Academic Honesty Policy

The Board believes in supporting practices related to academic honesty throughout the school and places a high value on honesty that extends to work submitted for assessment.  This policy is guided by the IB publication, Academic honesty: guidance for schools (September 2003), and is supported by the school’s Vision, Mission and Mandate. Practices related to academic honesty are further detailed in the Student and Parent Handbooks published each year by the school. All members of the community need to be aware that the school treats academic dishonesty as a very serious matter.

Plagiarism or Malpractice 

Plagiarism means the direct copying of material from any source (a friend’s work, an article of the Internet, encyclopaedia etc.) and submitting it as your own.  The academic world, and therefore the International Baccalaureate, regards plagiarism in a very serious light and a student’s academic future could be seriously affected if found guilty of plagiarism. 

Disciplinary Consequences of Plagiarism

Plagiarism is regarded as academic theft and results in a zero grade award by the IB.  If plagiarism occurs at school the teacher will inform the Principal and they will conference with the student on the paper/ assignment in question. The Principal will notify the parents in writing of the incident. 

After a student’s work has been determined to be plagiarised, the Principal may impose one or more of the following consequences:

• Resubmit the paper/assignment to be completed: The student will revise and resubmit a properly documented paper/assignment.
• No credit on the paper/assignment: The student will receive a zero on the paper/assignment.
• Probation: The student is placed on academic probation.

If a student commits plagiarism on an external assessment, BIS informs the appropriate organisation and will support the consequences imposed by either organisation.