On August 31, ISA hosted parent sessions covering the ISA English as an Additional Language programme.
The programme, while open for all parents, was geared towards parents of children who are still acquiring English as an additional language. The sessions were also provided in English, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Russian.
A sincere thank you to all parent volunteers who helped to bring this programme to our community
In response to the massive earthquake that struck Nepal in April which killed over 8,500 and injured scores more, the ISA community mobilised to raise funds to benefit the victims of the tragedy.
“As the major international relief organisations are already benefiting from large-scale donations, we have chosen to support a local charity, which works specifically with children” noted Dr. Ed Greene, ISA Director.
“The DOCS Foundation Nepal (The Destitute and Orphan Children Safeguarding Foundation Nepal) is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profit organisation established in 2002. This organisation, which is known to a member of our community with strong ties to Nepal, is already bringing relief to victims: providing shelter, food and healthcare in extremely harsh conditions. ISA would like to support their work directly, so that all the money raised at ISA for this appeal will benefit children whose lives have been devastated by not only losing their families but also their homes and all means of support.”
The ISA student and parent communities hosted a variety of events including bake and rummage sales, as well as food sales from the Japanese Relief and Philippines Relief clubs. The parent fundraising group, SHARE, also donated a portion of the profits from their Gala fundraising event to generate funds for the campaign.
In total so far, ISA raised more than 13,600 euros, which will directly benefit the orphans of the DOCS Foundation Nepal.
To donate to help the ISA Nepali Relief for DOCS Foundation Nepal, send your donation to “ISA NEPALI RELIEF”
International School of Amsterdam in Amstelveen
IBAN: NL40ABNA0467218382
BIC code: ABNANL2A
Reference: ISA Nepali Relief
In May, ISA in cooperation with the John Adams Institute, The Ivy Circle and the Harvard NL Club, hosted a speaker session to discuss the timely topic of exclusiveness in American college and university admissions policies.
The session, Who Gets In, What Comes Out: Accessibility and Responsibility of Top Education, featured Jerome Karabel, renowned author of Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale and Princeton and Alexander Rinnooy Kan, Professor of Economics at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and was moderated by ISA parent and Chair of the Ivy Circle Netherlands, Hollis Kurman.
Comparison of the highly selective admissions policies of Ivy League and other elite universities was made to the more standardised and transparent policies of Dutch universities and arguments for both were presented. The role of grants, financial aid and the reality of the economic opportunities post-graduation were also explored with a view to finding answers to the growing challenge of equal opportunity for all in the pursuit of higher education.
In the Fall of 2014, ISA was awarded with the Best Employer Award as the top education employer in the Netherlands.
ISA was nominated for top education employer and top employer for a business in the Netherlands with under 1000 employees, as a result of the participation of and high scores from faculty and staff input from an internal employee satisfaction survey.
From the over 300 participating companies within the Netherlands, ISA was awarded top prize for the education sector and placed in the top ten nationally with a sixth-placed ranking for employers with under 1000 employees.
“The results reflect the true quality of our faculty and staff and just how special our organisation is,” says Ed Greene, ISA Director. “The commitment of our community is reflected in this award.”