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The International School of Beijing (ISB, Chinese: 北京顺义国际学校[4]) is a non-profit international co-educational day school in Beijing, China. The school was founded in 1980, it is the oldest and largest international school in Beijing. ISB accepts students from Early Years 2 to Grade 12. ISB offers a dual English and Chinese language program for students from Early Years to Grade 5. It also offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in Grades 11 and 12. ISB is recognized by the Beijing Education Commission (BEC) as an independent school for expatriate children.
International School of Beijing 北京顺义国际学校 | |
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Location | |
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Coordinates | 40°04′42″N 116°31′08″E / 40.078375°N 116.518761°E |
Information | |
Other name | ISB |
Type | Private international day school |
Established | 1980 |
Authority |
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Head of School | Daniel K. Rubenstein |
Grades | EY2–12 |
Enrollment | 1,780 |
Campus size | 13 hectares (32 acres)[2] |
Color(s) | Blue and white |
Mascot | Dragon |
Accreditations |
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Affiliations |
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Website | www |
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International School of Beijing | |||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 北京顺义国际学校 | ||||||
Traditional Chinese | 北京順義國際學校 | ||||||
Literal meaning | Beijing Shunyi International School | ||||||
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History
editIn the 1970s, a small foreign school was established in Beijing, under the auspices of the United States Liaison Office in Beijing, precursor to the US Embassy. Classes were held in a hallway of a diplomatic apartment compound in Sanlitun, with 8 students and 2 certified teachers.
In 1980, the US Embassy merged its school with those of the British and Australian embassies. The Canadian and New Zealand embassies joined in, and the five nations together formally founded the International School of Beijing. Located on the grounds of the US Embassy, the school provided education for the children of the five founding embassies; eventually, as space allowed, children from other embassies were permitted to enroll. Bound by the strict requirements imposed on diplomatic schools, the founding embassies worked to meet educational needs of the growing expatriate community in Beijing.
In 1988 under new regulations, China's Ministry of Foreign affairs officially registered ISB as a "school for diplomatic children." The campus moved to the Lido complex of offices and housing units, and the school was permitted to accept applications from all expatriate residents of Beijing.
In 1991 ISB became the first school in Beijing to offer the full Diploma Program of the International Baccalaureate Organization. And in 1997, the school was accredited by WASC (in the United States).
In January 2002, the Beijing Municipal Education Bureau allowed ISB to be restructured as an "independent school for foreign children". In the same year, the school moved to a 13-hectare (32-acre), purpose-built facility in the Shunyi district, a northeastern suburb of Beijing. The following year, ISB was accredited by the Chinese authority NCCT. It was awarded full accreditation from CIS, NEASC (United States), and again from NCCT (China) in 2007.
ISB completed the construction of a detached sports facility in 2017, complete with two pressurized domes with air filtration, providing indoor tennis courts and a playing field area.[citation needed]
Campus
editISB is situated on a 13-hectare (32-acre) campus in Shunyi district,[5] approximately 30 minutes from downtown Beijing and close to expatriate residential compounds. Two purpose-built sports domes sit side by side over 8,500 square meters. The sports domes have H-14 grade filtration systems. In addition, ISB has four fully equipped gymnasiums (one with a climbing wall); baseball and softball diamonds; two full-sized turf soccer fields; a rugby pitch, running track, and a 665-seat stadium and an aquatics center with a 25-meter pool and diving boards.
In the main school building are 12 science labs, a student cooking lab, a visual arts wing in middle and high school, and art studios in elementary school. The performing arts wing consists of a 600-seat theater, Black Box theater, rehearsal space, and studio stage. The main school building also has two library-media centers with more than 82,000 volumes and over 160 magazine subscriptions. ISB supports a one-to-one MacBook laptop program for each student in grades 2 through 12.
In 2020 the ISB opened four new facilities: an early years learning center, an elementary school arts and theater, middle and high school performing arts center, and a middle and high school art and design center.[citation needed]
In 2023, ISB added a Middle School Playground, Golf Simulators, and 1323 Solar Panels, aligning with the school's sustainability goals.
