IICS Annual Report 2013-2014

Exceptional.FORWARD THINKING.

ANNUAL REPORT 2013-4

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governance& leadership

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student achievement

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IntroductionJANE THOMPSONHead of School

It gives me great pleasure to introduce the first Annual Report for IICS. This review of our 2013-14 academic year is an attempt to create a summary of the learning and achievement for our community over the past ten months. This is no easy task, given the depth, breadth and sheer number of individu-al and collaborative achievements.

The facts and figures of our year do not quite capture the richness of the journey we have shared or provide a full account of the achievements, given that our students are engaging with a demanding and non-traditional curriculum which does not ‘spoon feed’ or present learning in neat packages. In addition, they are often working in a language that is not their mother tongue, amongst a new com-munity in an unfamiliar country. Despite these personal, social and academic demands, our students are meeting these challenges with spirit and success. To be an exceptional, forward-thinking school includes collaborating with our diverse community to get a better understanding of their views and ideas. Surveys of parents, staff and students as well informal feedback from many perspectives have enriched our understanding of how to prioritise our efforts to improve and develop the school. Students in particular had insightful thoughts about how to further enhance ownership of their learning experience.

Student ideas about how to include more choice and input into their curriculum, increase opportuni-ties to extend their learning, and obtain more personalized feedback from teachers affirm the innova-tive work IICS has already been doing with regard to exploratory courses, student directed learning time, and interdisciplinary learning. We see that students enjoy personalized learning and want even more room to challenge themselves by academically exploring what excites them.

Taking this collaborative approach to school development is how we believe IICS will be able to lever-age the extraordinary and diverse capacities of our parent community, our dynamic faculty, and most importantly, our students.

Jane Thompson

GOVERNANCE &LEADERSHIPLuc Grillet Chair,IICS Board of Directors

The IICS Board is pleased to highlight IICS’ important strides forward in the past two years: -We recruited an excellent new Head of School, Jane Thompson, and Primary Principal, Angela Steinmann;

-We further enhanced the learning environments of the high school and primary school with significant improvements;-We undertook a review of our middle school program and identified areas for further curriculum devel-opment;-We streamlined the budgeting and financial management of the school which allowed us to move from financial losses in the years 2011-2013 to a (modest) net profit in 2013-2014; and -We invested substantial time and effort to developing viable campus relocation options.

Parallel to the ongoing search for a viable new campus location closer to the city, the Board has decided to prioritize a number of enhancement projects on both campuses, especially at Hisar Campus. Our dedica-tion to being an exceptional and forward-thinking organization means that a future campus move does not deter us from maintaining and improving our facilities.

The time it takes to identify a new potential campus may seem long to the IICS Community; in actuality this meticulous process has involved the exhaustive screening of more than a dozen potential new loca-tions to date. The Board honed in on four possible locations in the past year; for the more promising leads we executed extensive financial, tax, legal, and operational due diligence. As frustrating as it may be for the Board to be unable to announce a conclusive relocation project yet, we remain committed and determined to forge forward on this strategically imperative task.

Based on IICS Community feedback, the Board has supported a public tender process from April-June 2014 headed by the Leadership Team to identify a new catering firm. We are pleased that a new caterer has now started serving both campuses with a cuisine that promises to be more healthful and appealing. In addition, the Marmara Campus cafeteria has been renovated to become an enjoyable and inviting color-filled lunch lounge.

We look forward to another year of stimulating learning for our IICS children, supported by our dedicated faculty of teachers and teaching assistants. We warmly congratulate the students, teachers, and IICS Com-munity on the excellent IBDP results this year: IICS achieved the highest ever average: 33 points.

The Board is pleased to continue serving the IICS Community and working closely together with the IICS Head of School and IICS Leadership Team. We hope to be able to report more updates later in the Fall during our first Open Board Meeting.

