The International Baccalaureate® aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end, the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.
The aim of all IB programmes is to develop internationally minded people who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world.
IB learners strive to be:
INQUIRERS
We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. We know how to learn independently and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life.
KNOWLEDGEABLE
We develop and use conceptual understanding, exploring knowledge across a range of disciplines. We engage with issues and ideas that have local and global significance.
THINKERS
We use critical and creative thinking skills to analyse and take responsible action on complex problems. We exercise initiative in making reasoned, ethical decisions.
COMMUNICATORS
We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups.
PRINCIPLED
We act with integrity and honesty, with a strong sense of fairness and justice, and with respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere. We take responsibility for our actions and their consequences.
OPEN-MINDED
We critically appreciate our own cultures and personal histories, as well as the values and traditions of others. We seek and evaluate a range of points of view, and we are willing to grow from the experience.
CARING
We show empathy, compassion and respect. We have a commitment to service, and we act to make a positive difference in the lives of others and in the world around us.
RISK-TAKERS
We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.
BALANCED
We understand the importance of balancing different aspects of our lives—intellectual, physical, and emotional—to achieve well-being for ourselves and others. We recognize our interdependence with other people and with the world in which we live.
REFLECTIVE
We thoughtfully consider the world and our own ideas and experience. We work to understand our strengths and weaknesses in order to support our learning and personal development.
I would like to extend a warm welcome to all students of Platon IB Diploma Programme family. Congratulations on choosing a rigorous and rewarding programme along with thousands of students across the world who also seek a well-rounded education beyond national boundaries and consider themselves life-long learners and global citizens.
Platon School was founded in 1969 and bears the name of the great Greek philosopher, Plato, whose thought reformed philosophical tradition and strongly influenced the philosophical currents of our time. The main core of our philosophy is to foster a balanced development of our students’ intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual and physical capabilities. Aspiring to educate globally literate students, while simultaneously fostering our Greek origins, we have enriched our programmes with contemporary educational curricula. Platon IB World School is, therefore, the first Greek school authorized to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Continuum. Starting with PYP and developing to MYP, we thoroughly prepare our students for the rigors of the Diploma Programme, scaffolding our unified school culture around core elements such as the Learner Profile and Approaches to Learning.
What sets Platon IB Diploma Programme apart is its personalized inquiry based instruction. Every teacher is dedicated to helping students achieve their highest potentials and to prepare them for success at university and life beyond!
We pride ourselves in providing our students with learning experiences that enable and support them to excel through inquiry, action and reflection. Platon IB Diploma Programme encourages critical thinking and love of learning. We cultivate understanding, mutual respect and appreciation of diversity, while our students develop the IB Learner attributes and the approaches of learning to succeed both personally and professionally.
This website will acquaint you with the Mission and Philosophy, as well as all the rules and regulations of the Platon IBDP and we trust that you will find the information on policies, procedures and guidelines clear and concise.
Your goal is our goal: to ensure that your journey to success will be the most challenging and rewarding time of your school life!
Nancy Lazou
Upper High School Principal
On behalf of the Platon IB Diploma Department I would like to welcome all new students in the IB family. This handbook was prepared through the collaboration of all members of the staff, and it reflects our philosophy and our daily practices.
Platon School has been offering the IB Diploma since 2011. We take pride in having a unique programme which strictly adheres to the philosophy of the IB. However, we have our own approach by emphasising on the individual strengths and weaknesses of each student and preparing a curriculum which is tailor made to own needs. We are very excited to see that this approach has helped our students in achieving their academic goals throughout the years.
This handbook will provide a reference point for all students and parents. However, it cannot anticipate every situation or answer to every question. Furthermore, the procedures and practices are subject to change following changes in the IB standards and practices. Thus, you are strongly encouraged to contact the Diploma administration for any question that you may have.
Dr. Miltiadis Kitsos
Platon School IB Diploma Coordinator
Platon school’s mission is to support students’ academic journey from childhood to adolescence in a safe and nurturing environment empowered by modern technologies, designed to accommodate different learning styles. Our goal is to cultivate international mindedness and a sense of global citizenship by building national and international curricula in a truly bilingual environment which foster academic freedom, intellectual diversity, experimentation and technological advancements. We aspire to develop inquiring life-long learners who seek and define themselves, pursue their dreams guided by values, become knowledgeable, yet caring and balanced, so as to experience personal success and help to create a better world.
We strive to be an educational dynamic department of scholastic gravitas. We respect students individual and cultural identities offering learning opportunities within a safe and supportive environment in the context of the IB Diploma. Our department’s diverse and rigorous academic curriculum acts as a medium for the development of the IB learner profile attributes, offering educational choices so as to meet each student’s learning pace.
In a culture of best practices, we ensure an international dimension to the curriculum, concurrency of learning and development of skills used in academia and life beyond.
Our vision and mission is to help our students become resilient, adaptive and contributing members of society.
- Platon School, with its 50 years of experience in education of outstanding quality, was the first school in Greece to become fully certified by the International Baccalaureate Organisation for all its 3 academic programmes:
PYP (Primary Years Programme, 3-12 years)
MYP (Middle Years Programme, 11-16 years)
Diploma Programme (17-18 years)
Platon students are thus exposed from a very young age to an academic culture and a thoroughly bilingual programme. What differentiates Platon’s IB Diploma from other similar programmes is the personalized attention offered to each individual student. Classes have a limited number of students, allowing teachers to get acquainted with them personally, become aware of their strengths and weaknesses in a short period of time and thus help each one accordingly. Platon IB Department has a philosophy of assisting students develop within the school, by encouraging them to discuss questions and queries with their teachers and consult them for guidance, advice, extra homework or studying tips. Thus, each student is allowed to ‘flourish’, both personally and academically, in a family environment. Furthermore, a full range of counselling services is available, allowing for individual support for each student.
- The Platon IB Diploma teachers come from multiple backgrounds (educational, academic, industrial) and are highly trained and experienced in their respective fields. The also share the IB philosophy to develop “inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people”* and possess the necessary ethos.
- The IB Department’s University Counsellor provides guidance to all students throughout their two-year programme. Students are assisted in deciding the right career path and selecting the most suitable universities for their studies abroad. University counselling is now supported by the use of electronic platforms which allow students to explore their choices and plan their careers.
- Platon IB Diploma students are encouraged to engage in extracurricular activities, balancing intellectual and physical stimulation. To support these activities, Platon school has first class sports facilities, including an indoor swimming pool, indoor basketball court, a football stadium and a well organised Physical Education Dept.
- Last but not least, Platon fees are very competitive. Additionally, the school offers scholarships, that cover 100% or 50% of the tuition fees, to students that achieve an outstanding performance in written exams. Exam dates, material examined and number of scholarships are announced on a yearly basis by the school’s administration.
*Benefits of the IB/ International Baccalaureate Organisation, http://ibo.org/benefits/