Assistant Principals Report

Council of International School’s Community Survey Summary

We are a proudly accredited member of the Council of International Schools (CIS), an organisation dedicated to upholding outstanding educational standards and maintaining a focus on global education in schools all around the world.  Every five years, CIS schools undergo a thorough review of their practices, which feeds into a strategic plan for the next five years of school improvement.  An important part of this review is a suite or surveys knows as CIS Community Surveys, gathering feedback from our students, parents, teachers, education support staff and alumni.  This is a summary of our findings from these surveys.

Findings

The CIS Community Surveys were completed in February of 2021, with a response rate averaging above 80% for all surveys.  The responses within these surveys were overwhelmingly positive with 90.3% of all responses indicating ‘agree,’ ‘strongly agree’ or ‘not applicable’ and only 6.7% of all responses indicating ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree.’ 

While we are immensely proud of these results, there were a few areas within our school that this survey indicates the need for further exploration and planned actions.

Diversity in Learning

There were a number of indications throughout the various surveys that touched on diversity in learning and provided areas for possible planned action for our school.

1. Learners with diverse needs

The School Council survey data showed that 16.2% of respondents indicated that they disagreed with the statements “School policies allow for a comprehensive programme of support for students with additional learning needs.”  This sentiment was also reflected in the staff survey, with response rates above 10% in the combined ‘disagree’ and ‘strongly disagree’ response for the statements;

• D2: I am informed about the unique abilities and needs of newly enrolled students before admission to my classes. (25% disagreement)
• D4: Teachers receive professional training and support to identify students with special learning needs, gifts and talents. (29.5% disagreement)

2. Learning and Language

This finding about diversity in learning was supplemented by the indication that students with specific language learning needs could be an area to review, with response rates above 10% in the combined ‘disagree’ and ‘strongly disagree’ response for the statements;

• D5: Students who need specialised language support to access the curriculum are provided with effective programmes taught by qualified teachers. (13.6% disagreement)
• D5: The school helps teachers learn strategies to accommodate students who need English (or other languages of instruction) support. (11.4% disagreement)

This was again reflected in the student and alumni survey results with 15.5% of student respondents and 31.5% of Alumni respondents indicating disagreement with the statement “C3: I am effectively developing my skills in more than one language.” 

3. Cultural Diversity in Learning

While we are very proud of the cultural diversity across our school community and have a strong focus on global learning and the development of global citizens, there are indications in our student survey responses that this could be enhanced even more.  Two statement in particular received a positive response rate lower than 90% in;

• C3;D3: In my classes, I am encouraged to learn about my own background and culture (19.6% disagreement)
• D3;C3: In my classes, I learn about local places and cultures. (10.3% disagreement)

This data presents an opportunity, for us to engage with you, the GWPS community, as we redevelop our approach to learning about culture. 

Transparency around student feedback

While our school prides itself on the amount and quality of feedback given to our learners, there were indications in the parents and student survey that this approach is not bridging the gap between the school and home.  The only indicator from the parent survey to have a response rate below 90% agreement was to the statement “D7: The school continuously provides my child with feedback on how to improve.” (10.3%) This was reflected in the student survey with 16.6% of students responding in disagreement to the statement, “D7: I receive regular updates about my academic progress.”  This tells us that there is room for improvement with how we communicate our approaches to teaching and learning.

Extra-Curricular Engagement

While our school offers a wide range of extra-curricular learning opportunities, the survey results from both the student survey and the alumni survey indicate that now could be a good time to review these.  12.2% of respondents from the Alumni survey and 13.4% from the student survey indicated that they disagreed with the statement, C6: “School activities outside of my classroom match/ed my interests.”

We look forward to sharing this with our Junior School Council – Student Voice, to begin discovering what the learners at our school want to be able to participate in, outside the classroom.

Overall, the responses were extremely positive, thank you to every member of the community that participated and provided feedback on our great school.  We pride ourselves in always looking forward and finding ways to improve our wonderful school and the best way to do that is to listen to the people who live within this community five days a week.

If reading this summary of responses brings any thinking to your mind that you would like to share, please add your thoughts here.