For August – October 2021
Over the past few months, we have become excited by the possibility of being back on campus and our hope dashed also. I think we all understand how difficult this can be as it plays on our emotions. Resilience has needed to be the watchword and, as I write, I am hoping that we can find a way to be on campus in a sustainable way. Whether we are on campus, at home and especially out in the community we continue to stress the 3 Dos and 3 Donts:
Continue 3 preventions:
- Mask wearing (at all times)
- Frequent hand washing/sanitizing
- Maintaining physical distancing (1.5m)
Continue 3 avoidance strategies:
- Avoid crowded places
- Avoid low hygiene enclosed spaces with limited airflow (and maintain airflow where possible)
- Avoid direct touching while meeting with other people and avoid lengthy meetings in restricted places
We hope that as the academic year progresses we will be able to introduce more campus activities as well as improve access to the campus in general.
As we did last year, we have taken the opportunity within the ISPP Pulse to provide a greater focus on what we are doing in our core values of Learning, Well-being, Environment and Community. In this issue, you will find a focus on Learning from Jonathan Smedes, our Deputy Director and Director of Learning, Teaching, Impact and Innovation. This includes an overview of how learning and teaching take place at ISPP, along with an overview of assessment. I hope you can take the time to read it.
As I write for this issue of the Pulse, we are preparing for the Council of International Schools (CIS), The Western Association of School and Colleges (WASC) and The International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) virtual reaccreditation visit which takes place between the 18th and 22nd October.
For those of you who may not be aware of the accreditation process, every five years both organisations send a team of accreditors to schools to reflect upon how well they are doing in relation to the standards and practices of these organisations. This ensures external quality control assessment on one side and the opportunity for reflection and growth on the other. As reflective educators, it is a process that we fully embrace in the journey of continually nurturing positive impact for our students and the broader school community. All previous accreditations and authorisation processes have recognised ISPP as a quality school and have challenged us to continue on the path of school improvement and development.
Following the visit, we will receive a report, typically within 8 weeks, that will outline both commendations and recommendations. As soon as we receive these findings we will seek to share them with the broader school community.
The Admissions, Marketing and Communications team are in the process of sharing some new and updated ways of communicating. The first piece of information will be a document called 2020-21 at ISPP – The Year in Review. This will be our first issue of an annual report that will provide an overview of the previous academic year. In addition to this, we are also introducing an ISPP app for our mobile devices. We hope that this will enhance the flow of communication as we recognise that the mobile phone has become the information and/or communication tool of choice for both younger and older generations alike. We look forward to sharing these with you.
With kind regards,
Gareth
