International schools are known for their high quality. Unlike the usual international schools which are extremely expensive for Filipinos and built to cater to foreign students, Darwin was especially put up to cater to Filipino students. Why should foreigners be the only ones educated in the Philippines with an international standard and orientation? Thus came the birth of Darwin International School established and incorporated in 2003 with Filipino students in mind. It is not the intention of Darwin to make foreigners out of Filipino students. On the contrary, while Darwin recognizes the need for the modern Filipino students to be aware of the bigger world and become globally competitive, it is the goal of Darwin to strengthen the national identity of its students.
Darwin International School is a Philippine school duly accredited by the Department of Education. Since it was put up in order to provide quality education to Filipino learners, it took it upon itself to enhance the national curriculum of the DepEd with subjects that respond to the needs of students to understand the world better with standards, academic subjects, extra-curricular activities and practices that are unique to a Philippine school.
Darwin operates an Honours Program. It is a system of classification wherein all students are classified using their attained grades. This is not intended to foster competition among very young learners, but for every child to compete against his own last best performance and/or weaknesses as well as to maximize his or her strengths. Each student and his/her parents know where the child stands in relation to the rest of the student population not only in his classroom but also across grade or year levels, as well as across campuses of Darwin. In the Honours Program of Darwin, unlike the Top Ten system, students are competing against a set of standard of grades that are categorized according to classes, namely: First Class Honours (99-100%); High Second Class Honours (96-98%); Low Second Class Hounours (92-95%); High Third Class Honours (89-91%); and Low Third Class Honours (86-88%). Many afford to land in these categories because the school has nurtured their positive outlook fostered by challenging them do their best.
Darwin offers the K-12 curriculum by the Department of Education (DepEd) of the Republic of the Philippines. However, Darwin has additional subjects enriching the national curriculum offered to the students. Thus, it can rightfully be called K-12 Plus. These additional subjects include the Christian Living from Toddler up to the secondary level. Aside from this, Darwin teaches the Humanities and Japanese that add international perspectives to the students.
The Senior High School students have a choice between the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Track on one hand, and Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) Track on the other. But whichever track is chosen, Darwin is perhaps the only Senior High School in the country that has the Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS) subjects used as additional required courses to strengthen the humanistic foundation of every graduate. To this approach, the DepEd said: “This office recognizes the responsiveness of your school to implement appropriate curriculum flexibility and enhancement based on the demands of society and its direct clientele, the students.”
Darwin is an English-speaking school where English is taught at a high level. In various surveys conducted by the Social Weather Station, the English proficiency of those surveyed varied depending on the area. In spoken English, results were: 74% (1993); 77% (2000); 65% (2006); and 75% (2008). In reading in English, results were: 73% (1993); 76% (2000); 65% (2006) and 75% (2008). In writing in English, results were: 59% (1993); 61% (2000); 48% (2006); and 61% (2008). Finally, thinking in English, the results were: 43% (1993); 44% (2000); 27% (2006) and 38% (2008). These low proficiencies based on surveys were solidly confirmed by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) where in 2018 the Philippines finally participated for the first time. Reading was examined and the language used was English. Among the 79 countries that participated, the Philippines ranked 79th in Reading, while it ranked 78th in Mathematics and Science. On December 4, 2019, the Department issued a statement that says: “With the PISA results also reflecting the learners’ performance in the National Achievement Test, DepEd recognizes the urgency of addressing issues and gaps in attaining quality of basic education in the Philippines.”
Darwin is very aware of these data and trends in Philippine education, so that it tries its best to help DepEd combat the problem of quality in education. The English proficiency of Darwin students is proven not only by the ability of students to carry themselves in English but also by the Department of Education-administered examinations where Darwin International School usually emerges at the top in the various Divisions where its branches operate. Students perform excellently not only in English but also in the other academic subjects examined by DepEd in the National Achievement Test (NAT) and the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE). Nonetheless, while Darwin fosters a strong policy on English learning, its students also learn the Filipino language and Social Studies very competently being Filipinos. Mathematics and Science are, likewise, taught at an advance level. [See the results of Darwin in these examinations in the Certificates portion of this website.]
The school trains its students to be confident in facing the world. Their social training is as rigorous as their academic training. The extra-curriculars serve both the purpose of letting the students have fun and camaraderie as well as getting honed in certain skills that are valuable in life. We want them to succeed in life, thus we encourage them to dream early and to dream big. That is why we have the Dream Day, where students explore their dreams that they nurture throughout their stay at Darwin. The Dream Day is a special day where students try living for a day their dream careers, wearing the daily attire of their dreamt vocations, communing with other kids in various activities as well as sharing their thoughts about their dreams. They also listen to invited parents who talk about their lives as professionals in the hope that the students will learn from them and cumulatively build the right values and skills to fulfill their dreams.
But dreaming is nothing without action, thus we encourage them to do their best in whatever that they do to win in life and to accept failures as lessons to learn in further improving themselves.
