Head of Secondary message

 

 

“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”  

 Chinese proverb


 

Welcome to the 2011/12 scholastic year!  This promises to be a year filled with new opportunities, accomplishments, challenges, rewards and much, much more. As an educator of more than 17 years, I always get excited by fresh starts, new beginnings and, of course, seeing our students and staff returning for another year.

 

Here at IBSB we endeavor to provide our students with an atmosphere that promotes growth. I am referring to a learning environment in which children can thrive because they feel safe, are encouraged to participate, enjoy a spirit of curiosity and teachers that create not only a classroom for learning, but a launching pad for success. We continually try to improve our methods of teaching year after year by keeping the focus on our students, their needs, desires, challenges and varied ways of learning. To this end, every year we invite leading professionals from the field of education into our school during the Induction phase prior to the new year commencing to train our teachers in such areas as Critical Thinking, Behaviour Management, Teaching strategies, and Classroom management. As well, there are always a number of opportunities throughout the year for teaching staff to share tried and tested teaching methods as a part of the in-house CPD (Continuing Professional Development) programme.  The common goal of all this in-house and out-sourced professional training is the common goal of ensuring that our students receive the best education possible.

 

In terms of academics at IBSB, our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum of England and Wales, with a view to preparing students to pass their Cambridge IGCSE and A Level exams in order to go on to higher education. We pride ourselves on our maintaining high standards of education, both in teaching and learning, which necessitates an ongoing process of self-evaluation designed to keep our school functioning at a level of excellence. Teachers are asked to undertake self evaluation and peer evaluation to improve teaching practice. Students are also encouraged to evaluate their learning by working with teachers to set achievable learning targets and to assess their own work before submitting it in order to develop greater self-awareness of the gap between their current level of work and the level of work they are progressing toward.

 

We can be very proud of the fact that over 50% of our students achieved an A-A* on the 2011 IGCSE exams, in line with the top private schools in England. Our external grades have continued to improve with each year and we are working hard to ensure that this trend continues.

 

In addition to our academic programme, we also offer our students a variety of extra-curricular activities designed to create well-rounded students through a growing network of community links with charities, other schools, universities, and with a number of businesses via our expanding work experience programme. 

 

We are recognized by the Romanian Ministry of Education, enabling our students to attend Romanian universities if they choose, and we are an accredited member of a number of key international organizations, including ECIS, CIS, COBIS and CIE, and as such undergo regular inspections and spot checks to ensure that the IBSB programme is as strong as it possibly can be.

 

IBSB is a school on the move.  We have a focused vision of continual improvement, with the student-centered classroom at the forefront of our development plans. Our emphasis is and will continue to be the betterment of our students, with a wholelistic view towards education which ensures that our students leave IBSB as academically strong, emotionally balanced, confident, responsible global citizens able to make a significant contribution to the international community.

 

 

Ms. Andrea J. Carman

Head of Secondary School