYP) is guided by three principles: holistic education, intercultural awareness, and communication.

The MYP is designed as a coherent and comprehensive curriculum framework that provides strong academic preparation while developing the life skills of students aged 11 to 16. This is a critical period in the development of young people, where success in school is closely linked to their personal, social, and emotional well-being.

At a time when students are establishing their identities and building their self-confidence, the MYP motivates them and helps them succeed both in school and beyond the classroom. The program allows students to build on their personal strengths while embracing challenges in subjects where they may not excel.

Much like the Montessori approach, the MYP allows students to reach their potential, explore their learning preferences, take appropriate risks, and reflect on and develop a strong personal identity.

In the middle years, students are in the third plane of their personal development, a period when they have an immense capacity for creative expression, while their learning style becomes more practical and experimental. Adolescents at this age see themselves more as adults, looking outward toward the world and the universe. This perspective is supported by the Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Montessori principles of collaboration, community, and the practical application of knowledge and skills.

Diploma Programme (DP)

The intent of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is to nurture internationally minded young adults who help create a better world.

Established in 1968 by the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO), the IB DP is an academically challenging and internationally focused program designed to prepare students for the worlds of further education and professional life.

A perfectly balanced and academically rigorous curriculum.

With a written curriculum or framework and age-appropriate student assessments, the IB Programme comprises three core elements and six subject groups.

IB core elements:

  1. Theory of knowledge. Students reflect on the nature of knowledge and how we know what we claim to know.
  2. Extended essays. Independent, self-directed research, culminating in a 4,000-word paper.
  3. Creativity, activity, and service (CAS). Students complete a project related to these three concepts.

IB subject groups:

Through inquiry-based learning, students learn six subject groups. Within the academic areas, students will choose their subjects from the following list: Language & Literature: English L&L, Bulgarian Literature or mother tongue, Language Acquisition: Spanish or German, Individuals & Societies: History, Business Management, Experimental Sciences: Biology, Mathematics: Applications & Interpretation, Arts: Visual Arts.

The IB aims to nurture internationally minded young adults who help create a better world, which is in line with Dr Maria Montessori’s thinking:

Education should not limit itself to seeking new methods for a mostly arid transmission of knowledge: its aim must be to give the necessary aid to human development.

Dr Maria Montessori