The Overseas School of Colombo, home to just 25 students at inception, has grown to 328 students in the 2023/24 academic year. The diversity of the student and teaching facility, comprising over 40 nationalities, speaks to our inclusive philosophy of valuing identity and perpetual investment in making the School a place of belonging. Every generation of children here at the School experiences a holistic education informed by compassion, courage, and curiosity and is encouraged to pursue knowledge in all forms, in the spheres of both academia and art.

The OSC community is deeply valued, and we work hard to ensure the safety and happiness of every member, and this is reflected in our interactions with other communities and environments.

The largest percentage of students at the School are American (24%), followed by Sri Lankan (17%), Indian (9%) and Australian (8%). The majority of our families come from diplomatic missions, United Nations (UN) organisations, and NGOs, while the remaining families have joined us from the corporate and private sectors. Our average annual turnover of students is 25% due to families being transferred to other posts abroad.

At OSC, we are committed to providing our students with a range of educational experiences that highlight the importance of learning both within a classroom and beyond. This results in our students continuing to gain admissions to their best fit, and to respected universities in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Europe, among other countries of their choice.

Our students have the values of the IB Learner Profile (refer page 14) deeply ingrained in them, as they cultivate these principles not only through the School’s curriculum, but through every programme that the School conducts. As they grow older, our students learn how to apply these values in their lives and appreciate the importance of the contributions they can make as “global citizens”.

Education at OSC spans academic, athletic, and creative pursuits with the aim of nurturing well-rounded individuals with a keen desire to shape the world. This wish to contribute is cultivated as they learn about and develop responses to social, global, and environmental issues, and is fostered by relationships with the cultures and communities that surround them. Curiosity leads them down many avenues of knowledge, resulting in leadership qualities that are well-suited to their journey to make a difference in the world.

PYP Exhibition

The PYP Exhibition is an invigorating final project taken on by our Primary School students that requires them to conduct research in various areas and present actionable ideas to the issues they have discovered in their findings. The areas explored in 2024 were the topics of stray animals, coral bleaching, gender equality, overfishing, life below water and poverty. The overarching theme for the PYP Exhibition was “Arts for Advocacy”, with students demonstrating their learning under the transdisciplinary theme of “How We Express Ourselves”.

This project proves to be a worthy challenge for our Primary School students, who are tasked with determining their area of interest, documenting their research-based discoveries and then presenting their findings via components such as writing, the arts, and technology. Students opt to present their research through presentations, 3D models, and posters that highlight practical steps that can be taken to improve the problems they uncovered.

Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA2) 2023/24

The KG-Grade 5 Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA2) allows teachers to determine whether students are reading on, above, or below grade level. Teachers can use DRA2 levels to plan appropriate teaching materials. The Fall DRA2 gives our teachers a baseline for where our students are when entering their grade while the Spring DRA2 reports reading progress at the end of the academic year.

DRA2 – Developmental Reading Assessment

*Push in and pull out interventions are in place for the 11% below grade level.

*At the end of the school year 70% of students were on or above grade level (GL).

ISA: International Schools’ Assessment

The International Schools’ Assessment (ISA) is designed for students in Grades 3-10. The ISA writing Assessment comprises two writing tasks: one Narrative/Reflective task which involves writing a story in response to a prompt, and one Exposition/Argument task which prompts students to write out their ideas based on a proposition.

Middle Years Programme (MYP)

MYP Subjects	2023/24	2022/23	2021/22	2020/21	2019/20
Language and Literature	5.5	6	5.7	6	5.9
Language and Literature Other		6.2	6.3	6.5	7
French Language Aquisition	5.4	5.6	5.7	6.1	5.9
Spanish Language Aquisition	5.2	5	4.5	6	5
Sinhala Language Aquisition		6.6	6	6.0	5.9
Mandarin Language Aquisition	5
Individual and Societies	5.5	5.9	6.2	6	6
Science	5.4	5.3	5.7	5.7	5.9
Ext. Mathematics	6	6.1	6.2	5.9	6.4
Mathematics	4.1	4.2	4.9	5.2	4.5
Theatre	5.5	6.5	6.1	6.3	6.1
Music	6.2	6	6	5.7	6
Visual Arts	6	5.8	6	6	6.3
Physical and Health Education	4.8	5.9	5.5	5.9	5.6
Design	5.7	6.4	5.9	6	6.5
Personal Project	4.8	5.6	5.1	4.9	5.1
Yellow highlighted cells represent courses where marks were moderated down or up

