Academics

School Profile

The BCA Mission

The British Columbia Academy is committed to the achievement of academic excellence and is characterized and enriched by its dual-diploma and language program taught in both English and Mandarin. BCA’s mission is to inspire a life-long love of learning. BCA encourages intellectual challenges and curiosity, critical and creative thinking, and personal and social responsibility which allows our students to realize and reach their potential. BCA prepares students to be compassionate, ethical, and responsible individuals capable and willing to contribute to local and global communities.

Accreditation and Memberships

BCA is registered with the Nanjing Bureau of Education. Additionally, BCA is a certified British Columbia Offshore school (10396847) and has passed annual on-site inspections since it’s inauguration in 2002. BCA is also a registered Advanced Placement (AP) center (CEEB: 694214) and offers 16 AP courses in the 2025-2026 school year.

The Faculty

BCA has 48 staff members. All faculty members are licensed teachers. All BCA staff members have teaching credentials such as a B.Ed, M.Ed, PGCE or equivalents. Faculty members certified to teach the BC curriculum all have professional or master’s level university degrees. Our teachers come from Ireland, Canada, USA, UK, Spain, and China.

The Student Body

BCA currently enrolls 326 students in their secondary years. The student body are Chinese nationals. Eighty percent of BCA students come from Nanjing Foreign Language School’s Middle Years program and twenty percent of students come from other schools in Jiangsu Province. Students are required to achieve two main academic criteria to study at BCA. A competitive score of the Zhongkao (high school entrance exam) and an English proficiency assessment. As a dual-diploma program, BCA students are proficient in both English and Mandarin for academic purposes. All BC Diploma courses are instructed entirely in English and courses contributing to the Chinese Secondary School diploma are instructed in Mandarin.

Academic Programme

BCA operates on a linear schedule system with diversified assessments, examinations, and project-based learning (PBL). Term and semester examinations are required for all academic courses, and optional for vocational elective courses. Students complete external assessment in both numeracy and literacy in Grades 10 and 12. BCA is inspected annually to ensure high educational and operational standards are being met. BCA has passed the annual inspection with the highest distinction for the past 22 years.

The British Columbia Dogwood Diploma

The core requirements can be found at: Certificates of Graduation - Province of British Columbia (gov.bc.ca). Students are expected to complete 80 credits to graduate. BCA offers the following courses in grade 10 and 11.
 

Grade 10: English Composition, English Literary Studies, Drama, Spoken Language, Foundations in Mathematics, Pre-calculus (11), Physical and Health Education, Social Studies (History), Science, Mandarin and Career-life education.
 

Grade 11: English Composition, AP Composition and Language, Social Studies (History), Fitness and Conditioning, Pre-calculus (12), Physics, Chemistry, Life Sciences (Biology), and Mandarin.
 

Our transcripts are printed on secure paper and require a raised stamp and signature from our BCA administration to be considered official.

The BC+ Programme

BC+ students take an accelerated version of the BC curriculum with AP courses designed to allow students to display their academic proficiency through BC courses and AP exams starting in Grade 10. Students who complete the BC+ programme will graduate with the AP Capstone Diploma in addition to the BC Dogwood Diploma.

Grade Scale

A = demonstrates excellent or outstanding performance
B = The demonstrates very good performance
C+ = demonstrates good performance
C = demonstrates satisfactory performance
C- = demonstrates minimally acceptable performance
IE = Insufficient Evidence of Learning
F = The student has not demonstrated the minimally acceptable performance
W = (Withdrawal)

School Profile and Contact Information