Dear Parents

Welcome to this week’s Newsletter. I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable half-term holiday and have come back refreshed and ready for what is always a very busy but exciting lead up to Christmas!

Excellent CIS Preparatory Evaluation Feedback

Back in September, we received a visit from a team of accreditors from the Council of International Schools. They met with all parts of the school community, visited lessons and worked with the school to identify strengths and areas for development. The process is split in to eight ‘Domains’ and we have now received their report. A summary is provided below:

‘We are pleased to inform you that Britannica International School has been granted candidate status for CIS Re-Accreditation.

Our congratulations go to you and your school community on this achievement.

The school has many strengths, as identified in the eight Domains of this accreditation protocol.

Domain A: The school has developed clear and focused internationally-minded vision statements which are appropriate for the school. These statements distinguish this school from others and guide the decision-making and general ethos of the school. The guiding statements are reviewed regularly and are advertised and understood by members of the school's community.

Domain B: The school has a coherent governance structure with clear allocation of roles of Board and senior leadership. There is evidence of a supportive relationship between the Regional Head of the parent organization (Orbital Education Group) and the on-site Head of School. The school benefits from good data analytics in relation to business operations.

Domain C: There is clear evidence that the school does an effective job in adapting the British National Curriculum to the needs of their students. Teachers are trained and knowledgeable about the curriculum and work collaboratively to ensure that all students benefit from the stated objectives of each grade/level.

Domain D: Teaching and assessing for learning are designed to help students maximize their learning potential. The school has a sensitivity to inclusion and meeting the needs of all learners and supports those with learning differences invaried ways. Differentiation techniques are used in some of the classrooms and are being developed in the school overall to help make learning engaging and motivating to students.

Domain E: Student well-being and child protection are among the foundational commitments of the school. There is an overall climate of care and trust, with a commitment to child safeguarding.

Domain F: The school offers a low student-teacher ratio, with qualified educators and a committed staff who promote individualised learning and attainment. There are thorough background checks and appropriate work-loads that allow teachers to carry out their duties as professional educators.

Domain G: With a recent large capital investment, the school has enjoyed an extensive refurbishing of its current facility and is planning a substantial new addition of nine classrooms, gymnasium, and parking space in the coming years.

These investments reflect the school's commitment to continuous improvement of its premises and physical accommodation.

Domain H: There is clear evidence of strong, effective communication with parents, who are considered to be an integral part of the school community. The school offers many avenues for strong relationships with parents and benefits from an active partnership with parents and guardians.

To conclude:

The school does have many outstanding features and the potential to work towards future aspirations. For example, the evaluators were impressed with quality of teaching and the school's respectful and engaged learners. This is a clear, distinguishing advantage of the school.

Finally, there are clear priorities that the school should understand which will help guide it during the next stage of development. These include involving all community members in the self-study by encouraging as many respondents as possible in the community survey ‘

This is a really pleasing report and I would like to thank all the staff, students and parents who took part in the meetings with the accreditation team. We have a lot of work to do over the next year to prepare ourselves for the next stage of the process, which is the self-study phase. This starts with the Community Survey which the school will send out over the next few months. Please do respond!

Secondary parent’s afternoon

Thank you to all the parents who attended our secondary parent’s afternoon on Thursday. In response to feedback last year, we added this event to our Autumn Term calendar, aiming to give parent’s an earlier opportunity in the school year to meet with the class teachers. We hope you found it useful. If there are any follow up questions, please do not hesitate to contact the school through the usual channels.

Have a great weekend

Kind regards

Neil McGarry

Principal