VISION OUR VISION STATEMENT

Enriching communities through the intellectual, humanitarian, and creative thoughts and actions of our learners

One of the most important things about ISB is the clear, unwavering dedication to our mission, attributes, and values. For us, as an organization and as a community, these ideals shape our thoughts and actions and guide our way into the future.

Our ISB Learner Attributes and Values were developed through a multi-year research and development initiative that led us to define the essential skills - beyond knowledge and academic abilities - that our students need to be successful and make a difference in the world during and beyond their time at ISB.

Debi Caskey, Deputy Head of School for Learning

Values and Attributes in Action

Throughout the past months, as the world changed and we lived together through a global pandemic, our ISB community continued coming together through conversations about belonging diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. As we have seen the shattering images from Ukraine, our students and community have also risen to these social challenges. They use their voices, skills, and passions to make a difference through their creative, intellectual, and humanitarian thoughts and actions.

Throughout the months of virtual learning, hybrid learning, COVID-19 quarantines, and changing travel requirements, our community has exemplified our Attributes and Values. The changes in learning models and classroom setup have created the need for our students to be adaptable to different ways of learning, communicating, and socializing. Our teachers have adapted learning opportunities to fit virtual education for all students and to find ways to include students both in the classroom and at home. Students also learned to self-manage their after-school activities when parents were unable to come on campus - even our littlest Panthers were finding their way to swimming, dance, and all kinds of creative activities.

Our student service organizations continued to grow our students into globally-minded and caring citizens of the world through their activities in support of local communities struggling through the pandemic (e.g., iCare, the ES Cuddle Donation, etc.). Groups of students also demonstrated their care and responsibility for the world through their weekend clean-up trips, where one group worked to prevent more than a thousand kilos of plastic and garbage from entering the ocean by cleaning khlongs (canals) within the city.

ISB identified six learner attributes that are of particular importance today, thus we provide students with opportunities to be:

Creative Developing new and imaginative ideas that have impact.

Globally-Minded Invested in the world and its people, embracing diversity, and aware of the impact of actions on local and global communities.

Adaptable Responding appropriately and with flexibility to ambiguous or changing circumstances.

Socially-Intelligent Recognizing personal emotions and those of others, managing responses productively and collaborating effectively.

Value-Driven Guided by our ISB Values, promoting positive citizenship and fostering personal meaning.

Self-Managing Independently directing, monitoring, and evaluating personal behaviors, goals and time.

Students exhibited social-intelligence by teaching their teachers about inclusivity through workshops on identity and sharing their stories and experiences. Other student clubs worked on building awareness about Down Syndrome and Autism through activities and informational posters.

The ISB Values and Attributes help define the actions and beliefs that underpin what it means to be a caring global citizen. Through the exceptional challenges of these past months and years, we have seen these principles living and growing throughout our ISB community.

ISB Community

ISB’s community stands out not only in how diverse it is but also in how our community members are the initiators and active participants of exceptional projects that serve to improve the lives of others.

Students, faculty, staff, and parents demonstrated great care, creativity, adaptability, and commitment in the 2021-22 school year with a variety of fundraisers, service projects, and partnerships with local charities in Thailand. With restrictions still in place owing to the continuing pandemic, together, we decided to make our focus local, to support one another and our neighbors.

Whether leading food and donation drives, virtual tournament fundraisers, or creative mask competitions, our community showed just how value-driven they are through their efforts to better the lives and circumstances of those around them.

Community Groups Represented at ISB

7 France

4 Finland

3 Belgium

3 Denmark

2 Czech republic

2 Switzerland

2 Ukraine

1 Argentina

1 Poland

1 Portugal

1 Romania

1 Spain

ISB X OurLand

At International School Bangkok, it is essential for students to recognize the relationship between what they learn in class and real-life world experiences. Service trips embody wellness, care, gratitude, global-mindedness, and being value-driven. They provide opportunities for students to immerse themselves in character building, comfort stretching, and applied-learning experiences.

One of our new partnerships for middle school field trips this year included a Thai NGO that works to educate students about the issues of deforestation, human-animal conflict, and establishing safe and protected habitat areas and green corridors for flora and fauna to flourish.

Our Grade 7 group actively participated in reforestation efforts by seeding plants on ISB sponsored land donated to OurLand through an all-school fundraiser called Jumping For Elephants. These pieces of land will help create an essential green corridor connection from the adjacent national park to a river source that will, in turn, reduce wildlife deaths and reforest land and reduce carbon footprints.

Students learned to meditate in nature on this trip with the silent nature walk exercise. Students safely walked one by one through a stretch of forest with the simple instructions to be still, stop, listen and take in what they saw around them. They later stood in distanced rows facing a stretch of trees, performing deep breathing exercises, allowing them to experience the peace and tranquility of their surroundings fully. They learned how to identify various insects and plants through the excellent guides at OurLand and simply experienced nature. Students gained a new and respectful understanding of their responsibility to work towards protecting wildlife and creating sustainable solutions to affect change, awareness, and education in their peers and futures.

As part of the trip, students were told to leave all digital devices at home and have a complete digital detox. Not only did this create a necessary break from technology, but it encouraged students from all backgrounds and friend groups to interact and socialize. By the end of the trips, we saw many new friendships had developed.