Luc Gril let

IICS Board of directors

LUC GRILLETBOARD CHAIR

Ferhat ferhangil vice CHAIR

dilo kruyswijktreasurer

jonathan mennutisecretary, US CONSULATE REP

melis alalufmember

robert romain member

ayse atamanmember

jeff justicemember

jane thompsonhead of school

omer kipmenfaculty rep

inga barrypta rep

FINANCEChair: Dilo KruyswijkJeffrey JusticeRobert RomainLuc GrilletJane ThompsonIcten KucukyumukMelis Alaluf

development Chair: Ferhat FerhangilJane ThompsonSuzy GurkanJennifer Gokmen

POLICYChair: Melis AlalufJane ThompsonOmer Kipmen

Ad Hoc RelocationChair: Robert RomainAyse AtamanFerhat FerhangilMelis AlalufJonathan MennutiLuc GrilletJane Thompson

BOARD COMMITTEESAd Hoc Outsourced Services Chair: Robert RomainAyse AtamanFerhat FerhangilMelis AlalufJonathan MennutiLuc GrilletJane ThompsonELECTION

(Inactive)

GOVERNANCE &LEADERSHIP

WORLD CLASSFACULTY

EDUCATED 100% Bachelors Degrees40% Masters Degrees3% PhDs

international15 nationalities4 continents

EXPERIENCED14 years experience on average

established low turnover of faculty

EXPERTS

11ibo

trainers&

workshopleaders

THOUGHT LEADERS

16faculty

invited to present

at 2013-4international

conferences

LEARNERS

ALLfaculty

completeannual

professional development

inhouse ORabroad

student-focused

7:1student

toteacher

ratio

“The best things about IICS are the amazing student teacher relationships.”

--Secondary student

current composition

Tina BuiTina Bui joins us from Shang-hai American School. She has a Masters in Education and a BA in Journalism and Political Science. She has additional cer-tification in gifted and talented education. She will take up the position of Secondary Humani-ties teacher.

jennifer ribachonekJoining us from Korea Inter-national school, Jennifer has a Masters in Peace Education, a BA in Anthropology and Pri-mary teaching certification. She will be supporting our Primary language teams as a literacy coach and EAL teacher.

Alexander AlfordJoining us from The Universal American School, Dubai, Alex Alford has a degree in Biol-ogy from MIT and a teaching certification from Texas. He will take up the position of Secondary Science teacher.

Navaz KhoryJoining us from Gems World Academy, Dubai, Navaz has a Masters in Elementary Educa-tion from Columbia University and a Bacehlors in Health Science. She will be an Upper Primary teacher at IICS.

Tim TrotterJoining us from Korea Inter-national School, Tim Trotter has a Masters in Instructional Leadership and a BSc in Maths from the US Naval Academy. He is a qualified pilot, but will be our Head of Mathematics. He has extensive international experience.

We recruit widely both locally and internationally to ensure a high quality, diverse faculty is maintained. We are pleased to introduce the following new faculty members for August 2014:

WORLD CLASSFACULTY

Hina HashmiComing to us from Churchill College, Mexico City, Hina Hashmi has a BSc Hns (MSc) in Clinical Parasitology and completed her PGDE Sec-ondary Biology with Science certification with distinction. She is currently working on a Masters in Leading Teach-ing and Learning. She will be a Secondary science teacher.

Elisabeth MooreJoining us from Sturgis Public Charter School in Massachu-setts, Elisabeth Moore has a BA in Music Education. She is herself an IB graduate and, as-tonishingly, she is a former pu-pil of our much-loved depart-ing Music teacher Jane Sitarz, whose successor she will be as Secondary Music teacher.

Stewart deanJoining us from Gems World Academy, Dubai, Stewart Dean has a BA in Human Movement and a teaching certification from the University of Tasma-nia. He will be our Primary PE teacher.

new recruits

JANET DRAKEJoining us from the Seattle He-brew Academy in Washinton, Janet has a BSc, an M Ed and a Principal’s certification. Janet has worked internationally as well as in the US. She has held teaching and leadership positions in the field of Math-ematics for many years and is excited to join the the IICS secondary Math department.

Andrew russelAndrew Russel joins us from the British School Manila. He has a BA (QTS) in Physi-cal Education and will be our Secondary PE teacher.

Carl KirkpatrickComing to us from Utahloy In-ternational School, Guangzhou, where he served as the PYP Coordinator, Carl Kirkpatrick has a BA in Arts and a BA in Education. He has held leader-ship positions in his previous school and will be joining us as the new PYP Coordinator at IICS.

