Emilia White, reporter: Welcome everyone to one-three-seven Czerniakowska Street, Warsaw. As you can see, towering behind me is the sisters’ of Nazareth private middle and high school! Our guest this morning is an attendee of that very school, Ms Aleksandra Manikowska!

Aleksandra Manikowska: Hello *grins shyly*

EW: Could you please tell us a little about yourself?

AM: Yeah, sure. My name is Ola, I’m 16 and a student of the pre-IB class.

EW: Pre-IB?

AM: *nods head* It prepares you for the International Baccalaureate programme, which lasts only two years.

EW: Yes, the IB. I must admit we had numerous calls and questions concerning this schooling system. Could you eliminate some of the parents’ curious enquiries?

AM: You mean… explain what pre-IB is like?

EW: Exactly. How does it differ from IB? What did you achieve?

AM: Well… since in IB we can choose only six subjects, in pre-IB we have to cover all the material the national programme does. Meaning we have to fit three years of geography, biology, history and so on into that one year.

EW: And how is it going along so far?

AM: When I talked to my friends from Kraków and told them about all the stuff we’d already managed to learn, they- and I- were pretty surprised. I mean, biology, for example: we have already covered about 11 units out of 17- and it’s march. The level of education is very high- our biology book is a Cambridge edition. As for what I achieved… I definitely have learnt what it means to be tolerant. There are eighteen girls in our class, many of which lived or were born abroad: Singapore, India, Lithuania, China, Japan, the USA, Italy.

EW: This school is huge, and yet it hosts so few pupils…?

AM: No, sixteen is the average number of kids in the IB programme. There are more in the national high school, but I don’t know how many. And the school’s big because it’s not only home to the sisters, but teens live here, too.

EW: Teens?

AM: Yes. Kids whose families live far away, like near the Mazury lakes.

EW: I see. And are there many students living in the boarding house?

AM: I’m not sure about the exact number, but seven from my class. Oh, I just remembered. Something quite important, too. *happy* Another brilliant aspect of this school is that it allows us to broaden our horizons. And I don’t mean only education-wise. We travel a lot- this year we’re hoping to go to Prague for our class trip. A couple weeks ago twelve girls flew to Bulgaria for this project, Youth on Air, which was supposed to polish their writing skills. Speaking of which, my class is the one that prints Eye Bee, our English school newspaper.

EW: English? Wow.

AM: *nods head* Yeah, it’s fun. That’s another ingenious aspect of IB: it lets you see what you’re good at, what you hate, what you want. It opens you up- there’s no shyness after IB.

EW: So far, everything sounds amazing. Buffing up charisma skills!

AM: And manners.

EW: Manners? My, do you have some extra lessons the website forgot to mention? *grins*

AM: We have classes of Savoir Vivre once a week for a term. They’re quite remarkable. I never knew you could be polite in the simplest of actions. After the course, we’ll get a certificate of attending such lessons.

EW: My, oh my. I feel stunned. Is there anything else you would like to add to future attendees?

AM: I guess all I can say is that this is the kind of school in which you’ll finally see results of your hard work.

EW: Amen. Thank you for your time.

AM: Anytime.

EW: This is Emilia White, live from Nazareth. *smiles*

Aleksandra Manikowska