New Foundations for the Future

Academic Programs

The British School continued offering the English National Curriculum until 2018, when it was decided to change to the Fieldwork Education program: the IEYC (International Early Years Curriculum), the IPC (International Primary Curriculum), and the IMYC (International Middle Years Curriculum). The English and Maths curriculum from Britain was kept for its rigor and structure that is recognized worldwide. As the British School is the only section that is not a part of the IB Continuum, it was important to adopt a curriculum that aligned with the educational philosophy of the school as a whole, such as concept and inquiry based learning, vertical and horizontal alignment, as well as high quality teaching and learning.

A new program implemented into the curriculum is the British School Social Leader program, in which all Year 7, 8, and 9 students are involved in a social project that they identify and design.

Activities

Despite going quiet during the pandemic, the British School continues to offer a range of FOBISIA activities, such as the FOBISIA Games teams for boys and girls in the U15, U13, and U11 categories, Maths, and Leadership.

British School students also participate in the SWEP program, and for the KS3 students, they also join into the MY KAIAC, MY SELECT, and MY Play/ Musical performances. The Middle Years have put on incredible performances through the years, such as Shrek the Musical, Jr, Graffiti, Holes, A Wrinkle in Time, Bye Bye Birdie Jr, The Masked Musketeer, The Little Mermaid Jr, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Into the Woods Jr, Fame Jr.

Key Stage 2 also performs their own curricular plays each year, such as Mary Poppins, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Reluctant Dragon, Shakespeare Rocks, Olivia, Kids!, Young Sherlock, Wind in the Willows, 101 Dalmatians, Kids!, Once on this Island, Jr, Dig It! A Musical Journey of Ancient Civilization, A Right Royal Performance.

The British School continues to organize the Senior Choir for Years 5-9,

Seoul Foreign School, 1912-2022 which perform all across the city at embassies, welfare centers, hotels, and on campus.

Since 2021, the Year 9s join in with the High School for Discovery Week, which serves as part of their transition process and introduction into the High School.

In 2021, the British School also implemented the BASS Awards (British Adventure Service and Skill Awards) for Year 3 to Year 9 students, who can earn recognition as Bronze, Silver, or Gold for participation in service, adventure and skill activities over a period of time.

Christian Ministries

Wednesday is the protected day for Key Stage 1 and 2 students to participate in AWANA, which is run by the Christian Ministries department. This is a very popular activity, and the students enjoy the time of fun and fellowship, especially memorizing the weekly Bible verses.

On Tuesdays, Key Stage 3 students also have the opportunity to participate in the TREK program. Students are organized into small groups of 6-8 students and are paired with a mentor teacher.

High School

The High School has arguably experienced the most significant changes over the past ten years of any of the sections, quite literally uprooting itself and moving across campus to the ‘new high school’ building at the front of campus, as well as undergoing a wholesale change of curriculum from IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) to MYP.

Facilities

In 2016, as part of the Master Plan, the school broke ground on the new High School building. For this project, the school enrolled the services of American architectural firm Ennead. By 2016, the old high school building had been in use for over 55 years, and while it had provided a functional, and even at one point in history a progressive learning environment, it had long become clear that the high school section had outgrown the space. This was evidenced in the fact that up until the 2017-2018 school year, high school classes were occurring not only in the HS building, but also in the Elementary School, the swimming pool classrooms, and the UAC classrooms.

As part of the construction plan, the F Building faculty residence, as well as the two missionary houses that had stood at the front of SFS campus for many years, were torn down. As a result of this project, a significant number of SFS faculty had to relocate to live ‘off campus’. There was some concern that this could lead to divisions within the community or a significant change to the experience of being a part of the SFS faculty, however after a few years of this new arrangement, it seems that the ‘off campus’ faculty have formed a strong community amongst themselves and still fully participate in the oncampus faculty community. It was decided that rather than move to a stipend system for faculty (housing in Korea is notoriously expensive and complicated by the system of Key Money), the school would organize faculty housing at the Hilton residences, which are close in proximity to the school and would allow for the off-campus housing to be located together. However, after only a few years of this arrangement, in 2019, the Hilton (now the Swiss Grand) residences became unavailable and the school had to find an alternative off-campus housing arrangement. It was decided to relocate the faculty housing to the DMC Ville residences, which are near Digital Media City.