Kara KunciwJoining us from Jakarta World Academy, Kara Kunciw has a BA in Education and Montes-sori certification. She is cur-rently working on her Masters in Elementary Education. She will be a Primary teacher at IICS.

DENIZ YAYLIMDeniz Yaylim’s most recent teaching position was for In-ternational College Spain. She has a BA in Communications from University of Southern Queensland, Australia; a Turkish teaching certification; and a TEFL qualification. She will be teaching Turkish language and culture in our Primary school.

OLGA ASHOUROlga Ashour joins us from College Champittet in Swit-zerland. She has a BEd in Education from Tasmania, a Montessori certification, a BA in Psychology, and an MEd in Early Childhood Education. She will join us as a Primary teach-er. Australian by birth but with Turkish heritage, Ms. Ashour is a fluent Turkish speaker.

Hannah quallsJoining us from Central Mid-dle and Prairie View Elemen-tary School in Illinois, Hannah Qualls has a BA in Music Edu-cation. She is an instrumental specialist and will take up the position of Music teacher for our Primary school as well as teach an MYP class.

WORLD CLASSFACULTY

new recruits

Anna murrayAnna Murray joins us from ENKA School. She has a BA in Business and German and a PGCE from Nottingham University, as well as a TEFL certification. She will be a Pri-mary teacher at IICS.

CENDRiNE MANSATJoining us from Pierre Loti French school in Istanbul, Cen-drine Mansat has been involved in teaching French immersion programs in the UK and US. She has an MA in Economics and an MA in Elementary Edu-cation, as well as a US teaching certification. She will teach French in our Primary school.

KIM CAVENDERJoining us from the Hisar School here in Istanbul, Kim has a BA in Political Science and an M Ed in International education specializing in EAL.Kim will teach Language B and provide EAL support at IICS.

At IICS we have the luxury of recruiting worldwide for excellent practitioners, which means we have an excel-lent pool of talent to choose from when considering in-house faculty for leadership team role. The following staff members have accepted additional leadership positions:

PATRICIA HERMES, DP COORDINATORMs. Patricia Hermes will take on the role of IB Coordinator. Ms. Hermes has over 18 years of specialist experience in the IB Diploma Program. She has held the role of IBDP Coordinator in three other international schools, she has served on a curriculum review team for the IB and acted as an IB Examiner for Economics. Highly respected by staff and students, we are lucky to have Ms. Hermes, in situ, to con-tinue the development of our program at IICS.

DAVE JOHNSON, MYP COORDINATORMr Johnson has been with IICS since 2011 and has become known for his outstanding teaching, his contributions to our co-curricular program, and his innovative approach to curriculum development. He will be responsible for implementing the revised MYP curriculum and developing the rigor and effectiveness of this program.

WORLD CLASSFACULTY

DUANE SMiTH, primary early years team leaderWith over 18 years’ experience in Early Years education from Australia and abroad, Mr. Smith is excited to take up this position at IICS. He has held senior management positions in several schools and has been involved in high-level curriculum development. He was appointed by the Queensland Education Authority to redraft their English curriculum and serve as a trainer and consultant to schools in the region. Mr. Smith will continue to build on the good work of Ms. Charaine Poutasi, his predecessor.

louise mcquade,UPPER primary team leaderA well-established staff member of IICS with 14 years’ experience, Ms. McQuade has specialized in Upper Primary for over a decade. She has held leadership positions in previous schools for Social Studies and Math-ematics and is eager to take up the challenge of team leadership at IICS in addition to teaching Grade 5. In this role, Ms. McQuade will focus on further developing the pastoral support of our Primary students as well as ensuring the smooth running of the section. She will take over from the highly-respected Ms. Lauren Grahame.

jaima holland,primary science leaderA valued member of our Secondary science department, Ms. Holland has accepted the challenge of extending the effectiveness of our Primary sci-ence curriculum and supporting the Primary staff in developing their sci-ence expertise. This is a new position for 2014-15 to support Primary’s intensified focus on science in the coming year. Ms. Holland will continue to teach physics in Secondary in addition to this subject leader role. Ms. Holland has senior management experience, curriculum development expertise and a Masters in Learning Innovation, which will support her well in her first involvement with primary students!

