Faith-based or IB Primary Years?

The difference between Faith-based and IB Primary Years is mostly one axis: money and distance. Faith-based sits toward free and local, or it is not an option; IB Primary Years sits toward we can pay, and we can travel. They agree, more than most people expect, on when formal academics start, mixed ages and who directs the day. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Faith-based

Education inside an explicit religious frame, where the worldview is not confined to a lesson but runs through the day, the year and the community. For families who hold a faith this resolves something no other option does: the school is not neutral about what matters, and is not neutral in the same direction as the household. The cohort is usually more homogeneous, which is both the attraction and the cost.

What it asks of you

Accepting a narrower range of families than your area actually contains
Clarity about what happens if your own beliefs shift, or your child's do
Involvement in a community, which is usually part of the arrangement rather than optional

IB Primary Years

Children investigate big transdisciplinary questions rather than subjects, within a framework that is specified in considerable detail. It is the most internationally portable education available, built for families who may move, and it is explicit about wanting to produce a certain kind of person — open-minded, inquiring, principled — which is an admirable aim and also a worldview.

What it asks of you

Fees almost everywhere, and usually substantial ones
Comfort with a school that states the disposition it is trying to produce
Tolerance for a lot of process language — the framework is heavily specified
A reason to want portability, or you are paying for something you will not use

Side by side

Where they differ

Faith-based is the filled marker, IB Primary Years the hollow one. Widest difference first.

C2Money and distancewhat your life allows

free and local, or it is not an optionwe can pay, and we can travel

Faith-based sits toward free and local, or it is not an option; IB Primary Years sits toward we can pay, and we can travel.

V2Who else is there

a broad, mixed intake matters mosta community that shares our values matters most

Faith-based sits firmly toward a community that shares our values matters most; IB Primary Years sits a little toward a broad, mixed intake matters most.

V1A view of the world

school should stay neutralschool should teach a view of the world

Faith-based sits firmly toward school should teach a view of the world; IB Primary Years sits a little toward school should teach a view of the world.

E3Technology at school

kept out until latebuilt in from the start

Faith-based sits between the two; IB Primary Years sits toward built in from the start.

L5What a teacher is

a guide who steps backan authority who instructs

Faith-based sits toward an authority who instructs; IB Primary Years sits between the two.

L4Where the curriculum comes from

it emerges from the childrena fixed body of knowledge, set in advance

Faith-based sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance; IB Primary Years sits between the two.

V3What it is for

childhood is the pointit should set up university and a career

Faith-based sits between the two; IB Primary Years sits toward it should set up university and a career.

E2Outdoors and the body

learning happens at a tableoutdoors and hands-on is the point

Faith-based sits toward learning happens at a table; IB Primary Years sits between the two.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

When formal academics start. Both sit a little toward early, and ambitiously.
Mixed ages. Both sit toward classes of the same age.
Who directs the day. Both sit toward timetabled, and directed by adults.
What the family can put in. Both sit between the two.

Neither of these is the correct one

Which fits depends on what you value and on what your week actually allows — and the second of those is the half nobody writes about. The questionnaire scores both.

See which one you are already doing