BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

INTERNATIONAL School Brunei (ISB) has just received reaccreditation by the Council of International Schools (CIS), retaining its status of being the only CIS-accredited school in Borneo.

The CIS website states that status of international accreditation demonstrates a school’s commitment to high quality international education to the school community as well as to the outside world, comprising families, educational leaders and teachers, embassies and other government departments, among others.

Meanwhile, ISB said on its website that the school first achieved CIS accreditation status successfully in 2005, meaning that the school has “met detailed criteria which rate the school to the same standard as a range of international schools around the world”.

A CIS accreditation cycle takes place over 10 years.

CIS first posted a notice about ISB’s successful reaccreditation on its website on April 8, following completion of a standard 18-month accreditation process.

“The time frame of the accreditation process… allows adequate time for all stakeholders to be involved and reflect, make recommendations and improve on current practice and provision in schools,” the ISB website said.

According to the time frame, the accreditation process began in August 2013, encompassing surveys by the school board, parents, students, teachers and alumni as well as various self-study reports, culminating with a visit from the accreditation team in February this year.

Chair of the CIS Steering Committee cum Primary Deputy Principal at ISB Sheila Crocker told The Brunei Times that receiving reaccreditation was “really exciting and really wonderful”.

“We’re absolutely delighted to be re-accredited. It’s certainly something that we really feel that show that ISB is on par or on the same standard with international schools around the world,” Crocker said.

Crocker acknowledged that CIS accreditation was a process of “continued improvement”.

“It’s ongoing and it leads into the future. Certainly, reaccreditation takes us forward – it’s another element of moving forward for ISB, and for the school to expand and grow.

“It sets that benchmark for where we want to be, say, within the next five to ten years,” she said.

The primary deputy principal also acknowledged that the process had involved a lot of hard work on the part of all the school staff. “(Reaccreditation) is not just a credit to one or two people at the school – it’s a credit to the whole staff,” Crocker said.

Completion of a new $30 million campus for ISB is slated for August this year.

The school celebrated its 50th anniversary in October last year.

The Brunei Times