LEADERSHIP TEAM

Elementary School

The 2021-22 school year, our third consecutive school year impacted by the pandemic, provided opportunities for students to connect and learn via different instructional models. Students started the year virtually, where daily lessons and weekly community events kept everyone engaged in their learning from home.

Students came back together on campus during a short-term hybrid model before the full reopening of campus. There was so much excitement and appreciation for being on campus, especially as students could enjoy the beautiful new elementary playgrounds (how great are the zip lines?!) and our incredible new cafeteria.

Congratulations to all of our Elementary School Panthers for their flexibility and adaptability. Students, families, faculty, and staff were very supportive as models evolved. Everyone continued to focus on ensuring that each child felt a strong sense of belonging and moved their learning forward. Students felt a deep connection to the community and learned virtually, in hybrid, in-person, and everything in between!

Ensuring that every student feels like they belong and are contributing members to the ISB community is essential, regardless if they are learning virtually or in person.

Middle School

The middle school community once again demonstrated its adaptability and commitment ensuring a year of growth, learning progress, and care despite the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic. Our teachers emphasized the importance of building relationships at the start of the year while in virtual learning. This proved helpful as we adjusted to hybrid learning, a combination of online and in-person learning. By the time we returned fully to learning on campus with safety measures in place, students already had relationships and classroom routines in set.

A greater sense of normalcy was felt in the second semester with our Athletics & Activities returning. We were able to reintroduce our Wild Panthers program while maintining safety measures and adapting to changing COVID circumstances, providing our students with trips to the Environmental Wilderness Campus for their outdoor education units. We were also excited to introduce new environmentally focused trips, with students traveling around Thailand to engage in hands-on learning about the conflict between human and environmental needs. Through it all, our students and teachers continued progressing with our learning program while overcoming challenges and COVID interruptions.

Middle School provided rich learning experiences, first online, and then in and out of the classroom as we adapted to the ever-changing COVID landscape and safely moved learning forward throughout the year.

High School

With the pandemic impacting a third year of learning, our high school students and faculty were challenged once more to experience being adaptable while maintaining their enthusiasm and motivation for learning in an online setting. While this wasn’t easy, we are fortunate to have committed teachers and counselors and excellent resources to support students both on campus and at home online.

The High School placed a high value on making connections and building relationships at the start of the year (when online), which held us in good stead when we finally returned to oncampus learning in November. Students hit the ground running and were able to slide back into face-to-face learning with much excitement and enthusiasm.

In the second semester, we returned to more normal activities and events, with athletics games, concerts, and performances being held. The sense of school spirit and togetherness is becoming more apparent, and there is much to look forward to for the 2022-23 school year.

Providing support and full access to learning in a caring manner was a priority for our high school faculty as they started the 2021-22 school year, and that continued right through the year. We are looking forward to a year of learning in person!