ANNUAL REPORT #ISBthrives
2021 - 2022
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Contents Director’s Welcome 5 Board Of Trustees 7 Financial Report 8 Early Childhood Centre 12 Lower School 14 Upper School 16 Parent-Teacher Organisation 18 Student Council 21 Eco Committee 22 From The Teachers’ Perspective 24
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DIRECTOR’S WELCOME Our aim this past year has been to have a year of reconnecting with our wider community. After two years of having to keep a distance, our school has returned to a year of connection, collaboration and community building! Students, teachers and staff are back to working closely together and are thriving. This is reflected in the growth of our enrolment which has now reached a historic high of 223 students! One of our main focuses this year has been working towards becoming a more sustainable school. The importance of a sustainable future on a global scale is translated into local actions in our everyday school life at ISB. Through a number of avenues, both student and staff-driven, including our ECO committee and our Green Thumbs Committee (a group of volunteering teachers) share the ambition to become a Green Flag School. This allows us to assess the impact we have on the environment and aim to reduce our carbon footprint. To this end the school celebrated Earth Day, Earth Hour, monitored paper consumptions, introduced composting, started an ‘adopt a local area’ programme and in general heightened the awareness of sustainability. I applaud our students for persevering in this journey and for their many accomplishments! As an English-speaking international school, we are proud of our students’ impressive high Norwegian National Test results which we have published on our website. Having achieved significantly above other schools, this also demonstrates the academic quality level of both our teachers and our learners! Additionally, our students received awards both in Lego League and in the Abel Maths tournament! ISB offered more new opportunities than ever before with sold out performances for Macbeth, the Talent Show, Stars in their eyes and the Wizard of Oz. True to tradition, we have celebrated Book Week, Earth Day, Sports Day, the Christmas Craft days, Welcome Back BBQ, and concluded with the Summer Picnic. Connection has been encouraged with parents returning inside the school building after a two year absence. Seventeen Connect Cafes, ISBs parent education and connection opportunity, were offered over the school year with visiting speakers and teachers and administrators offering a wide variety of topics, ranging from STEM and Diversity to Mathematics and the setting of boundaries. Thank you to all the parents who took the time to learn together with us. I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the excellent work the PTO has done supporting our students throughout the year. Many events would not take place if it weren’t for their preparation and willingness to be that pair of helping hands each event needs. A whole new ‘face of ISB’ can this year be seen on our new website, on the newly created parent and staff portal, and in the new ISB film which has changed how the world views ISB. As a school ISB continues to go from strength to strength and now has the highest enrolment in its 47 year history. We look forward in the coming year to develop and implement a new Strategic Plan, offer further After School Activities in line with the school’s ethos and ensure that we contribute actively to a more sustainable world. We will continue to develop both hearts and minds, as this is what ISB is all about! #shapingthefuture Viki Stiebert, Director
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BOARD OF TRUSTEES It gives me great pleasure to reflect on this school year and the work we have done as a Board. I have now been on the ISB Board for four years and have seen our school go from strength to strength. It is satisfying to note the school now having a strong financial base enabling it to look towards the future with confidence. A great accomplishment of a Board is to ensure that they hire a strong leader to support the leadership team. During my time on the Board we have hired Viki Stiebert and extended the Leadership Team. I want to commend them as a group on the thoughtful and intentional way they have steered our school through at times turbulent waters with a pandemic to contend with, as well as serving the mission exceptionally well. Their strength has ensured that the Board has been able to focus strategically on moving ISB forward. Boards have three main goals: • To ensure the long term strategic wellbeing of a school • To work with the Director on quality control of the programme the students are provided with in form of policies • To look after the financial wellbeing of the school The Board set goals in line with these expectations, this year’s goals were: 1. Further increasing financial reserves and investigating additional income sources 2. Maximising the roll and forming waiting lists 3. Re-establishing the connection with Bergen Kommune 4. To actively recruit new Board members 5. Developing a new Strategic Plan for ISB Policy development is an ongoing task for a school Board. This year we approved the new data protection policy, which has been particularly dear to my heart. It will assure that we keep our families’ information safe. Related to this, information at ISB has become much more accessible in the past year with the introduction of both a staff and even more