At IICS we are proud of our teachers and the outstanding relationships they build with our students.

“IICS is like my home. The teachers are awesome,

my friends are great. I love IICS.”

--Primary student

WORLD CLASSFACULTY

ACADEMICRESULTS

2004200520062007200820092010201120122013

27 28 29 30 31 32

...Students with expert subject knowledge; with the skills good students require – re-search, essay writing, footnoting; but above all, with the spirit of intellectual inquiry and critical thinking, the ability to challenge, argue and ask questions. UK universities are clearly aware of this: the offer rate and acceptance rate for IB Diploma students is notably above other post-16 qualifications, and in the US, the IB Diploma is a sought-after passport to top universities.

The IB develops the future leaders the workplace needs – people who know how to collaborate and who know the value of teamwork, people with analytical ability, versatility, international understanding. The IB develops what a global society and a local community can’t survive without – individuals who want to make a difference, who have developed the compassion and sense of public duty to contribute.

THE INDEPENDENT: 'The IB develops the students top universities want'

IB EXAM RESULTS 2004-present

2014 IB EXAM AVERAGE: 33 POINTS

The world average for IB Diploma scores over the past decade has remained around 28 points, which includes scores from selective schools.

Our class of 2014 achieved great success in their final exams. A large number of strong performances produced an average of 32.7, well above the world average for all IB schools.

“The IB taught me to manage my time efficiently, study hard, compose lengthy essays, communicate effectively, and conduct research that most students don’t do until their first or even second year at university. The IB also gives you a well-rounded education so you can excel in almost any class you take.” --Stephanie Charouk, IICS AlumAttended Georgetown University

“You know you’re in good shape when your IB Maths HL class can carry a masters university engineer-ing course for two years. Even until now, I have never felt the same level of difficulty and competition that I came across in those last two years of IICS.” --Ezra Baydur, IICS Alum, Attended University of Warwick

IB RESULTS

2014

29.6 29.6 29.8 29.6 30.5 28.5 29.327.0 29.4 31.2 32.7

33

The IB curriculum at PYP and MYP is focused primarily on developing the skills and attitudes necessary for high levels of independent competence, problem-solving and sustained success; however, all three IB programs are underpinned by a rigorous academic framework. The school uses MAP testing as a method of evaluating the quality and effective-ness of learning in ‘basic’ skills of reading, writing and mathematics.

BENCHMARKINGNWEA’s Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) is a key tool used by schools as an indicator of student achievement and growth. Increasingly, MAP is selected to measure the academic rigor of international schools. More than 530 international schools in 140 countries, including the vast majority of the Office of Overseas Schools through the U.S. Department of State, have adopted the MAP assessment.

MAP testing was adopted by IICS in 2011 for two key reasons. The first, to provide our community with an external measure against which to assess the quality and rigor our PYP & MYP programs. The second was to provide school leaders and teachers with data about student achievement that could be used to improve curriculum and instruc-tional strategies.

Though all tests of this nature have limitations, particularly with younger students, they provide useful additional information to teachers and leaders. This is used to triangulate with other internal assessments to gain in -depth understanding of each student’s progress as well as a picture of the overall achievement of students at IICS.

Students in grades 3-10 are tested in the fall and in the spring each year. As three years is NWEA’s minimum recom-mended length of time for the results to be statistically reliable, we are now in a position to use the accumulated data to gain a perspective on the sustained growth of our students on basic academic skills as well as the detailed informa-tion MAP provides on each individual child.

MAP TESTING

ACADEMICRESULTS

RESULTSOur results show us:

• At grade 10 and for all three years of testing, IICS students performed significantly above worldwide international school norms on all three tests: Reading, Language, and Mathematics (see chart 1).

• The NWEA reports that 3 points above or below the norm is statistically significant, making scores at grade 10 particularly compelling.

• Mathematics: the results for all three years of testing show that students scored significantly higher than international school averages.

