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Welcome The International School of Prague ISP offers a student-centred environment for its diverse community, with students of over 60 nationalities from early childhood (age 3) to young adulthood (age 18). Children learn best with caring, committed teachers. Therefore, as a nonprofit independent school, ISP prides itself in investing in the best possible people from around the world. As an innovative, futurefocused school, we continually evolve our programs and practices to prepare our students to adapt and contribute responsibly to our changing world.
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Campus Learning to lead healthy, fulfilling and purposeful lives, our learners benefit from a single, purpose-built campus. Learners are actively learning in flexible light-filled spaces. Students also take advantage of ISP's location next to the Divoká Šárka nature reserve, where learning takes place outdoors. The ISP Library is the heart of the school, and an active centre for learning. It has over 35,000 print volumes and another 200,000 ebooks. The entire ISP community has access to an extensive range of online resources and subscriptions. ISP also has an Idea Lab, which is a tech-focused space that supports curiosity and inquiry, extending to hands-on learning with contemporary tools, supported by Technology and Innovation Coaches.
Upper School Physical Education
Morning arrival at ISP
ISP is future-leaning. The school is highly aspirational in design, innovation and strategy for the future of teaching and learning with this organisational culture coupled with passionate and sophisticated school leaders, teachers and support staff. Ambition personified.
CIS Accreditation Report 2017/18
ISP Library
The Evaluation Team is unanimous in observing and confirming that the International School of Prague is mission-driven, student-focused, futureleaning, progressive on many levels, high performing and a safe, secure place for learning
CIS Accreditation Report 2017/18
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Mission and Vision Celebration of Learning in Early Childhood
Inspire Engage Empower The ISP Mission reflects why, how and what we're about.
Inspire
learners to lead healthy, fulfilling and purposeful lives, preparing them to adapt and contribute responsibly to our changing world.
Engage
a diverse community in an authentic global education, within a nurturing student-centred environment.
Empower learners to T hink Critically and Creatively Work Cooperatively and Independently Listen and Communicate Effectively Act with Compassion, Integrity, Respect and Intercultural Understanding.
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MS Photography Elective
Grade 5 Personal Inquiry Project
ISP2020
...teachers do not lecture, they communicate with you and narrate the things you need to know.
ISP Upper School Student
Our journey to meet this aspirational mission is one of continued reflection and improvement. ISP2020 is our current strategy to help us move closer to achieving our Mission. ISP2020 was developed through an inclusive, collaborative process involving our entire community. Our ISP2020 goal is to Unleash Our Collective Potential so that Our School is Greater than the Sum of its Parts through the following strategies:
Change We create change that’s bigger than we are.
Relevance Personal relevance, individual progress and real-world experiences are at the heart of learning at ISP.
Curiosity Curiosity drives what and how we learn.
Much like their teachers, students at ISP are curious and engaged learners. From the earliest years students are supported in developing the skills and dispositions of effective learners.
Coherence How we learn is coherent and connected throughout the school.
Community Everyone in our community takes active steps to learn with and from each other.
US Service Learning
The glimpses of learning in the following pages mirror lived experiences of our entire community. These photos not only highlight powerful learning, but also reflect the vibrancy and relevance of the mission in action.
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Early Childhood Scientific Curiosity
Learning
@ISP We are all Learners at ISP
Learning at ISP is a dynamic and inspiring process, where students, teachers, support staff and parents experience the joy and excitement of exploration, challenge and personal growth. Learning at ISP is a dynamic and inspiring process, where students experience the joy and excitement of exploration, challenge and personal growth. Our ISP Learning Definition
The learning environment at ISP supports true inquiry, questioning and exploring a range of perspectives.
and Principles explicitly state the learning we value. Based on educational research, these statements guide the why, how and what of learning at ISP.
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NEASC Accreditation Report 2017/18 Drawing to Learn
ISP Learning The Idea Lab
Principles: Learning best happens when ... Learners’ curiosity drives what and how they learn. Learners know what they’re learning and why it is significant. Learners know where they are as learners and how to go further.
ISP Definition of Learning: What does it mean to learn at ISP? Learning is a transformative process that builds on what we know and can do, deepens what we understand, and MS Choir Concert
changes who we are.
Learners persist with relevant and rich challenges. Learners consider and connect complex ideas. Learners apply their learning in diverse and challenging contexts. Learners feel a sense of safety and belonging.
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School Sections ISP Educates students from early childhood, from as young as three years old, to young adulthood in Grade 12, typically when students are around 18 years of age.
