Grade 11 and 12 students embark on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. The Diploma Programme is a demanding pre-university course of study that leads to examinations. It is designed for highly motivated secondary school students aged 16 to 19. Each examined subject is graded on a scale of 1 (minimum) to 7 (maximum). Students must offer three subjects at Higher Level (HL) and three at Standard Level (SL). The award of the Diploma requires a minimum total of 24 points and completion of three additional requirements: the Extended Essay Theory of Knowledge (TOK) – an interdisciplinary requirement intended to stimulate critical, epistemological reflection on knowledge and experience gained inside and outside the classroom Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) – students are expected to spend a minimum of 150 hours in two years on creative, sport and service activities in the local community. The maximum score of 45 points includes 3 bonus points for a good work done in the extended essay and TOK.

Mrs. Comfort Adjavon, the progenitor of TIS, nursed the dream to establish a public educational institution. That was about twenty years ago when she retired from the Ghana Education Service, at the age of 45, as a Principal Superintendent.  Her resignation from the service was actually inspired by her love for, and intention to venture into farming full-time, particularly, poultry and livestock.  After 13 years, and in spite of the success of the farm, she still missed teaching. Additionally, the circumstances of her disabled granddaughter, Sonia, who eager to attend school, yet found it difficult to be properly integrated into the normal school system, gave vent to Comfort’s initial dream of establishing a school which could fully cater for the educational needs of her granddaughter. So acting upon the encouragement and support of her husband, daughter and friends, she penned the plan for a national school for children, in order also for her granddaughter to receive proper care and tuition. Thus, modest but beautiful structures began to surface to begin this national school for children. At that time, Mr and Mrs Adjavon had sent one of their daughters to British School of Lome (BSL), an international school in Togo, and were inspired by the progress they saw in her, from exposure to the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programmes. The crux of the matter is that the couple’s involvement with BSL had a great impact on the TIS dream and an interplay of academic and economic interests gradually altered the initial dream with a much more focus on an international school. So, after further consultations and counsel from experts in the academia, such as Professor James Toole of Newcastle University, the couple was convinced that the IGCSE and IB Diploma Programmes would support their vision of producing world class citizens who could hold their own, wherever they found themselves, thus culminating in the birth of Tema International School (TIS) on the 3rd of October, 2003.  It was at this time that Mr Ajavon gave an astronomic boost to infrastructure, pushing the school’s boundaries and erecting gigantic structures with the fragrance of an international school.