recently a parent portal. The Kommune provides the school with superb facilities in exchange for the school ensuring that there are spaces for families who are internationally mobile. Therefore, we have been working on having a more active connection with Bergen Kommune, this is an especially important relationship for ISB. On behalf of the Board, the Director meets regularly with the Kommune to ensure that both parties’ needs are met. This important relationship has served ISB well and I am glad to have been a witness over my time on the Board to have seen how our students have reaped the benefits in the form of a quality international education being available to our students. Looking forward, we have begun to develop a new Strategic Plan for ISB. We want to set clear and specific long-term goals for the future of the school. I believe that the school is now in a really good place and that we are continuously working on fulfilling our mission of contributing to a more tolerant, peaceful and globally responsible society. I leave with a feeling of great satisfaction for what has been achieved during my time on the Board and am looking forward to ISBs achievements in the future as this school keeps progressing. Because once an ISB Orca, I will always remain so. Agnethe Lødøen, Chair of the ISB Board of Trustees 7
FINANCIAL REPORT Enrolment school year 2021/22 ISB has students from 38 different nationalities. Enrolment has been steadily increasing, in August 2021 there were 211 students enrolled and in May 2022 there were 223 students. Enrolment profile
ISB has students from India, USA, Great Britain, Sweden, France, Egypt, Norway, Serbia, Germany, Vietnam, Uganda, Russia, Romania, Poland, Japan, Italy, Ireland, China, Australia, Nigeria, Taiwan, Philippines, Pakistan, Netherlands, Jordan, Eritrea, Denmark, Czech Republic, Venezuela, Turkey, Spain, Lithuania, Croatia, Korea, Singapore, Nepal, Yemen and Brazil. The majority of the students come from the following countries:
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Finance overview The International School of Bergen is a non-profit organisation. All income at ISB is either re-invested towards improving the school’s infrastructure, enhancing student experiences, supporting programs that enrich the learning experience or is saved to guarantee financial stability for years to come. ISB income The School’s revenue is split between grants from Bergen kommune and tuition. Grants provide 50% of the revenue and tuition provides 50%. For ECC (Early Childhood Centre) the revenue is also split between grants from Bergen kommune and tuition. Grants provide 79% percent of the revenue and tuition 21% in this area of the school. Numbers used are based on the 2021 auditors report. Revenue school NOK 29.800.000
Revenue ECC NOK 7.000.000
How does ISB spend its money? The core of iSB’s expenses is related to salaries which constitute 85% of all costs. The remaining 15% are costs related to IT, student equipment, cleaning, heating, marketing, maintenance, professional development and more. The costs have increased from 2020 to 2021 mainly due to higher salary costs. Pre-school 1&2 was opened in February and three new staff members were hired for this classroom in line with Bergen Kommune’s prescribed ratios. The Leadership structure was changed in 2020 with this having its financial impact in 2021. Summary of expenditure 2021: NOK 35.547.000. School costs NOK 28.590.000
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Main investments in school year 2020/21 New fitted cabinets and shelves in Grade 1 classroom. Additional foldable chairs so that there are enough chairs when there are events at school. Eight 3D printers that are placed in the Science room and can be used across all grades. Sets of Blue Bots and Spheros. The financial result in 2021 showed a surplus of NOK 1.000.000.
Result The financial result in 2021 showed a surplus of NOK 1.000.000. Auditor’s report revenue
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Auditor’s report balance
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EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTRE We are moving towards the end of another school year, where we are very pleased to look back at a year in the ECC filled with learning and play that has supported our students greatly in their development, in addition to contributing to a positive childhood experience, here and now. We also appreciate our parents’ contributions through active communication and engagement in both everyday learning and play activities, in addition to events and celebrations throughout the year. An important focus in the ECC this year has been to develop our physical learning and play environment further, where we talk about The third teacher. This to ensure that our students have voice, choice and ownership of their learning and play, within the framework of our curricula - the PYP (IB) and the Norwegian Framework plan. With covid numbers going down and society slowly opening up again, we have been able to expand our learning and play environment to School library: is freequently visited. include inspiring learning environments in a variety of contexts, such as the Aquarium in Nordnes, VilVite and Kode. We were able to take all our students to visit the Aquarium in April. This turned out to be a great learning experience and a lovely day out for everyone. Throughout this school year the numbers in the ECC have increased significantly. We started off this school year with 37 students and are now counting 49.
