What is the difference between my holding the copyright in a piece of my work and it being the property of the IB?
You hold the copyright in any work that you create using your own skill, intelligence or imagination. When your school sends your work to the IB for assessment you retain copyright but give permission to the IB to use it as it needs. On the other hand, the physical item that is sent in becomes the property of the IB. This means that the IB has the freedom to dispose of paper scripts, three-dimensional artwork, tapes of music, and any other submitted candidate material, when it no longer needs it; it cannot store all items of candidate work indefinitely and needs to be able to periodically dispose of material to free up storage space. If you want any of your work back, you must ask your school to reclaim it through the enquiry upon results service.