• The MAP test is designed to report on U.S. cur-riculum standards, not the varieties of learning valued in inquiry-based, learner-centred systems like the Primary Years Program (PYP).

• More than 50% of our students have been at IICS for 3 years or less, making the gathering of reliable longitudinal data difficult. To report on the quality of learning at IICS we filtered test scores for just students who have been with us for at least five years (see chart 2).

MAP TESTING

ACADEMICRESULTS

0

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100

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Grade 4

Grade 5

Grade 6

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Grade 8

Grade 9

Grade 10

IICS Long-Term Students

All International Schools



MAP Math SCORESfor Long Term IICS Students (5+ Years)

MAP readingSCORESfor Long Term IICS Students (5+ Years)

180

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Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Grade 6

Grade 7

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Grade 9

Grade 10



180

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Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10

MAP LANGUAGE SCORESfor Long Term IICS Students (5+ Years)



MAP TESTINGACADEMICRESULTS

205

210

215

220

225

230

235

240

245

Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8 Grade 9 Grade 10

200

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200

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IICS 3+ Years Students


MAP Math SCORESfor Students at IICS 3+ YEARS

MAP readingSCORESforStudents at IICS 3+ YEARS



MAP LANGUAGE SCORESfor Students at IICS 3+ YEARS



MAP TESTINGACADEMICRESULTS

In addition to their successes in external examinations, our students are demonstrating excellence and achievement in an ever-expanding range of arenas.

At IICS we believe in the importance of physical development and the additional opportunities sports can offer students for building skills for leadership, perseverance, resilience and teamwork. We have a strong ethos of encouraging everyone to participate. We field teams of varying levels of experience in a wide range of sports and have had a great deal of fun and success this year.

STUDENTACHIEVEMENT

206students

travelled to

10countries& played in

80%of all IICS Secondary students participate in

co-curricular athletics and activities.

3tournaments

hosted byiics

23teams

45tournaments

ON

21trophies

won

TAKING PART

STUDENTACHIEVEMENT

A selection of Awards and distinctions from 2013...

International Math DistinctionSeniors So Hyeon Park and Ga Eun Park were awarded distinctions in the annual international mathematics competition held by the University of Waterloo, Canada. Both girls ranked in the top 25% of contestants worldwide.

CEESA Math TrophyOur High School Math Club competed in Bucharest this year and, despite in-tense competition from the 10 schools competing, won third place.

ISL Chess Medal winnersThe IICS Chess Team brought home the silver medal from the Istanbul Sports League tournament, competing against 70 students from 5 schools. It was the first year for IICS to enter this tournament and our students were very motivated by their first successes. They were the only team there capable of using chess notation.

CEESA Robotics trophyOur IICS Robotics Team took second place in the annual CEESA tournament – beaten only by a local team from Bucharest that had reached the world robotics championships the previous year.

Model United nations AwardsOur senior teams competed in Dublin and in Istanbul at Robert College’s MUN. IICS students were recognized at each event.

CEESA Speech & debate medal winnersContinuing IICS’ strong track record in this area, our students enjoyed great success in this tournament, winning gold medals in Original Oratory and Oral In-terpretation and silver medals in Debate.

International AwardThe school extended its involvement in the Duke of Edinburgh program, with a record number of participating students.

The IICS Dolphin Award program recognizes students who have shown the sustained responsibility and commitment it takes to achieve highly in all areas.

Criteria include excellent attendance, partici-pation in school activities and co-curriculars, maintaining academic progress, and high grades in Approaches to Learning (AtLs) This year’s achievers:

STUDENTACHIEVEMENT

Diamond Dolphins Arda SozerBilal SamiElla BlanchardEva OomsFilippo ManziniHalim KimHyojee RyuIman MirzaJae Heon KimJong Ho Chong Joseph HilditchMaria DiavolovaMert TekdemirRoma DziembajSamantha IsmailSelin Sagiroglu Serena BirdincSvea VaagtVanda MayerViviane Weinstabl Zeynep Celikkol

