A report on the latest Conseil Victor Segalen (CVS) – 16 March 2023
Dear FIS Community,
The Conseil Victor Segalen (CVS) is an important institution at our school. It serves as a consultative body to the Head of School and is typically assembled three times a year. Each meeting usually brings together representatives of students, faculty and staff, parents, leadership, Board directors, the French Consulate, and the conseillers des Français de l’étranger (French elected officials).
This term’s CVS focused on three areas:
First, our Director of Marketing & Communications Romy Serfaty reported on the timeline of events for our 60th anniversary and how it was built thanks and according to the input of last December’s CVS. This ten-minute presentation was highly validating for the Council, as it showed that what was produced by its members actually had an impact on the life of the school.
Second, I also took ten minutes to report on the current status of my Entry Plan. I was able to share the following statistics on my formal engagement with the community:
- More than 90 hours of formal interviews and meetings
- 13 focus groups with 110+ students from CE1-Year 2 to Terminale-Year 13
- 112 fifteen-minute one-on-one meetings with faculty and staff
- 4 focus group meetings with parents and 5 meetings with parent representatives between November and March
- One-on-one one-hour meetings with all Board directors prior to my arrival, as well as with all leaders, plus countless engagements during committee and board meetings
I also shared the results of my engagement with students, especially as it relates to their aspirations for the future and what brings them joy at the school. You will see the graphs below.
Third and finally, the CVS workshopped for almost an hour on the development of a Value Proposition for FIS. The Value Proposition is the most important element of our overall messaging. It tells our prospective families why they should enrol in our school rather than a competitor, and it makes the benefits crystal clear from the outset. The Value Proposition reinforces our beliefs, our values and our offer, while differentiating us on the education ‘market’. Ultimately, six groups presented the outcome of their work, which helped surface themes that our Marketing and Admissions departments will now use to develop a final Value Proposition. I look forward to updating the community on this project in the near future.
My heartfelt thanks to all the representatives who participated in this valuable and insightful meeting.
Warmly,
Dr. Emmanuel Bonin
Head of School