Elementary School Our Elementary School includes an Early Childhood Program, Pre Kindergarten (ages 3-4) and Kindergarten (ages 5-6) and the Primary Program Grades 1 through 5 (ages 6-11.) Our Early Childhood Program is play-based and brings a wealth of opportunities for children to develop their language, creativity and coordination skills. These skills all contribute to healthy growth, development, and the capacity to learn. It is our
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Recess in one of Elementary's age appropriate playgrounds
Middle School Band Winter Concert
Elementary music through technology
intention to encourage children to become active learners in secure, calm, and safe play spaces that encourage thinking, investigation, exploration and problem-solving, both inside and outside. Young children’s play allows them to explore, identify, negotiate, take risks and create meaning. Play also brings about a wealth of opportunities for children to develop their language, number sense, creativity and coordination skills. Children also have ample opportunity to engage in art and other creative experiences. There are art studio areas where children create from recycled materials, mix paints, and learn using different media such as clay, inks, paper and chalk.
Elementary classes, rooted in inquiry, nurture learners’ curiosity. Students develop key knowledge, skills and understandings in Literacy, Mathematics and the social and physical world surrounding them. Students also learn Music, Physical Education, and Visual Arts with a specialist outside of their homeroom class.
This is a very caring, open an honest professional community, more so than any other school where I have worked.
Middle School Our Middle School represents Grades 6 through 8 (ages 1114). We encourage the energy, enthusiasm and natural curiosity of emerging adolescents, while providing the guidance and structure they need to broaden their understanding and deepen their expertise. Middle School students take courses in these
ISP Faculty Member
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Jazz Ensemble concert
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subject areas: Language Arts & Social Studies, Mathematics, Science, Modern Languages (French, Spanish, Mandarin or German), Visual Arts, Drama and Music, and Physical Education. Middle School students can choose to participate in a range of electives such as ISP TV, Creative Writing, and Coding. In each of the subject areas students develop key competencies and learn to apply knowledge and skills in real world contexts.
Upper School Our Upper School spans Grades 9 through 12 (ages 14-19). All students work towards achieving the ISP Diploma, accredited and recognised in North America, by completing core courses in the Arts, English, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Physical Education, Science and Social Studies.
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These core courses are complemented by a wide range of over 30 Elective Courses in Visual Arts, Music, Drama, Physical Education and Information Technology. Course titles include App Development, Art and Code, Film Editing, Rock Band, Electronic Music, Robotics, Electronic Movements and Graphic Design. In addition to the ISP Diploma, students may choose to pursue the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education and is recognized by universities around the world. The IB Diploma is an academically rigorous program intended for pre-university students which aims to “develop internationally-minded people, who, recognizing their common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet, help to create a better and more peaceful world”.
ISP Faculty
Middle School climbing in the ISP gym
ISP has created an environment where creativity thrives.
NEASC Accreditation Report 2017/18
Break in Upper School
A very palpable culture of care emanates throughout the ISP campus and from those who learn there.
CIS Accreditation Report 2017/18
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Inspire ISP aims to Inspire learners to lead healthy, fulfilling and purposeful lives, preparing them to adapt and contribute responsibly to our changing world. We promote healthy lifestyles by spending time in the beautiful Czech nature. Students in all sections of the school learn in the magnificent Divoká Šárka nature reserve on the school's doorstep. Early Childhood students enjoy nature walks in the forest while learning about the physical world around them. Elementary and Middle School Students learn about exploring, camping, orienteering and biking in the forest. Upper School Students visit the forest during Science and Mathematics classes, as well as pursuing outdoor learning through their Physical Education choice or the Duke of Edinburgh Award program.
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I think that the best thing is that we work together in groups. It's also a creative way of learning, it's not just memorising.
ISP Upper School Student
Students take the lead in learning about the importance of diet and nutrition to a healthy lifestyle. Kindergarten students, for instance, prepare their daily fresh snack while learning the basic skills of food preparation and nutrition. At the other end of the school, Upper School students have worked directly with the school's dining service to devise and deliver meat-free menus in the school cafeteria. All sections of the school receive visits from inspirational people throughout the school year. Early Years and Elementary students are visited by number of children's authors and artists several times each year. Middle School students being inspired by a number of musicians and bands in music class and choices, and Upper School students learn directly from authors with first
hand contact with Holocaust survivors in social studies. Led by Service Learning Coordinators, ISP students create change bigger than they are, from Elementary School students making connections with partner schools in India, to Middle School students supporting homeless people in Prague, to the Upper School Community Service Club, which organises clothing drives to help the homeless and dog walking at a local animal shelter. There is also a school wide partnership with the Happy Caravan Refugee School in Greece.
Preparing healthy snacks in early childhood
Artist Petr HorĂĄÄ?ek visits ISP
Middle School 'Cafe' concert
US Science class in the forest
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Elementary Reading
Engage
ISP Engages our diverse community in an authentic global education, within a nurturing student-centered environment. Our learning program focuses on developing learners who can think, communicate, and collaborate within and across linguistic, mathematical, scientific, artistic, physical and social contexts. ISP learners experience and apply “real world” knowledge
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and skills from a variety of disciplines. Instead of simply learning about a subject, students “do” the subject as a practitioner (as a historian, a scientist, an artist, or a mathematician) would. Developing essential skills and competencies enable students to evaluate the shifting circumstances they encounter, take calculated risks and adapt well to change.