The school also hosts a yearly Formal Dinner where students learn not only formal dining but also social skills. Success is determined not just by high Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Emotional Quotient (EQ), Social Quotient (SQ) and Adversity Quotient (AQ) are all important in a successful life. All these are touched by the school’s activities like the Talent Olympics where various skills are honed and the ability to handle success and failures is sharpened. This is exemplified by the school’s motto: “It is great to win, I did my best! It is okay to lose, I did my best! I will always be good! I will always do my best!” The students are made to appreciate not merely the results but the very process of the activities which they learn a lot from.
Success in a child, however, is wasted if he will not be able to identify himself as part of a national community. This is important because one should not be eaten up merely by things global. International relations, after all, is populated by units called states and each state is comprised of a nation or a group of nations. The people of each state need to be united if they are to develop and contribute fully to the international order. This is where a Philippine school that is aware of international developments comes in. It is important that Philippine schools help in strengthening the national moral fiber of citizens, the schools being a prime locale of socialization and transmitters of precious cultural values.
Darwin International School is serious in its role in instilling the best of Philippine culture to its students. Every Study Tour of the school is a highly educational tour related to Art, Science and History. This is where students have hands-on experience of the things they encounter in their books or the Internet. This tour supports the advanced Science Program and the Humanities Program of the school. The students are so used to visiting museums and churches to learn about the celebrated heritage of their nation, thus contributing to the country’s goal of strengthening Philippine national identity. This is so important in preparing students evaluate, appreciate and take an active role in the world economy. They need to be proud as Filipino children, aware both of the strengths and weaknesses of their people yet strong enough to compete in the world with their skills and perspectives.
The school, therefore, is very much aware of its role in social re-engineering. We want our poor society to change, to grow and become prosperous. And we do our fair share by contributing to society in terms of training individuals become successful and productive, who in turn will contribute their knowledge and outputs for the betterment of the country and of humanity.
The Sports Fest and the Inter-branch Sports Festival hone not only their skills in specific sports such as basketball and volleyball but also in teamwork skills. These are occasions, too, to develop dance and music skills for the cheering events. The English Festival and Buwan ng Wika hone their talents in speaking, declamation, essay writing, literary writing, and dramatic arts. The school also celebrates the United Nations Day and Christmas Festival in order to inculcate the values of respect, identity, unity, tolerance and communitarianism.
The Talent Olympics and the Cosplay Festival are events to showcase innovation, creativity, communication skills and showmanship. There are also Clubs where students can enjoy with fellow schoolmates from various grade levels certain interests such as: writing in Writers Club; plants in Gardening Club; dancing in Dance Club; and more.
Darwin provides a high standard education that refers not to the physical attributes of the school but rather to the defining goals, criteria and components by which high scholastic performance is prepared, primed, measured, attained, processed, recognized, strengthened, intensified, validated and prospectively made relevant. All books from pre-school to Junior High School are finished by the Third Periodical examinations. If there are a few books that are not yet done by this time, it rarely happens. Therefore, by the Fourth Grading period, the students are merely reviewing all the lessons for greater mastery. The Senior High School is semestral, so it follows a different pattern. The goal is the same: finish all the lessons before the final exams every semester.
All students as well as the parents are given detailed feedback to guide and consistently inform them of the goal to achieve mastery. If mastery is not obtained by the student in Part I exam of a particular quarter, the school and the parents help again the student to reach the mastery level in Part II. This practice happens all throughout the school year since the academic objective is mastery in order to prepare the child for eventual university learning.
All of these are done because it is the goal of Darwin International School to help in improving education in the Philippines by offering Basic Education that is world-class in character and international in orientation, based on applicable traditions and practices of Cambridge University. Darwin equips its students with quality learning. Its enhanced curriculum is delivered through innovative approaches and policies intended to develop children to become part of a new breed of Filipinos for the 21st century: visionaries, willing to lead humbly, superior in both character and intellect, ready to face the challenges of constant change and willing to sacrifice in order to achieve not only for themselves but also for others.
Good conduct at Darwin is as important, if not more important, than the academic development of a child. High grades without good behavior are useless. The school strives at helping families and society produce intelligent students who are productive and not menacing to society. In this regard, the school is very strict in implementing its Code of Conduct.
Regardless of the academic Honours attained, each child must get at least a yearly average of 1.5 (i.e., 95% ) in Conduct to continue enrolling at Darwin International School. Those who will obtain a grade of 1.51 to 2.0 (89% to 94%) shall be put on probation the following school year. Failure of a student under conduct probation to obtain a grade of 1.50 (95%) or higher the following school year is ground for removal from the roll, at the discretion of the school. Those who will get an average of 2.01 (88%) or lower in Conduct at the end of a school year will be removed automatically from the roll.
We set a very high standard for conduct because we believe that intelligent students must develop the best possible behavior. Otherwise, intelligent and undisciplined learners can be some of the most dangerous elements in society in the future if they are not guided well and disciplined as needed. The school is very patient and conscientious in correcting the misbehavior of children, i.e., if the parent is cooperative in achieving the same goal.
As a general rule, the final grade of a student in a subject is based solely on scholastic performance. Misconduct affects only the General Weighted Average when: first, the character traits are graded in Character or Values education; or second, when the offense is cheating or an analogous act that merits failure in the quiz or the periodical examination.
