Recently in some news stories you may have read that private schools are being attacked because they have been removing students to improve the schools grade averages. On my travels across the world I have seen this happen before and always believed it was wrong. Students are individuals, they have their own way of doing things, own characters, academic ability and a their own part to play in life. I often use the story of a friend of mine, Bill, who didn’t do well in school and even now isn’t good at maths or academic subjects. He is a carpenter, and yet he can put a new door into a frame without any measurements just by eye and it’s a perfect fit every time. He can craft individual furniture pieces which are stunning to look at and handle almost all household work tasks.
In a schoolsystem, as I explained above, Bill would have been put to one side to improve grade averages and yet I know his ‘intelligence’ is not in academics but he has a skill which I cannot even get close to. At ISIB we celebrate all students and their abilities, it is our role as educators to get the best from each child and allow them to grow their passion and choose a future path in life. Our system might not suit everyone but for the students in our school remember ‘ Success does not necessarily bring you happiness, but happiness will always bring you success.’ By focussing on this our students will achieve their own success and we will not make judgements on their achievements.