It was such a joy to see our whole school enjoying the breathtaking acrobatics and balancing skills at this morning’s Lion Dance in the Jungle Gym. The performance is a much-loved school tradition and a wonderful opportunity for our school community to celebrate this auspicious occasion together. It is also a delight to see our Elementary School students wearing clothing representing their culture today and learning about different cultures at stations set up throughout ES.

Congratulations to all our Middle School students who completed their Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing this week. We have just received the data for MS math MAP testing, and as you will see in MS News, the results and growth of our students are truly phenomenal, and comparable with other leading international schools in Asia and worldwide.

MAP is an internationally recognized standardized test for assessing individual student growth and achievement that we administer twice yearly in Grades 2-9. The tests are not based on the curriculum, and we do not “teach to the test.” Instead, the tests dynamically adjust to each student’s performance and measure what students know. Standardized tests such as MAP are one of many sources of data we use to gain a complete picture of a child’s learning and progress so that we can best support them. Our teachers use the data and insights to develop strategies to stretch and support each student’s learning as well as reflect on any big-picture curricular adjustments required.

Bringing our parent community with us on their child’s learning journey is a critical component of our commitment to a strong school-parent partnership, and we were delighted to have so many parents join us for our Head of School & Parents In Partnership session on Artificial Intelligence (AI). We enjoyed showcasing some examples of AI and exploring the potential it offers. We also looked at the risks and opportunities it presents for our students and school, the importance of building competencies such as critical thinking, and how we address digital safety and citizenship.

At the presentation, we also shared an overview of the results from our annual Community Survey, which was sent to all ISKL parents, students (Grades 5-12), and employees last semester. The results were overwhelmingly positive, with the majority of ratings in the high 90% range. These results align with the 2022 CIS/WASC survey results and reflect the commitment of our wonderful faculty and staff to ensuring high-quality learning for all students and fostering an inclusive school culture.

In partnership

Rami Madani
Head of School