Community message

Dear Parents, Students, and RISS Community,

I hope this message finds you well and looking forward to a restful time during the end of year festivities with families and friends.

Firstly, I would like to communicate that our IB re-evaluation visit has been an outstanding success. I don’t use these words lightly. The IB visitors were very impressed with the work, professionalism, and progress observed during their visit. Their insights contained much in the way of commendations that highlights the level of progress and commitment to the ambitious project we are undertaking at RISS as an IB School of world-class quality. We are delighted with this success as this, together with our CIS/NEASC reaccreditation, completes our accreditation cycle and demonstrates that our last two years of hard work, dedication and change is paying off. These in-depth studies of our actions as an educational institution provide certainty to parents and other stakeholders as to the quality and provision for the students, but also help us to map out our future work.

That being said, we are not going to sit on our laurels. This is just the beginning for us. We are a values-focused institution that seeks to ensure that every student enjoys their youth here and now. 

Through all of it, you as parents have been an incredible support and we thank you for the many positive messages we receive about what we do and your satisfaction with our approaches. As I keep saying, of course, we can do better and it is within this spirit that we find the motivation and drive to never underestimate what we can do for your children and our students.

And, of course, the school is already addressing every aspect of its conclusions. 

We have been under a great deal of stress this term and not just for the above. But then, which institution does not have its challenges? I would like to thank you not only for your trust in us, in our actions, in our decisions and resolutions, but also for the support you give us personally. 

Challenges before us for 2020 include further work on our middle years' offering, especially working to create a vocational strand that opens up more opportunities to all our students and provides more possibilities when it comes to their futures. We have already worked with parent and student focus groups on this - thank you to all involved - to ensure that we can make these new courses a worthwhile opportunity for all concerned. This, of course, will have a knock-on effect on our senior years and we are looking at a new venture in the upper school, where the IB Careers Programme is a strong possibility in addition to our IB Diploma Programme.

Another focus area for our school is a critical re-evaluation regarding our assessment practices and approaches. We have been working hard to ensure that our assessment strategies for the next academic year are more in line with IB and international approaches. This means that they are more formative in content, engaging and provide real opportunities for students to voice criticality, analysis and learning and, above all, they are able to reflect real progress and achievement. 

We have taken serious steps with formal student data deployment (YELLIS, MIDYIS & ALIS) to inform instruction and Higher Education counseling & guidance. Our approach to using formal data aligns with our commitment to serving our students better, and is always only the start of a conversation with parents and students, as students can definitely provide surprises that data cannot predict.

The above is just a small summary of what we are currently working on. I would like to pay my respects to my colleagues and teachers, without whom the above would not be possible. We have created a strong workforce over the last two years that has centered its efforts on our students as the heart of all our work. All that we do, that we think, that we aspire to, is to deliver the very best for our children, and believe us, we are never complacent, always driven by our belief that education is a moral enterprise to ensure that our students become fulfilled and happy adults - and enjoy their youth on the way there.

I wish you all a happy and restful time during these holidays. All the very best to you, your families and friends. 

Monica Gilbert-Saez

RISS Principal