A successful IB accreditation visit
This week saw not only a focus on the French language and culture in la semaine de la Francophonie activities jointly organised by members of both streams, but a 2-day visit by a team of experienced IBO school leaders who have been working with us since December 2023 in preparation for an onsite visit to carry out their evaluation of our re-accrediatation as an IB school. Pauline Hall has led the whole community – staff, students, parents and members of the Board of Governors – through a self-study process over the past year which culminated in face-to-face meetings with all staff and many other key members of the community involved in the IBDP at FIS. Although a daunting and time consuming exercise, it has helped us better understand our strengths and areas for development over the next 5 years.
At the end of Wednesday we were given some preliminary feedback and headlines of what would be contained in the report, which is due to come to us in 4-6 weeks time. The major success is that we do not have any matters to be addressed, which are key concerns that would stop us from being re-accredited. The visiting team were able to feedback to the assembled staff some very encouraging findings, a few of which I would like to share with you. They complimented the whole community on being honest and open in their comments in meetings, meaning that they are able to make recommendations to us that can help us develop the programme with a sharp focus. They enjoyed spending time with our students, who they described as particularly impressive.
They discovered a very strong culture of caring which was built on a sense of respect through the different parts of the FIS community, with a trusting relationship between the parents and staff. They also noted that there has been a lot of work done by the school in aligning our FIS strategy with the vision statement of the IB Organisation. Naturally there are several areas of development which have been recommended to strengthen our programmme, and they are all very achievable dependent upon one fundamental change: creating the opportunity for all members of staff to have increased directed time to collaborate on sharing knowledge and expertise around the less developed areas of the IB Programme.
I would like to finish off by thanking everyone involved in this process. Without you we would not have this report which we can use as a springboard to further improve what is an already successful IB Diploma Programme. The tireless and enthusiastic Mrs Hall is also to be congratulated for her magnificent leadership of the process and the programme.