After the new High School was finished, the final step was to tear down the old High School and the Math Annex building (previously the administration building). The plan had also called for the tearing down of the Korean gate that had stood between the High School and the Math Annex building since 1972. With that in mind, the school had constructed a new Korean gate that passed between the bus garage and the road beside the Lyso center as a replacement. However, after re-evaluating the situation, it was decided that the old Korean gate would remain. While the old Korean gate is no longer accessible as a walk through, it remains an iconic feature of the SFS campus and a symbol of the school. Most alumni and former teachers that visit the campus remark that the campus feels a lot more open now and that they like that the old Korean gate is visible from anywhere on campus.

After two years of construction, the new High School was opened for the 2018-2019 school year. It is a beautiful building inside and out with an incredible design concept to bring in as much natural light as possible into every space in the building. It is now the showcase of the campus, and is an incredible selling point for marketing and admissions. The new High School building has also won recognition for a multitude of architectural awards, and Colm Flanagan has been asked to travel to the United States on occasion to share about the project and its educational impact. It is an incredible learning space and has set a high bar and standard for future building projects.

Academic Programs

The High School has maintained the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB DP) as its capstone educational program for 11th and 12th graders since 1982. This program continues to provide SFS students with 21st century academic skills through a lens of international mindedness, rigorous academic standards, and liberal arts-style university preparation. In 2022, the school celebrated the 40th anniversary of the IB DP program, which included local dignitaries, as well as guests from the IB organization via zoom.

However, in the 9th and 10th grade, the past decade has seen a lot of change in the curriculum. In 2010, the High School decided to begin offering the IGCSE program as a way of providing an articulated vertical learning experience for the Key Stage 3 students matriculating into the high school after completion of Year 9. While it started as a small cohort, it slowly grew to include more students, as parents were attracted to the alignment of the curriculum, and the formalized assessment and testing, which was similar to the DP program.

As the school worked through its school improvement and recognized the need for a more consistent and aligned curriculum in the high school, the decision was taken in 2012 that the IGCSE would become the curricular framework for the 9th and 10th grades at SFS. By the end of 2016, electives, semester courses, and the ‘general’ classes had all been phased out of the high school, and all students were sitting for the IGCSE exams at the end of their 10th grade year.

However, as part of a school wide curricular review in 2016, the decision was taken to align the schoolwide curriculum through the IB Continuum with the implementation of the PYP in the Elementary School and the MYP in the Middle and High School. While this was clearly the right decision for the school, it was a strong decision, as the school had fully moved towards the IGCSE program, and this was a big shift for students, parents, and faculty.

In 2018, the last cohort completed the IGCSE and since, the Middle and British School pathways merge in High School to complete the last 2 years of the MYP. The MYP is fully ingrained into teaching and learning in the High School, and the main challenge moving forward is the vertical articulation from the Middle School to the High School. A significant capstone for the MYP is the Personal Projects, which are completed in 10th grade. Students are paired with faculty mentors, who help guide them through the process of research development, and product development. The High School now also shares an MYP Curriculum Coordinator with the Middle School.

There have been other changes that are not related to the IB curricular program, but relate to the overall educational program and experience in the High School.

The High School has implemented a new counseling model, and now has six dedicated counselors. Four are focused on supporting students with their university admissions, and two are focused on their well being. This allows for a more proactive approach to both needs, as students are able to have more dedicated time with their counselors. In 2014, there were three dedicated counselors in the High School, so this is a clear investment towards college admissions and student well being.

The High School has also created a new model of teacher leadership with the Heads of Grade. There is a faculty member that works with the students of each grade to support them academically and behaviorally. This provides an additional layer for the teachers and administration to make sure that students are not ‘falling through the cracks’, and that issues are being addressed at the source and as quickly as possible.

The High School Field Day is still a highlight of student life with grade levels competing against each other in a series of feats of intellect and teamwork. With the addition of the House System in the mid 2010s, there was an attempt to add an additional House Field Day in the Spring, but this was not as popular with high schoolers, as the strongest identity and connection is with their grade level peers. It has since shifted back to a grade level Field Day.