MYP Subject Grades
Class of 2026 (Internal Assessment)

OSC Overall MYP Average 5.4
IB World Average 4.7

MYP Personal Project
Class of 2026 (External Assessment)

OSC Average 2024 4.8
World Average 2024 4.0

IBDP 2024

The pass rate at OSC for 2024 full diploma candidates was 93%, compared to the world average in 2024 of 80%.

The IB Diploma Programme

Since 1983, we have continuously offered the two-year IB Diploma Programme at OSC to Grades 11 and 12 students. All students at our School are enrolled as IB Courses candidates with almost all students opting to take the full IB Diploma. Students who complete the IB Diploma will have studied six subjects, with three of these at Higher Level, earning a minimum of 24 IB Diploma points. In addition, students must meet the IB criteria in the following core components of the programme:

• Extended Essay (EE): A 4000-word independent research essay that helps develop research skills, academic essay-writing, and time-management skills.
• Theory of Knowledge (TOK): This course promotes critical thinking and enquiry skills, connecting knowledge developed in the six subject groups.
• Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS): Encourages a balanced approach to extra-curricular activities beyond OSC’s taught curriculum.

Whereas CAS is an essential but ungraded component of the IB Diploma, a student’s grades in TOK and the EE contribute up to three additional points to their IB Diploma points total. The maximum available points is 45 which is achieved annually by less than 1% of students worldwide.

OSC also offers a thorough college counselling programme for all students, providing guidance and support in choosing a suitable path for their lives beyond high school, wherever that may take them.

	IB Worldwide May 2024	OSC 2024	OSC 2023	OSC 2022
Registered IB Candidates
Number of IB Diploma Programme Examination Candidates	192,866	18	19	24
Number of students attempting the IB Diploma	121,945	15	19	24
Percentage of students attempting the full diploma (%)	63	83	100	100
Award of the IB Diploma
Number of IB Diplomas awarded	121,945	14	19	22
IB Diploma pass rate	80.1%	93%	100%	92%
The Distribution of IB Points
IB Diploma earners with 35 points and above (%)	36	47	63	50
IB Diploma earners with 40 points and above (%)	9	13	5	8
Mean IB Diploma Points	30.3	33	34.8	33
Mean Grade IB
Mean grade for IB Candidates	4.8	5.2	5.6	5.2
Extended Essay and TOK
Students earning EE results of A (%)	11	7	5	25
Students earning EE results of B or higher (%)	37	15	42	63
Students earning TOK results of A (%)	10	13	5	4
Students earning TOK results of B or higher (%)	46	47	47	33

IB Exam Results by Subject

Subject results – Grade distribution
Subject	Number of candidates	Grade									Average grade (school)	Average grade (worldwide)	Highest grade	Lowest grade
		7	6	5	4	3	2	1	P	N
Subject Group 1
ENGLISH A: Language and Literature HL	11	2	3	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	5.36	4.73	7	4
ENGLISH A: Language and Literature SL	3	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	4.92	7	5
ENGLISH A: Literature HL	3	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	4.67	4.56	5	4
FRENCH A: Literature self-taught SL	3	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	4.33	4.73	5	3
GERMAN A: Literature self-taught SL	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.81	5	5
KOREAN A: Literature self-taught SL	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	5.62	6	6
SPANISH A: Literature self-taught SL	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.59	5	5
Subject Group 2
FRENCH AB. SL	7	0	2	1	3	1	0	0	0	0	4.57	4.71	6	3
FRENCH B SL	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	5.1	7	5
SPANISH B SL	6	0	0	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	4.83	4.92	5	4
Subject Group 3
ECONOMICS HL ENGLISH	6	2	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	5.67	5.13	7	4
ECONOMICS SL ENGLISH	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	4.81	6	6
ENV. SYSTEMS AND SOCIETIES SL ENGLISH	6	0	3	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	4.67	4.18	6	2
GEOGRAPHY HL ENGLISH	6	0	1	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	4.67	5.27	6	3
HISTORY SL ENGLISH	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.7	5	5
HISTORY AMERICAS HL ENGLISH	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5.5	4.26	6	5
Subject Group 4
BIOLOGY HL ENGLISH	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	4.42	6	6
BIOLOGY SL ENGLISH	4	0	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.19	6	4
CHEMISTRY HL ENGLISH	7	1	1	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	4.57	4.7	7	2
PHYSICS HL ENGLISH	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	4.86	7	7
PHYSICS SL ENGLISH	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.24	6	4
Subject Group 5
MATHEMATICS ANALYSIS AND APPROACHES HL ENGLISH	5	1	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	5.6	4.87	7	4
MATHEMATICS ANALYSIS AND APPROACHES SL ENGLISH	4	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	4.25	4.55	6	3
MATHEMATICS APPLICATIONS AND INTERP SL ENGLISH	7	0	2	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	4.86	3.92	6	3
Subject Group 6
MUSIC HL ENGLISH	2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5.5	4.84	6	5
THEATRE HL ENGLISH	5	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	6.4	5.01	7	5
VISUAL ARTS HL ENGLISH	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	4.25	5	5