Art Studio time in Middle School
Upper School Art
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Empower As you can see through these glimpses of learning and action, at ISP we Empower Learners to Think Critically and Creatively. Work Cooperatively and Independently. Listen and Communicate Effectively. Act with Compassion, Integrity, Respect and Intercultural Understanding.
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Early Childhood In the Kindergarten Bakery, learners inquire into bread and baked goods from around the world, figuring out how different varieties are made. With this understanding, students decide what kind of bakery they will set up, prepare the goods and set up shop for the enjoyment of the entire ISP community. The young learners also decide how the funds they’ve collected might be best used to contribute to our larger Prague community.
Elementary School Our Grade 2 students prepared cards for Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. The cards were delivered to her father during his visit to an educators' conference held at ISP with the theme of 'empowered learners'. Like Malala, many of our students, across
Elementary Field Day
ISP Faculty meet the parents of educational activist Malala Yousafzai
Middle School Curator Challenge
TEDx Youth @ISP Upper School
the school, feel empowered to contribute and make change bigger than they are.
Middle School In Middle School Grade 8 students work directly with curators from the magnificent Lobkowicz Collections in the Curator Challenge. Throughout the Challenge, the students not only learn about the work of curators, but become junior curators themselves, learning through objects to create their own gateways to the past. The project
culminates in students delivering presentations in the magnificent setting of the Lobkowicz Palace at Prague Castle.
Upper School ISP’s Upper School has hosted the TEDxYouth@ISPrague event annually for several years. TEDx’s mission, “ideas worth spreading”, means the TEDx program is designed to help communities, organizations and individuals produce TED-style events at the local level. TEDx events at ISP, fully planned and
coordinated independently by Upper School students have become something of an ISP tradition. ISP students, faculty and other community members, have spoken at these prestigious events on a diverse range of often highly personal topics, ranging from; ‘Attention Hyperactivity Disorder’, Why we Should Choose Monarchy', 'The Unintended Consequences of Korea's Competitive Culture' ‘Observations of a Teenage Introvert’ and ‘Is Rock Music Really Getting Darker?’ to name but a few.
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Electives and Activities At ISP, learners’ curiosity drives what and how they learn; Learners persist with relevant and rich challenges; Learners feel a sense of safety and belonging. These three ISP learning principles embody the pillars of our activities program and electives offerings.
collaboratively with other CEESA members in sports tournaments and arts festivals hosted by fellow CEESA schools. Students can also represent ISP locally in sports through the International School Sports Association of Prague.
From music to sports to fine arts to robotics, ISP students have access to an enormous breadth and depth of experiences to ignite interest, further skills, and connect with others. Students share and perform, here at the ISP campus, in Prague and throughout Europe.
Elementary School students can choose from a comprehensive range of after-school activities, with over 40 choices available per Trimester. Students who enjoy sports can participate in soccer, gymnastics, swimming, kung-fu and several more. Other options focus on creativity, ranging from Cartoon Drawing to Little Chefs all the way to French Knitting. Several styles of Dance are available to choose from, ranging from Breakdance to Ballet and Bollywood. Musical options are also well catered for, with the ever popular “Czech, Rattle and Roll” and “Strings Aboard” options covering many genres.
ISP is a member of the Central and Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA). CEESA sponsors student activities, focusing on a variety of academic and non-academic areas, as well as a full schedule of sports events across the Central and Eastern European Region. Students may represent the school and work
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Elementary School
ISP Falcontech Robotics
Middle School Middle School students also have a wide range of activities to choose from and can take part in CEESA competitions in football, basketball, volleyball, tennis. Students can also continue dance classes they started in Elementary, with Modern and Bollywood Dance being particularly popular. Creative, personally relevant thinking is also encouraged through clubs such as Knowledge Bowl, Fantasy Geopolitics,
Robotics and Invention Club. Students taking the lead in activities is also seen in the lunchtime Student Council, which gives students a voice in how the school is run. Roots and Shoots, a another thriving student-run club, was inspired by the visit of the famous British primatologist, Dr. Jane Goodall to the school.
Upper School Upper School students are provided with an array of choices. Many activities are
Break in Upper School
Middle School CEESA football
student run, and students take a lead role in how activities are organised and publicised through the ISP Activities Association. Students also run the Model United Nations, the ISP chapter of the National Honor Society, Community Service Club and the Spectrum Group (which provides a safe space for students to discuss LGBTQ+ issues), among others. Upper School students can continue in CEESA Sports, including cross-country and
softball. The Upper School Robotics Club, Falcontech, has competed in international tournaments in recent years around Europe, the United States and Mexico. Upper School students can also be creative through Art Studio Time, Dance and taking part in the wholly student-directed and performed Spring Theater Performance.
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International School of Prague, Nebušická 700, 164 00, Prague 6, Czech Republic www.isp.cz, admissions@isp.cz