ECC in our hearts: Staff, interns and students all together on the playground.
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Looking at next school year, Preschool 1&2 and Kindergarten are already at capacity, and both classes have students on the waiting list. The numbers in Preschool 3&4 are also looking very positive and we will be beginning the school year with two classes. An important PD focus for the ECC staff this year has been The Third Teacher, in addition to Child protection. We have focused on giving our students the tools and vocabulary to ensure they have the courage and knowledge to act when they have a concern. This focus continues to be an important PD goal for next year to ensure that we work proactively looking after every student’s best interest and wellbeing. Feeling safe, happy and knowing they are heard is our goal for every child! It’s a great pleasure to observe students, staff and parents in the ECC interacting on a daily basis with Happy faces: Celebrating Norway’s Consitution day. this in mind. At our ECC there is room for everyone to participate, grow and thrive. We all greatly appreciate being part of such an inclusive and inspiring environment, both in the ECC and ISB as a whole. Ingebjørg Rensvik, ECC Principal
Painting: Creative activity to learn about colours.
Easter Egg Hunt: Finding hidden eggs in the forest.
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LOWER SCHOOL They say time flies when you are having fun and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the students in the Lower School have had a fun year filled with a multitude of different learning experiences. The memories of cohorts and restricted playtimes are firmly behind us and this year we have welcomed parents and other visitors back into our classrooms to share in our learning. We have also been able to venture out and there have been visits to the aquarium, Natural History Museum, Vilvite, and the art galleries. One of our core values is community and this year we began a collaboration with one of our neighbours, Sandsli Bo og aktivitet senter. This is a residential home for the elderly and for those who require assisted living. Our Lower School students paid them a visit and entertained them with a variety of songs and dance. There was much foot tapping and some of the audience even tried to follow along to the movements. As restrictions are lifted, we plan to strengthen this collaboration and invite the residents back to ISB for various events in the coming months.
Nanowrimo: Writing sessions during lunch break.
Field trip: Grade 3 at Vilvite.
Another new initiative in the Lower School is the Nanowrimo writing project which saw some of our students taking up the challenge of writing a book in the month of November. This took considerable commitment and students spent their break times penning their stories under the watchful eye of Jacob Silkstone, who is a writer and editor for various publications. After further months of editing and illustrating, the final editions went to print and a copy of each book can now be found in the Community Cove, our school library. This is a big achievement for our students and they can all be rightfully proud of their novels.
This year also saw the arrangement of overnight trips for our Lower School students for the first time. Grades 3 and 4 are spending a night camping out on the island of Sotra and our Grade 5 students headed to Voss for an action packed two days which included a high ropes course, rafting down the river and sleeping in a lavvo. Our youngest students also got to “practice” sleeping out and they enjoyed a sleepover at school. Adding these events to the Lower School calendar is another way that we are seeking to provide an enriched learning environment that goes beyond the walls of the classroom. We continue to focus on developing and strengthening our curriculum and there are a number of new programmes that we have adopted to further improve both our planning and assessing student work. We have moved to a new platform called Toddle for curriculum planning, portfolios Finally: Students got to share their and communication with parents and despite the teething problems that learning with their parents .