Gold Dolphins Ayush JoshiElla BlanchardFilippo ManziniHalim KimJames HilditchJu Hee SeoLara PicancoLorenzo D’EufemiaMelda AlalufMoon Kyu ParkQing DongRishabh JainRoberto VottaSamantha Ismail Yoo Kyung Joung

Siver Dolphins Akane IwadoAlpin YukselogluAres ZerunyanAyush JoshiBilal SamiDenise OzturkEva OomsHendrya StevensonHye-Eun JeongHyojee RyuKelani MuellerMaho KannoMaria Diavolova Melda AlalufRachael PyeSo Hyeon Park Sofia Blanchard Sofie OomsSvea VaagtVanda MayerYorgo Toprakcioglu

Bronze Dolphins Abigail VogelaarAlia RagabAlpin Yukseloglu Amanda Soeiro NentisArda SozerCemi Demiroglu Daniel Zoumaya Daniela CasalinoDenise Ozturk Dilara MartinezEfe TekdemirEmre YakupogluGa Eun ParkGahyeon YuGiampaolo D’EufemiaHajung ChoIman MirzaJae Hoon KwonJeong Kwon RyuJoseph Hilditch Julia SeibertKelani MuellerKenta KikuchiKlara Voxstrom Koki TomitaLasse VaagtLeah Soeiro Nentis Linn Van LeeuwenLorenzo D’Eufemia

Luke VogelaarMelissa Yukseloglu Mert TekdemirMichal AvrahamMiriam CelebilerMoon Kyu Park Niklas SchmidtNula SakaOliver MayerPhilipp SchilkPieter OomsPiyush JoshiQing DongRuth Paula Aernout Sae YamaguchiSelin IbrahimovSelina KurzSercan CalikSerena BirdincSubin KimSuhyun KimTanisha BoloorTimur FadilogluYae Whan LeeYoo Chan JoungYoo Kyung Joung Yorgo ToprakciogluZeynep Celikkol

IICS has a strong tradition of ‘everyone involved’ when it comes to competitive and non-com-petitive sports. Despite our relatively small size compared to the schools we compete against we have fielded teams for every sport and enjoyed considerable successes. There has been much learning about teamwork, commitment, resilience and leadership.

CEESA recognizes the impact and importance of the above skills through the Sportsmanship tro-phy, awarded to one team at each tournament, based on strict criteria.

STUDENTACHIEVEMENT

Sports

List of awards and placingsSportsmanship trophiesHS Boys’ FootballMS Boys’ BasketballHS Girls’ BasketballHS Boys’ BasketballMS Girls’ VolleyballHS Girls’ Volleyball

Istanbul Schools League (ISL) TOURNAMENTS

FootballMS Girls’ 1st PlaceVarsity Girls’ 2nd PlaceVarsity Boys’ 2nd Place

BadmintonIICS Team 1st Place

VolleyballMS Girls’ 1st PlaceMS Boys’ 3rd PlaceHS Girls’ 1st PlaceHS Boys’ 1st Place

BasketballVarsity Girls’ 2nd PlaceVarsity Boys’ 1st Place

Ankara TournamentBasketballVarsity Girls’ 2nd PlaceVarsity Boys’ 4th Place

CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPEAN SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION (CEESA)TOURNAMENTS

Cross countryHS Girls’ 1st Place Team 1st Place IndividualMS Boys’ 8th Place

FootballMS Boys’ 3rd PlaceMS Girls’ 5th PlaceJV Boys’ 4th PlaceVarsity Girls’ 4th PlaceVarsity Boys’ 5th Place

BasketballMS Boys’ 4th PlaceMS Girls’ 7th PlaceJV Boys’ 4th Place

VolleyballMS Girls’ 3rd PlaceMS Boys’ 5th PlaceJV Girls’ 4th PlaceJV Boys’ 4th Place

SoftballMS Boys’ 3rd Place

THE ARTS

DP VISUAL ARTs

SECONDARY DRAMA

orchestra

visiting artists

primary DRAMA

MYP visual arts

STUDENTACHIEVEMENT

STUDENTconnections

Our IICS graduates continue on to impressive universities and careers. Keeping connected with them is relatively easy because the strong sense of community at IICS keeps the senti-mental bond alive.