Discovery Week (DW) has moved from the first week of November to the month of May. With this shift of schedule, seniors do not participate in DW, and instead finish their exams, and go on an official Senior Trip. More and more trips are now organized in partnership with travel agents, and the whole process from the sign ups onwards have been professionalized. It is a massive operation, and DW is now organized with leadership in the High School and with the Gate. This is still a highlight for high school students and faculty who enjoy the experiential learning outside of the classroom.

There are many activities and opportunities in sports, arts, and sectional activities such as clubs, MUN (Model United Nations), AQT (Academic Quiz Team), VEX Robotics that are available for high school students to participate in throughout the school year.

Some changes for sports this decade is the inclusion of ‘commitment’ based sports in each sports season, so that every high school student can participate in a team or individual sport if they want to. The school has also added Badminton, Wrestling, Track & Field, Table Tennis and will be adding Golf in the 2023-2024 school year.

The Arts have always been incredible at SFS, and over the past decade the school has put on so many incredible musicals, plays, and musical performances. While it is impossible to note every accolade and achievement, in the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the musical performances of Aida and Les Miserables were phenomenal.

The advent of AQT (Academic Quiz Team) and VEX Robotics are worth mentioning as these are two of the fastest growing programs at SFS and in the region.

Technology

All students are required to have a laptop for one-to-one learning, and the current learning management system is Google Classroom. Prior to Google Classroom, the High School used Haiku, which SFS internally called ‘Pagoda’. The senior class in 2016 sardonically created hats as their senior gift with the url for the Pagoda website on the front in recognition of the amount of time they spent on the platform studying for the DP program.

Christian Ministries

High School students can choose to participate in a variety of Christian Ministry activities. There is Discipleship on Thursdays. The format for discipleship has remained the same with small groups of students meeting weekly with a faculty or staff mentor. Interested students can join the student Worship Team, which performs at assemblies. The school still operates the Vida Nueva, which used to include students and faculty from other schools, but now only includes SFS students and faculty.

Traditions

A tradition that started in the High School, but now includes the whole school is the Senior Walk. In 2016, the senior cap and gown walk was expanded from its previous form, which was isolated in the High School, and now includes the entire student community. At the end of each year, the entire student body lines up and claps and cheers for the senior students. The walk ends with the seniors walking through the Korean gate as a sign of crossing an important threshold in their journey.

Graduation is truly the culmination of so many efforts at SFS. Traditionally, graduation was held in the Lyso Center for the Performing Arts, however due to the pandemic and the rules on indoor gatherings, the 2020 graduation ceremony was relocated to the soccer field. Weather permitting, this has actually become the preferred location for graduation. The High School faculty still process in together from the longest serving teacher to the newest teacher. As recently as 2022 graduation, the seniors are still allowed to share a brief message as they cross the stage at graduation. This is a longstanding tradition, but with the growing student numbers, the graduation service is becoming increasingly long, and so this may be a tradition that needs to evolve or otherwise change. Teachers have taken bets on who will receive the most ‘shout outs’ from the seniors, and also for how long graduation will take from start to finish. After graduation, the students, faculty, and parents still relocate to the area by the Korean gate to take photographs and socialize together.

Baccalaureate Service is the spiritual send off from the school to our students. The school maintains its tradition of the Baccalaureate Service on the Sunday before graduation. It is required for the High School faculty to attend, and a high school faculty member is asked by the senior class to speak to the class. This service is typically held in Robb Hall and is attended by the High School faculty, seniors, and senior parents. A faculty choir sings The Lord Bless You and Keep You to the seniors, which is always a meaningful and touching moment.

In conclusion, a lot has happened this past decade at SFS! I am also cognizant while writing this chapter that while it is long, to be honest it feels like it should be longer. I am sure I am missing key pieces of information, and it feels impossible to truly capture the decade and bottle the lightning that is SFS. For anyone that has been a part of the SFS community, you know that a lot happens in a year at SFS, and sometimes a year feels like a long time.

I hope that this chapter will provide a basis of understanding of the past decade and will be a useful record and reminder for all of us of how we got to where we are, and most importantly the incredible legacy we are all a part of together.

Seoul Foreign School

Celebrating 110 Years of Excellence