I would appreciate views on ISB Basel. Our kids have been in the French system for 5 years but intend to go to universities in the UK or USA, not in France. They expressed a wish to go to ISB for language and social reasons. School days in France are very long (they leave home at 6.40 and come home at 19.00 every day), there is no time left for hobbies, activities, hanging out with friends .... They are 15 and 13, fully bilingual in English and French, also doing Latin, German and Spanish. ISB gets mixed reviews, e.g. high staff turnover, mediocre quality of education versus fantastic facilities, happy kids. Any experience?
Hi,
high staff turnover
School has doubled its size in 10 years, that means really many new teachers every year without necessarily loosing many others.
mediocre quality of education
Depens on your definitions. Some people love what others hate. Get right to the source for information and gain your own impression. Ask yourself what you like about the French system and what not - ask specifically about those topics at the school and compare.
versus fantastic facilities
again, fantastic for whom? Many shining points, a couple of shaddows too.
happy kids
Whose kids are, whoe kids aren't? It's about your kids, no other opinion matters.
Life is simple, it's mainly about time: get to know the place by going there, ask the questions you really want to be answered. Insist if answer is unclear. If you can pay for it, then ask more details about the programs ,the differences between French and international baccalaureate, combination of subjects, languages offered and at what level to what exam in the baccalaureate etc... and don't forget to get info about how easy or difficult it is to study in UK afterwards.
My kids have been at ISB 1 year now. coming from a highly pressurised selective grammar school system it took a while for the 13 year old to work out how to "play the game" and to think and research for herself.
Overall, I think it's a good combination. My children are happy there and I have no doubt that they will achieve the grades they need to progress into further education.
Your eldest, unless already studying the IB prgramme will not be able to complete the Middle Years Programme as you have to do the whole 2 years in order to pass middle years. However he/she could enter the IB programme at 16 years. Call them up. See if they have space and arrange a visit.
S knowles
I think you will never find an international school that ticks all your boxes as everyone's expectations are so different, especially as families are from so many different cultures.
As for the high turnover, its common in all international schools for teachers to move around so try not to let that put you off.
We've been in Basel for 6 years and had our kids in ISB for the first year. We decided to enrol them in the local public school system (Aesch) so they would get "into" the local culture. They are now fluent German/Swiss speakers and picking up French as well.
I taught high school in Australia and the UK (to A Levels). A few suggestions I'd offer are first, the curriculum is definitely *not* "mediocre" - they offer the international baccaleureat, a globally recognized high school qualification that really does focuss on higher order cognitive skills as well as social engagement.
Many of our friends children have attended ISB over the years and report they generally have a wonderful time of it, with a strong extra-curricular program and social life.
As mentioned above, "staff turnover" is normal in international as well as city schools in general, from the outside the turn-over rate at ISB is not "everyone at once" but a smaller percentage of staff that actually move each year. The question you might want to ask the admin people would be the average period of staff retention. With a large total staff pool it can appear there is a lot of turn-over when each staff member actually stays for a normal retention period (2-5 years).
"fantastic facilities" is normal in Switzerland, the Aesch public primary school boasts a spectacularly equipped on-site music school, an indoor pool, 2 indoor gymnasiums, complete "home science" and manual arts facilities, an outdoor (paved) basketball court, a number of interactive play areas (slides, swings, water, etc), a full-sized football (soccer) field with athletics facilities (sprints, jumping) and a public swimming pool complex next door.
At any school the life experienced by a student, regardless of age, will mostly be dependent on the quality of the teacher.
I can't confirm anything to you as a parent, as I don't have children, but most of the people I know in Basel have went to the ISB as a child. From what I''ve heard the school has expanded a LOT since they last attended, but they have only had really great reviews about the teaching standards there. THey all moved onto Uni in England and now have great careers! I think the other option is another smaller international school (SIS)...the only think I know about this school is that becuase its still quite small, it doesnt have the facilities yet to divide into a high school and junior school yet, so everyone is together.....
I can only talk from my experience. I visited ISB and found the facilities impressive and I then visited academia who have the city centre based college with only a student room for facilities BUT what I can say is that the decision to put my 17 and 13 year old there has been successful so far... the youngest is in an intensive German course at the Billingual school and will integrate into doing a week of all lessons in English then a week all in German in 2 weeks time. the eldest is taking time to settle but academia do everything possible to help the individual, they offer an insight period for your child to see if they like it and try out all the lessons. all lessons at the college (aged 14 or 15 up to about 20 years old) are taught in English apart from the languages of course! have a look at them see what you think.
So you have to look for external clubs and larger circles outside....