We have
just become an accredited school following a visit in November 2017 from a team
of four experienced accreditors who were in school for four days, taking an in-depth
look at everything we do relating to the IPC; talking to children, teachers and
parents, inspecting the classes and workbooks and checking that we are doing
all we say we are. They were judging us against the IPC Bottom Line 9 criterion
as shown below:
- A
clear focus on improving Learning.
- A
shared vision
- Classroom
practices that that help children develop towards the school’s shared
vision.
- International
Mindedness.
- The
significance and development of knowledge, skills and understanding.
- Rigorous
children’s learning and teachers high expectations of it.
- Implementation
of the learning process of the IPC
- Independent
yet interdependent subjects.
- Assessment
that improves learning.
The
report was over 30 pages long and identified that we met the accreditation
standard of developing in all these areas and that we reached the standard of
mastering in International Mindedness. The accreditation is valid for three
years and then we will start to plan for a re-accreditation process and
hopefully even more categories in mastering. The report makes some very
positive comments about our school, our students, our staff and our parents. I
would like to share a few of them with you.
The
accreditation team said about our school;
- Learners
know and can articulate their learning, reflect on their learning and can
use these reflections to improve their learning. All children were excited
about their learning, talked enthusiastically about their learning and
were very keen to share their learning.
- All
teachers had clear learning objectives and the team saw a range of
annotated unit reviews that showed thought and reflection as to how to
develop learning further.
- All
leaders work hard to provide an environment where children are happy to
learn and we saw children coming into school enthusiastically ready for a
day of learning.
- In
all classes the children were able to talk about the core values.
- Most
parents were familiar with and understood the school’s shard vision. They
told the team it helped them to know how to talk to their children so that
they can support them further.
- Parents
said all children learn well no matter what their ability.
- All
children developed their global awareness, gaining an increasing sense of
themselves, others and community through many varied events.
- Leaders
showed a commitment to the development of International Mindedness through
offering a wide range of opportunities, and they saw this as an integral
part of their school vision.
- Children
were able to identify whether the learning goal was knowledge, skill or
understanding.
- All
classrooms had displays that refer to knowledge, skills and understanding
with images and definitions and teachers provided children opportunities
to reflect on these, which was evident in books.
- Learning
was consistently well presented and recorded in a variety of ways.
- All
children were engaged in a variety of research activities, for instance,
by using computers and books to find out facts and by recording their
learning through writing, illustrating diagrams, creating and making
posters.
- Teachers
modelled high expectations.
- Teachers
planned for and provided a range of engaging opportunities for all children.
- Parents
agreed that teachers were focused on helping all children.
- Parents
talked with enthusiasm about how they were actively engaged with some of
the Entry and Exit points that they had shared with their children.
- Children
could make connections with previous subjects they had learned.
- In
particular, having some IPC lessons in Spanish helped to deepen and extend
the children’s understanding and perspectives.
- All
leaders ensured the IPC assessment for learning programme is implemented
to assess skills alongside other appropriate strategies to assess
knowledge and evaluate understanding.
This
success was achieved through the dedication and hard work of all the staff at
the school, the enthusiasm, effort and participation of the students and the
positivity and support of the parents and community. Very well done everyone!