Notable Class of 2024 Extended Essays

Extended essay projects that received grades of A or B

Subject	Topic
Biology	Feeding Behaviours of Haemadipsa zeylanica
World Studies	Economic Viability of Renewables in Sri Lanka
	Colonial Impacts on Sri Lanka’s Tea Industry: Ceylonese Tea Pluckers as an Enduring Symbol of Sri Lanka
Language and Literature	Media Coverage of the Sri Lanka Protests
	Billie Eilish’s Lyric Analysis and Themes of Depression
	Racism in Sports Media
	An Examination of How Muslim Women Are Presented Across Global Media Organisations
Design	Discussing the Effects of Changing the Design and Materials of the Golf Ball on Maximum Distances and Course Records
Psychology	Importance of Sleep
	How Do Authorities Detect Serial Killers and Psychopaths?
	Music Therapy
History	To What Extent Did the Power of Women in Ancient Egypt Show Feminism?
Economics	Economic Impact of Political Events
	The Effect of the Agrochemical Ban on Sri Lanka’s Tea Exportation Industry
Mathematics	Game Theory and Chess

College and University Offers 2024

University		Region
University of Melbourne		Australia
University of Alberta		Canada
Carleton University		Canada
University of British Columbia		Canada
Universitatsmedizin Neumarkt – A. M. Campus Hamburg		Germany
Trinity College Dublin – The University of Dublin		Ireland
Temple University – Japan		Japan
University of Groningen		Netherlands
University College Maastricht		Netherlands
Leiden University		Netherlands
University College Maastricht		Netherlands
EU Business School		Spain
Imperial College London		UK
Loughborough University		UK
Nottingham Trent University		UK
Royal Holloway, University of London		UK
SOAS University of London		UK
University College London		UK
University of Bath		UK
University of Birmingham		UK
University of Bristol		UK
University of Manchester		UK
University of Oxford		UK
University of Reading		UK
University of the West of England		UK
University of Warwick		UK
University of Southern Mississippi		USA
SUNY College at Geneseo		USA
SUNY Oswego		USA
Binghamton University		USA
SUNY at Albany		USA
SUNY University at Buffalo		USA
Bath Spa University		USA
Louisiana State University		USA
Appalachian State University		USA
University of Utah		USA
Binghamton University		USA
Foothills – De Anza Community College		USA
Glenville State University		USA
Hesston College		USA
Illinois College		USA
Purdue University – Northwest		USA
University of Mount Union		USA
University of South Dakota		USA
Wartburg College		USA
Western Michigan University		USA
Vanderbilt University		USA
UC San Diego		USA
Purdue University – Ft. Wayne		USA
Hofstra University		USA
Augustana College		USA
Binghamton University		USA
California Baptist University		USA
Eastern Michigan University		USA
Embry-Riddle University		USA
Florida International University		USA
Fraser International College		USA
Goucher College		USA
Hobart and William Smith Colleges		USA
George Mason University		USA
Temple University		USA

KEY

Listed = Acceptances / Bold = Matriculated