ESF Island School

Island School has a very distinctive approach to schooling which has generated outstanding success over a long period of time. Our focus is on igniting a passion for learning in every student. Giving students facts is no longer enough for them to succeed post-sixteen. Our role as teachers is to show students how they can problem solve, question and think creatively with new concepts and ideas. We encourage students to become resourceful, adaptable and confident learners.

Students are encouraged to form their own opinions which they can elucidate and defend, as their decision making will be the result of research and reflection. In other words, opinions should result from learning. Holding strong opinions does not conflict with understanding that others hold different strong opinions.

Students gain confidence by setting goals they can realise, goals that challenge them to cross boundaries to achievement. Learning is about experimenting, making mistakes and being supported through the process to increase knowledge and understanding. Students should be focused on what they can do; not what they cannot do.

Our international environment demands a social, cultural and political learning process from our students. We want students to be aware of the world and their responsibilities in it, and they must learn to respect the differences of others and their opinions. By cultivating empathy and awareness students will understand how they can improve the lives of others.

Mutual respect leads to a higher quality of learning and students learn respect by being shown respect. At Island School respect is driven from a culture of genuine caring and concern for oneself and others. Teachers are role models, as are parents and other students. A culture based on caring ensures that students feel comfortable, safe and valued in our school community.

Students take responsibility for their learning in two ways. There is a wide variety of choice of courses in the middle school and senior school. Students, with careful advice, take responsibility for planning their learning by choosing the courses that are best suited to them, their needs, and their aspirations.

Within many of the courses and programmes, students have the freedom to plan their learning, either through what they learn or how they provide evidence for that learning. While they find this hard to start with, they learn to take responsibility for their learning as they mature and so are better prepared for the demands of the programmes in the senior school and beyond school.