COMMUNITY UPDATE DIRECTOR’S UPDATE Dear Community Members, I am proud to announce that last week, at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, ISB was recognised with a Global Inclusion Award by the International Forums of Inclusion Practitioners. Ms. Kristen Schroeder, our Director of Challenge and Inclusion, attended the award ceremony marking the 30th Anniversary of the UNESCO Salamanca Statement, which established the principle of inclusive and accessible education. At ISB, our inclusive journey started decades ago, and we are very honoured to be recognised publicly as global leaders in implementing these principles. This is all the more remarkable because, as you may recall, last summer we celebrated arguably the school’s best IB diploma results in our history. Few non-selective schools achieve a 35 average. These results, combined with our most recent award, show what can be achieved when you reject the myth that there is a trade-off between high inclusion and high academic achievement. Such achievements are made possible by our highly skilled and committed educators, who are supported by a community that believes in this vision for education. We continue to find ways to improve further and I think our mission of Everyone Included, Everyone Challenged, Everyone Successful is more relevant than ever. Besides celebrating this achievement, I want to also welcome some very special guests to our campus. From 19 to 26 March, ISB is hosting students from schools from all around the world at our Student Leadership Symposium. Organised in the true spirit of internationalism, the event brings together students from different backgrounds and nationalities to discuss and debate important topics, with the hope of making the world a better and fairer place. For this year’s event, the participating schools are Nanjing Foreign Language School (China), GaußGymnasium School (Germany), Uplands College (South Africa), Prem International school (Thailand), and Westlake Academy (USA). Thank you to all our host families and organisers who have made this possible. We hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ahead!
James MacDonald ISB Director