Message from the Head of Secondary

Whether it is the Duke of Edinburgh Award students climbing mountains in Fujairah, skiers whizzing down the snowy mountains of Switzerland or intrepid international travelers climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the combined altitude of BIS Abu Dhabi students this term must surely be higher than Everest! 

And it’s not just climbing mountains on our socials.  Recent posts have included photos of sports teams wining trophies, of students putting on puppet shows, of students building Formula 1 cars and climbing Jack’s Beanstalk to find treasure at the top.   If you only spent time on our social media pages, you might wonder if any ‘normal’ teaching and learning ever happens in our school!

Well, of course it does.  Climbing mountains and beanstalks is the sort of enrichment that you would expect from an outstanding school and an enriched curriculum is incredibly important to a student’s development.  But every school hour, of every school day, students in this school are engaged in the slightly less ‘insta-friendly’ business of learning.  And boy oh boy, are they good at it. 

We were privileged this week to present a group of Year 12 students – and one Year 11 student – with certificates from the GCSE Exam Boards Edexcel and Cambridge International.  These students had been recognised by external examiners as having performed to a world class standard in their GCSE exams last summer.  Several were awarded with certificates which recognised their excellence across a range of subjects and others received awards for their outstanding achievements in individual subjects.  Year 12 student Junha received his certificate for achieving the highest mark in the world in mathematics GCSE last year. 

Outstanding academic success isn’t only happening in the Secondary School though.  Currently in the Primary School over 80% of our students are exceeding their age-related expectations in English and Maths compared to UK averages of about 65%.  These high standards are what we have come to expect from our students who deserve a great deal of praise for their efforts – as do the teachers, whose high expectations and care in the classroom are helping the youngsters to excel. 

What happens outside the classroom really matters.  Decades of research have shown that students who climb mountains, play sport, sing and dance on stage, do better in school.  But what happens in the classroom matters too, it really matters.  And that’s where our students climb a mountain every day.

Now then, where are my crampons……

Click here to return to the newsletter.