In 2024, a new main entrance was constructed, in efforts to make the school more welcoming to parents of the ISB community.
Organization
editISB is a non-profit school governed by a 12-member Board of Trustees. These 12 volunteers are responsible for setting and approving school policy, overseeing ISB's financial status, recruiting, supporting and evaluating the Head of School and guiding strategic direction of the school, and sets goals to fulfill its responsibilities and establishes standing committees to manage its work.
Accreditations
editThe ISB is accredited with the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) in the United States; the Council of International Schools and the International Baccalaureate Organization in Europe; and the National Center for School Curriculum and Textbook Development (NCCT) in China.[6]
ISB is a member of the East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools (EARCOS) and the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) and the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC).
ISB's Vision
edit"Empowered with purpose and compassion."
ISB's Mission
edit"We are an inspiring international community in Beijing, where thinkers and leaders find their place in the world and serve others. So that our learning is at its best, we build strong relationships and set high expectations together. We are committed to challenging and joyful learning with the freedom to explore."
Strategic Focus Areas
edit1. ISB's core: challenging and joyful learning. ISB focuses on quality academic programming especially literacy plus science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math (STEAM), ensuring appropriate challenge for all learners so that every student is achieving their potential in their courses.
2. Use ISB’s resources to empower students to purpose and compassion. ISB aims to keep ensuring our students have integrity, strength of character, and that they are healthy socially and emotionally. To that end, ISB wants each student to find at least one academic area and one co-curricular pursuit they are passionate about and in which they can excel. Students will have the opportunity to sample real-world professional experience and have chances to provide service to others and create a positive social impact.
3. Strong, lifelong peer relationships across national, linguistic, and cultural lines in our inclusive community. ISB's social-emotional learning program will continue to focus on relationships, co-curricular teams and performance groups on coaching peer collaboration. ISB is also developing the greatest alumni network in Asia.
Sustainability
editISB has firmly established its commitment to sustainability and is a pioneer among international schools in this area. In the 2017-2018 academic year, the school's long-term plan of what sustainability should look and feel like at ISB was established through a collaborative process involving leadership, students, staff, parents, alumni, and major partners. The school assembled stakeholders along with representatives from the U.S. Green Building Council and a leading green energy company and drew up the ISB Sustainability Roadmap.
International Education Leadership Fellowship
editIn alignment with ISB's Mission, Vision and strategic focus areas, the International Education Leadership Fellowship was introduced in the 2023-2024 school year. It supports former Tsinghua Schwarzman Scholars to continue to develop leadership skills in the field of international education at Beijing’s oldest and largest international school. The goal of the program is for ISB to utilize the talents and expertise of an emerging leader, while providing an in-depth sampling of educational leadership experiences and mentorship.
Fellows will lead strategic educational initiatives and be able to continue global studies of China and Mandarin.
Notable alumni
editThis article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. (March 2021) |
- Joe Alexander – American-Israeli professional basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
- Camille Cheng – Olympic swimmer[7]
- Yu Shuran – Figure skater
- Dyah Roro Esti Widya Putri - Member of Parliament, Indonesia at the People's Representative Council
References
edit- ^ Address in Chinese: 北京市顺义区安华街10号 邮编101318
- ^ "About Us – Our Campus". isb.cn.
- ^ "CAISA Directory of Schools - New England Association of Schools and Colleges: Commission on American and International Schools Abroad (CAISA)". New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Leung, Sarah. "Beijing schools get thumbs up." South China Morning Post. Saturday 10 June 2010. Retrieved on 3 October 2015.
- ^ "CAISA Directory of Schools - New England Association of Schools and Colleges: Commission on American and International Schools Abroad (CAISA)". Archived from the original on 8 July 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2011., New England Association of Schools
- ^ "Camille Cheng." Swim Swam. Retrieved 2017-06-14.