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come with introducing something new, we are well on our way to using all features the platform offers. We have also introduced further benchmarking assessments in reading and writing that help inform our planning and teaching. All of these initiatives ensure that we make the business of learning our top priority. When I reflect back on this year I feel incredibly fortunate and inspired to work with a team of such dedicated educators who are committed to making a difference to those in their care. We are still a small school however we offer a multitude of learning experiences and truly know our students. I am already looking forward to the next school year with a great sense of excitement and anticipation as we are adding a second grade four class, due to high enrollment, and our other Outdoor education: Students learning while outside. classrooms are also all filling up rapidly. We are seeking ways to incorporate further Service as Action opportunities into our curriculum and are looking forward to collaborating closely with our parents and other learning experts. Together we continue having our ISB students at the centre of all we do! Leanne Hagen, Lower School Principal
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UPPER SCHOOL
And in what seems like the blink of an eye, another school year has passed. It only seems like yesterday that we were welcoming students back for the new school year in August. Where did those 11 months go? They say that if you have little to occupy you, then time goes slowly, so perhaps it’s an indication of what a jam packed year we have had that it seems to have flown by. We had a wonderful start to the year with our Social and Emotional (SEL) learning day down at Nygårdsparken in our first week, where students in upper school took part in a wide range of activities to help them bond and work together collaboratively on a beautiful sunny day. And from there things continued in the same vein with numerous wonderful learning opportunities throughout the rest of the year that even Mr Covid, despite his best efforts, could not jeopardise. There were many highlights throughout the year and to pick out just a few is a difficult task. Nevertheless here are a few standouts that resonated with me. Firstly the return of the Interdisciplinary Unit Week (IDU). Over the years the IDU week had become a beacon of excellence due to the unique way that ISB has delivered this requirement of the MYP programme. To highlight its importance, and our belief in the concept of combining a range of subjects to allow a true deep understanding of a theme, we decided some years ago to abandon the normal timetable and to devote 8 school days to the event. During the time students studied a broad range of themes involving different subjects in each grade culminating in a presentation of their work to the rest of the school. This year the areas of study were GR 6/7 ‘Roots’ ;covering the many connotations of the word, from heritage to horticulture. Gr8 Diaspora; using languages and performing arts to explore displaced peoples in history and now. Gr9 ‘The Face of the Other’ a philosophical study of the individual and their experiences of life behind the face. Gr10; Ocean Environment, the impact of man on the ocean and life associated with it and how we can sustain it for the future. Each grade produced examples of outstanding work which prompted the Director Ms Stiebert, who had not experienced an ISB IDU week before to comment ‘An outstanding example of learning excellence’ . Secondly the return of residential visits. For the first time since the pandemic we are able to fulfil our full programme of residential events for every grade. Grade 6 students spent a week in Oslo on a Norwegian cultural exploration. Grade 7 visited Hardangertun Leirskole for a week of outward bound activities. Grade 8 went to Mjøllfjell for a week of winter mountain survival. Grade 9 went to Myrkdalen for ski week. And grade 10 students have visited Verona, Italy for a combined cultural and Service as Action trip, taking in Venice and Milan as well, with a joint project on the impact of Covid on young people in collaboration with the International School of Verona. A third highlight for me would be our success story in the First Lego League. After a number of years participating in the competition and getting better each time, this year our superb Gr9 class came home with two trophies which are now proudly displayed in our cabinet in the entrance. The First Lego League is an international competition where teams have to design and program their own robot to complete a number of complicated tasks live on the day of the tournament. Especially impressive too was that our grade nines were nominated for the Scandinavian Innovation Award with a chance to compete in the Norwegian finals. On this occasion we were not chosen but next time we will try that bit harder and who knows? Academically this year Upper School has had further success stories with outstanding results in the Norwegian National Tests performing better locally and nationally than other schools. Taking into consideration that a high percentage of our students are not Norwegian native speakers makes this 16
achievement even more impressive. Individually one of our Grade 10 students received a certificate of recognition award for their achievement in the Abel maths competition where they competed with students up to three years older than themselves. Also in Grade 10 another of our students has been chosen for a place at the United World College (UWC) in Maastricht Netherlands for their post 16 studies. Competition for places at the UWC is extremely tough with a very challenging interview process making this a great achievement indeed. Sustainability and environmental issues have been a major focus in Upper School as we work towards our Green Flag Status. This has been ably led by the members of the Eco Committee, and culminated in this year’s Earth Day celebrations and actions. The students were grouped in houses to take part in four activities that explored various aspects. These involved the following; encouraging biodiversity, alternative food sources (insects), neighbourhood clean up and public awareness of the challenges we face. For the older students