Emphasizing our alumni connections this year has included the development of a literal alumni hall of fame poster installation at the Marmara campus to inspire current IICS stu-dents.

This inspiration has also become a full-fledged mentor program where established alumni reach out to current students considering similar occupations to share experience, pro-vide advice and more.

Our 2004 graduates have proven extremely outgoing this year, not only visiting IICS as a part of their 10 year reunion, but also gladly honoring our requests for mentoring:

-Ferhat Zamanpur, a USC grad who is now managing his family’s successful Silk & Cashmere clothing company, provided a day of onsite mentoring at his production facilities with a grade 10 IICS student whose Personal Project was creating his own apparel brand.

-Alexandra Courcoulas, Wellesley BA, NYU MA, and current MIT PhD candidate, met with two grade 11 students who are also interested in Alex’s chosen field of architec-ture and art history. Time spent with her helped our students evaluate some of their art and design choices.

Other alumni with very interesting careers have offered to Skype in to classes, make acquaintance with students who share their career aspirations, and more.

We hope to expand upon this initiative of in-cluding our extended community to help guide and support our current students.

alumni

UNIVERSITYPLACEMENTS

IICS is proud of its 100% successful university placement rate. The 32 students of the Class of 2013 from Istanbul International Community School were accepted at the following universities and colleges:

NORTH AMERICA

europe Asia

united statesAlvernia University American University * + Ave Maria University Boston University Bryant University Columbia College Drew University * Drexel University * Embry Riddle Aeronautical Univ. Florida Inst. of Technology *Franciscan University George Washington Univ.Hofstra University *Le Moyne College Loyola University Lynn University Marist University Menlo College Michigan State University Mount St. Mary’s Univ. * +Northeastern Univ.* +Northwestern University Pace University * Pennsylvania State Univ. Quinnipiac University Ramapo College Roger William University Syracuse University >Univ. of Connecticut Univ. of Maryland +Univ.of Philadelphia Univ. of Wisconsin Madison Wheaton College*

* = with academic scholarship+ = with entry into honors program> = with Early Decision acceptance

NORTH AMERICA

canadaDalhousie UniversityMcMaster UniversityMemorial UniversitySimon Fraser UniversityToronto UniversityUniversity of GuelphUniversity of Saskatchewan University of TorontoYork University

Bath Spa UniversityBournemouth University Royal HollowaySt. AndrewsSuffolk UniversityUniversity of DundeeUniversity of East AngliaUniversity of EdinburghUniversity of EssexUniversity of Liverpool University of LondonUniv. of SouthhamptonUniversity of SurreyUniversity of Sussex

unitedkingdom

NETHerlandsRotterdam Univ. CollegeUtrecht Univ. CollegeErasmus Univ. Rotterdam

CHINAHong Kong University of TechnologyHong Kong University of Science & Technology

University Admissions Rep Visits to IICS Campus: 65 from 8 countriesUniversity Fairs in Istanbul made available to IICS students: 13

Admissions Webinars & Skype Conferencing with University Reps: 12 Admissions Workshops for Parents: 2, including 1 with an expert from US

Rapport-building Visits to Universities: 13 in 4 countriesACT & SAT Preparatory Courses: 4

counselingdedicated

The University & Careers Counselor at IICS provides a robust program of advisory, preparation courses, a constant flow of visits from university reps, as well as actively cultivating rapport with admissions officers worldwide to

help IICS students access the universities that are best for them.

developing& IMPROVING

The vision of the IICS community is that the school will be exceptional in every regard. This takes a determined team approach involving seeking input and feedback from all involved. This year new op-portunities were created to elicit parent and student feedback.

FACE TO FACEA program of Principal’s Teas was initiated allow-ing monthly opportunities both for city-based and Marmara-based parents to meet with the Primary Principal to offer ideas, gain information, share con-cerns, and collaborate.

FORMAL FEEDBACKIn addition to person-to-person interaction with the Leadership Team, all parents were offered the chance to share their views via a comprehensive survey in November.

