CAS Q&A Session for Parents

Understanding the requirement for the IB Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) programme can be confusing to many parents, therefore the ISA CAS programme coordinator, Vlad Gogelescu, recently hosted a Q&A session on 31 October for parents of grade 11 and 12 students.

CAS formally begins at the start of the Diploma Programme (grade 11) and continues regularly, ideally on a weekly basis, for at least 18 months with a reasonable balance between creativity, activity, and service experiences that the students voluntarily engage in that involve one or more of the three CAS strands. A CAS experience can be a single event or may be an extended series of events.

Parents were invited to email questions prior to the event so that their specific needs and  queries could be addressed. Read here for a general overview of  CAS at ISA.

High School Student Council Elections

On 25 August, ISA welcomed over 1300 students and their families to campus for the first day of school. The halls of ISA came alive again as friends shared hugs and told stories from their exciting summer vacations. There is no doubt that this year will be filled with new memories, friendships, and accomplishments.

At the end of the last school year, the high school student body elected three new Student Council leaders. These students will serve as role models and advocates for their fellow students as they plan and implement a variety of projects over the next year. We look forward to seeing what they have in store.

The newly elected members are:

President: Ari Economon
Vice-President: Ryan Collins
Secretary/Treasurer: Blanca Carmont-Zaragoza

DP Results Exam Year 2016 – Congratulations to the Class of 2016!

Dear Members of the ISA Community,

I would like to take the time to celebrate with you this year’s final IB diploma results. In early July, we received the first IB exam results for the Class of 2016. After a few remarks over the summer, these results are now final. Once again they are something to be very proud of.

ISA students performed exceptionally well on these externally assessed exams and assignments. In fact, ISA’s average grade in each course was 5.25 points; to put that in context, the worldwide average was 4.95.

The graduating class of 2016 included the highest number of IB Diplomas earned in the history of ISA: 59 candidates earned the full ID Diploma with a total average score of 34 points! Out of these, 7 of the 59 received a total of 40 or more points! And if this was not enough, 96.7% of this year’s diploma candidates received one or more bonus points for their work in Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay.  Finally, 44 % of our diploma candidates received a bi-lingual diploma.

Whilst these statistics are impressive, they do not tell a complete story. Indeed, not all IB grades are equal as some grades achieved by this year’s DP candidates, whilst perhaps statistically not as impressive, are nevertheless genuine accomplishments and thus worthy of praise. For example, we had a few candidates this year who arrived at ISA in grade 10 with intermediate-level English and nevertheless received their IB diplomas with flying colors.

Such results are contingent on a number of factors. For sure the resilience, hard work, and perseverance of this year’s IB Diploma and IB Course candidates contributed greatly to their success but they could never have achieved it without the support and care of their parents and guardians. A great thank you thus goes out to parents and guardians of this year’s graduating class.

Finally however it is important to acknowledge in particular the hard work of ISA’s faculty, both the Lower School as well as the Upper School faculties as some of our students have been at ISA most of their educational careers. Indeed, our DP candidates would not have been able to achieve such results without their continued commitment and profound sense of professionalism.

Congratulations to the class of 2016!

Kind regards,

Matt Lynch

DP Coordinator

International School of Amsterdam 

 

“Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world” 

Nelson Mandela

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR ISMTF MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH COMPETITORS

Several of our Middle School students competed in the recent International Schools Mathematics Teachers Foundation (ISMTF) Middle School Math Competition at the International School of Zug and Lucerne. Out of a total of 41 teams, ISA Team A (Anna Economon, Mamie Wilson, and Sylvia Liu) placed 4th and Team B (Daniel Duncanson, Pranjal Ray, and Vivienne Shi) placed 30th. Congratulations to everyone who competed!

ISA Basketball Teams Compete in NECIS Tournaments in Rotterdam and Antwerp

The ISA U12, U14, Junior Varsity and Varsity Basketball teams recently competed in NECIS tournaments in Rotterdam and Antwerp rounding out a great season of training and international competitions. The results of the four tournaments are below.

U12 and U14 – Rotterdam
The U12 and U14 girls and boys teams competed March 4-6 in Rotterdam with exciting games featuring everything you expect to see in a tournament; joy, disappointments, determination, teamwork and sportsmanship. With support from friends and families, the ISA teams achieved the following results:
U12 Girls: 6th place
U12 Boys: 2nd place
U14 Girls: 2nd place
U14 Boys: 7th place
JV and Varsity – Antwerp 
The Junior Varsity and Varsity teams competed March 11-12 in Rotterdam. The tournament, which was also live streamed, had a great crowd turnout with families from all competing schools in attendance. The ISA teams fought hard and were successful in achieving the following results:
JV Girls: 3rd place
JV Boys: 1st place
Varsity Girls: 4th place
Varsity Boys: 2nd place

ISA Hosts Ivy Circle’s USA University Fair 

Members of the ISA community attended the recent Ivy Circle USA University fair on October 1, where they met with representatives from over 25 universities.  The following information sessions were offered during the fair to assist students with coordinating their post-secondary academic efforts: Standardised Testing, Scholarships for International Students, 2+2 Transfers (Associate/Bachelor) and Innovation in Higher Education. ISA hosted the event in collaboration with the Fulbright Center USA, the United States Consulate and alumni representing Ivy League colleges and other esteemed institutions of higher learning.

 

Read more about ISA University Counselling – https://issuu.com/isacommunications/docs/isa_connections_issue_04_issuu

Excellent DP Results for Class of 2015

In early July, we received the IB Diploma results for the Class of 2015 and once again they are something to make us all proud.

This year 98% of our diploma candidates achieved the full diploma (51 out of 52) with a total average score of 34 points. ISA’s average grade was 5.35 points while the world average was 4.99 and 39% of our diploma candidate’s obtained 36 points or more, which comes to an average of 6 points per student.

In total 9 of our diploma candidates obtained 40 points or more, with 2 having obtained nearly perfect scores with totals of 44 points.

Additionally, 91% of this year’s diploma candidates received one or more bonus points for their work in Theory of Knowledge and the Extended Essay. Lastly, 39 % of our diploma candidates received a bi-lingual diploma.

Congratulations!

 

Duke of Edinburgh Award Dates 2015-16

The dates for the ISA Duke of Edinburgh Award practices and finals are now available. ISA students have been participating in the international award programme for over 17 years and have gained invaluable life skills from the programme challenges. 

Bronze-level practice will be from 8-10 October, 2015 and the final will be from 4-7 May, 2016. Silver practice will be from 16-20 October, 2015 and the final will be from 12-16 May, 2016. Gold practice will be from 22-27 March, 2016 and the final will be from 15-21 April, 2016.

ISA Debate Team Closes Season at Roosevelt World Schools Academy

Members of the ISA Debate team rounded out the 2014-15 season by attended the prestigious Roosevelt World Schools Academy at University College Roosevelt in historic Middelburg. The programme, offers debaters three days of master classes, coaching and feedback from debate experts.

ISA debaters, Nicolas Carmont, Hugo Debaig, Frederique Joosten and Sofia Romansky took part in the event, which was organised by the Netherlands Debate Institute, Cogency and the Dutch Schools Debating Foundation. Special congratulations to Frederique and Hugo who were invited to try out for the national debate team.