this was a great way for them to include service action in the day as they were tasked with looking after their younger house members (down to grade 1) as they took part in things such as cooking, planting, creating wildlife hotels, to name a few. In relation to all of the things mentioned so far, none of these would be remotely possible without the amazing staff who are there to drive and support students every step of the way in their academic journeys. My heartfelt thanks to each of them for their dedication, expertise and perhaps more than anything the way in which they truly care. Looking to the future, our next school year will start with an accreditation visit by the IB and CIS/NEASC. Following this we aim to have a year of consolidation in terms of embedding many recent initiatives such as Social Emotional Learning (SEL), and service as action opportunities firmly within the curriculum with a strong focus on collaborative planning which returns to the fore following the pandemic. Of course we will also maintain and build further on all the achievements we have made this year. Reading over this document prior to publication once again flagged up for me the reasons why ISB means so much to me and why it is such a wonderful place to be. A place with a plethora of opportunities, amazing driven students, excellent staff and a wonderfully supportive wider community, what more could you wish for? Peter Ledger Deputy Director and Upper School Principal
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PARENT-TEACHER ORGANISATION This year has been an interesting year where the PTO has shown immense adaptability. We kicked off the school year on a high note with the Welcome Back Barbecue. It was truly a joy to see all of the ISB Community come back together for the first time since the COVID restrictions came into place. The PTO continued to find Covid-safe ways to support learning and enrich the community at ISB during this school year. Annual Events are sponsored by fund-raising, for example hosting family and community events, aid student field trips, purchasing outdoor equipment, and providing other student enrichment that is not included in the regular school budget. In the fall, PTO hosted a Parent Coffee providing families (existing and new) with information about the upcoming school year events and opportunities that were available. At the request of the Great start to the year: The Annual Welcome Back BBQ. Lower School Student Council, the PTO put together a Halloween Party for the Lower School students. This was the first of its kind at Sandsli, where the children enjoyed a spooky tunnel, scavenger hunts, and a bit of dancing.
ISB Pepperkakeby: Gingerbread houses decorating the school foyer.
ISB Pepperkakebyen As winter approached, we kicked off the Christmas season with the Christmas School Decor, it truly took a village. ISB Pepperkakebyen subsequently kicked off, the PTO provided gingerbread houses for the classes to decorate, and families in the ISB community were invited to add their own gingerbread structures to our international gingerbread village. This year the families really demonstrated creativity with windmills, castles, football pitches, and even Amsterdam canal houses! With more than 30 gingerbread structures and the additional touches added by PTO volunteers, the results were an enchanting winter wonderland display welcoming all to the building during the month of December.
Winter Craft Fair The Christmas Craft Fair preparation was in full swing, like the previous years the PTO designed a variety 18
of age-appropriate crafts, purchased and prepared materials, invited vendors, and coordinated volunteers for the event. As luck would have it, COVID restrictions were inevitable and in order to maintain a safe environment the intended Christmas Craft Fair was cancelled and we had to quickly adapt and find an alternative for the students to still have their craft day. It was determined that the Craft Fair would be split up by school categories; Early Childhood Centre, Lower School, and Upper School. The ECC had three age-designated crafts for their craft day and evenly distributed drinks and snacks. For Lower School, grades 1-5 were provided an array of crafts, i.e. creating a melted snowman, decoration of pinecone elf, or creating their own decorated candles. They were partnered up and given a two hour time period to come to the Cafeteria where they picked their crafts and had various snacks and drinks available for purchase. Unfortunately, Upper School was not able to have their scheduled craft day as the COVID restrictions tightened even further.
Winter Crafts: Getting in the holiday spirit.
In addition to the craft fair, the PTO had prepared a beautiful array of hampers to raffle off. These were displayed in the foyer and created a lot of excitement for the students. It was a nail-biting afternoon when Mr. Joe announced the lucky winners!
Earlier in the year the teachers had an opportunity to submit a Request for Funds to the PTO. Grade 9 was selected to receive funds for a bonding experience that they had after their educational visit to the KODE museum. In addition, Upper School along with Grade 5 had their Annual Ski Trip to Furedalen in February where funds were awarded towards bus transportation. For Earth Day the PTO together with ISB funded Larveskolen for Lower and Upper School. Many of the students were risk-takers in trying the carefully prepared food including insects that the speakers had brought with them! Teacher Appreciation Luncheon One of the most rewarding events that the PTO was able to organise was the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon in May. With the help of all of the class representatives and parent volunteers, we were able to reach all of our ISB families and provide a vast selection of global cuisine for our amazing teachers. Funds raised during the 2021-2022 school year also were used to purchase a running list of outdoor play equipment for students, including; chalk, basketballs, footballs, and sledges. As everyone in the school community is a member of the PTO we encourage you to actively participate. We thank you for this year, and very much look forward to a fruitful new school year. On behalf of the ISB PTO Raquel Rodriguez 19
Organized by the PTO: Luncheon for teachers.