ACTING ON INPUTSome of the more immediate responses to this feed-back included a review of the language curriculum offered in Primary, resulting in greater provision for Turkish language as well as a revised French curricu-lum and approaches/ review of the Math and Science objectives in Primary. Provisions were introduced for children with special dietary needs, and a program of English lessons was provided for the bus supervisors.

On the operational side much work was done facili-tating school communications to parents, resulting in the launch of the IICS family homepage – a one-stop online location offering access to all the web-based school information areas parents typically need.

STUDENT-DRIVEN CHANGEAll students were asked to complete a comprehen-sive survey on their views of all aspects of the school in May.

The responses – particularly from Secondary stu-dents - were notable for their thoughtfulness and maturity. Owing to the quality of their feedback, a workshop was held with grades 7 to 11 to discuss their issues and to solicit their ideas not only for solutions but how they could be involved to lead the developments.

This collaboration has led to Secondary students devising and submitting plans for theater improve-ments to the Facilities Manager; significant changes are underway with regard to school meals; a student technology support crew has been established; and the school’s innovative ‘exploratory’ program has been taken to the next level by the students.

A group of students were keen to have the oppor-tunity to study archery and discovered that Second-ary PE teacher, Ms. Blazek, is an expert in this field. The school has invested in equipment to include this discipline in the PE curriculum and the Booster Club has funded additional equipment to allow archery to also be offered as a co-curricular sport.

developing& IMPROVING

FACULTY-DRIVEN CHANGEStaff members have met to discuss the feedback from students regarding their learning experiences at IICS and what they feel enables them to excel. Their ideas affirm the school’s current work in offering greater choice to students, offering more opportunities to work at increasingly higher levels, and giving students personalized feedback.

CURRENT & PLANNED DEVELOPMENTSThe Early Years Team has made great strides this year in developing their expertise in creating rich play-based learning experiences for their students. Making study visits to top international schools in Europe, staff members have brought back ideas to ensure our program is of outstanding quality. The appointment of Mr. Duane Smith as Early Years Team Leader for 2014-15 will ensure this excellent work is continued.

LanguagesChanges have been made to the Primary French cur-riculum to ensure it is engaging for our students and effective in eliciting confident Francophones. These developments will continue with the added expertise of Ms. Cendrine Mansat, who has many years experi-ence in immersive programs.

Based on responses from parents, the Turkish cul-ture program has been expanded to support more language learning provision both for beginners and advanced speakers.

MYP DevelopmentThe MYP has been undergoing some significant changes worldwide to develop the rigor within the subject areas and greater authentic connection be-tween them. IICS has led the development of interdis-ciplinary units in Grade 8. Despite a few early teeth-ing troubles, these units have motivated our students to higher achievement and inspired them to demand more of this approach from their teachers.

Secondary SubjectsIn the Secondary school, two new subjects were introduced at IBDP level: Film and Environmental Sys-tems. We have also introduced an integrated guidance program from Grades 7 to 10.

Student-Led LearningThe Exploratory Program was launched as a pilot se-ries of courses offering students some choice in the subjects they took and in shaping the learning. The outstanding success of some of these courses, typi-cally ones in which students actively led the program, has inspired the allocation of additional time and resources to developing it next year.

Student Directed Learning Time (SDLT) is a program pioneered at IICS for DP students to gain access to 1:1 or small group tutoring from their teachers, to collaborate more with peers, and to learn how to manage their time effectively. Following feedback after the first year of the initiative, we have fine-tuned and developed SDLT to the extent that students from younger classes are now asking for it to be offered in the lower grades.

This approach is also being trialed at other top inter-national schools in Brussels (ISB) and Prague (ISP). Feedback from students and parents – even those not initially very sure – has been extremely positive.

School RestaurantFinally, an issue of great importance to students and continual distraction for parents and school leaders – the food- has been tackled and an improved solution for the next school year put in place.

ADMISSIONS:INCOMING TRENDS

In 2013-14, IICS had a record of 196 new students throughout the year.

During the academic year, 56 new students were admitted while 47 students departed the school.

IICS started with 595 students and ended with a record high of 604 students. This represents approxi-mately 28% net growth since 2005-6.

IICS Annual Report 2013-2014

Documents

Transcript of IICS Annual Report 2013-2014