The address in Zurich for a world-class education Beyond the appeal of its sophisticated central location in Switzerland, the InterCommunity School (ICS) in Zurich secures a world-class education by entering all of its students into the International Baccalaureate (IB) and understanding that academic success alone is not enough to produce intelligent and insightful students year after year. TEXT: EMMIE COLLINGE | PHOTOS: ICS COMMUNICATIONS AND ICS STAFF
On a crisp winter morning, the ICS in Zurich is already in full swing, with all of its 850 students diving into ambitious projects. Some of the bilingual Early Years classes put on coats for their weekly excursion to the ICS’s ‘Forest School’, where they will build resilience and gather knowledge of the environment. A group of grade nine students listen attentively to careers counselors as they face the delicate 70 | Issue 47 | February 2017
decision of which subjects to pursue for their IB diploma. Other classes are busy finalising their technology and craft projects, due for sale later in the week at the school’s pop-up market. Noting all of this productivity, the ICS feels remarkably engaged. Head of school Mary-Lyn Campbell agrees. The ICS caters for the whole of a
Main image: ICS Grade ten student enjoying the Swiss Alps scenery during a training weekend in preparation for a school expedition to Peru. Top right: ICS Grade two students participating in ‘Drop Everything and Read’, an annual activity promoting multilingualism around the world. Above: ICS Kindergarten student and teacher conducting a science experiment.
child’s academic life, from their Early Years education until the completion of the globally recognised IB Programme. Touring around the well-maintained complex, Campbell explains how the ICS prides itself on the adoption of not only the prestigious IB diploma for 16 to 19-year-olds but also how it provides continuity by following the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), an inquiry-based curriculum for younger students that has a string of advantages which go far beyond grades on paper. As an accredited extension of the IB, the PYP and MYP Programmes offer an educational programme that is not only mobile but gives parents