PTO in numbers
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STUDENT COUNCIL
Student Council: Student representatives from grades 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.
Student agency is important at ISB and the Student Council is an important part in the schools participation groups to ensure student voice in the affairs of the school. There are two student councils, one for Lower school students and one for Upper School students, which means that all students from grade 1 to grade 10 has the possbility to raise awareness on subjects that they find important through their homeroom representatives This school year’s Student Council for Upper School has aimed to work towards fulfilling student requests and needs for the school year to ensure an appropriate environment here at ISB. The main topics addressed have been gender-neutral bathrooms and sanitary products available for students. Suggestions for activities and issues discussed at the meetings are then communicated through their representative. Focuing on maintaining and improving the learning and social environment of the school, the Student Council has arranged student-led activities on spirit days for the benefit of the emotional well-being of all the students. The student council have also this year highlighted the international anti-bullying initiative, Pink Shirt Day, which took place on the 23rd February. In addition, two of the Council members are also involved in the CEC meetings together with parent and staff representatives and to promote student input and perspectives to these meetings an example being when they were asked to give feedback to the CEC on student agency at the school. Susan Lonnberg, School Counselor
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ECO COMMITTEE
The ECO committee has quickly developed into to a large body of students who have actively involved themselves in their surroundings. The student-led committee now consists of around 15 students from grade 5-10 who have shown great service and engagement in their schooldays. They promote sustainability and taking action towards a more eco-friendly focus for the school, its students, teachers and the focus of the curriculum. With great involvement from the entire ISB community both in taking action and financial support, involving all grades, teachers, the leadership team and the PTO, the ECO committee have been engaged in the following school-wide projects: Trash Warriors Every fortnight, one Upper School and one Lower School grade collaborate in clearing part of the school grounds of trash. By the end of the school year, all grades have participated in keeping our school and its surroundings free of waste! Cafeteria Recycling System, paper usage and composting Fully created and organised by the students, the school now has a system for recycling in the cafeteria, including a separate food waste bin which is taken to the organic compost bin each day by Grade 7 students. Printer usage and number of prints is reported to each teacher each month, and the ECO Committee and Leadership Team are campaigning to reduce this number as much as possible. Students and teachers are encouraged to utilise GOOS paper (Good On One Side) when possible, Trash Warriors: Students colleting trash in the area. both in writing notes, working with arts and crafts, and printing out new documents. Earth Day April 22nd took the whole school off their normal timetable into a whole day of sustainability activities planned and prepared by the ECO committee. Students from all grades mixed and collaborated in an awesome day filled with activities including creating planter beds, climate action artworks, a workshop on sustainability where students derived protein from eating insects and taking care of the school grounds with a proper spring cleanup. Equally, multiple planting projects were kickstarted in the school gardens, where grade 6 and 7 developed the prepared gardens into a haven for plants and insects. 22
Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) - Green Flag Status To sum up the year, written reports of the work of the ECO Committee, together with evidence of how the sustainability focus is part of the taught curriculum, ISB is sending a final application for Green Flag status to the FEE for evaluation. Hopefully we will have it as part of the hall of nations by the start of next school year! The ECO Committee will continue to focus on sustainability for next year and has multiple new projects planned. These include a community garden, adopting a local area for cleanup, collaborating with companies in the area on biodiversity projects and expanding the sustainability focus further in the school curriculum.
Eco Committe: Student representatives from grades 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in addition to staff representatives and the school director.
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FROM THE TEACHERS’ PERSPECTIVE Every year has something unique to it and as a school we are used to changes in staff, students graduating and new families joining the ISB community. However, this is the first time five staff members have become mothers for the either the first, second and third time within the less then ten months. What better way to illustrate that ISB is thriving?
Three girls and two boys representing a total of 5 different nationalities are now part of ISB’s history. Getting both mothers and babies in one photo is impressive in itself. Good job everyone!
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#learningforlife #shapingthefuture International School of Bergen, Sandslihaugen 36, 5254 Sandsli, Norway Telephone: +47 55 30 63 30 | Email: post@isbergen.no www.isbergen.no | www.facebook.com/InternationalSchoolBergen
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