A long-term vision for success BSB’s sports philosophy Despite having to overcome the many of the same challenges that have affected every other aspect of school life, BSB’s athletes have excelled in all of their disciplines over the past two years, with record-breaking results in a number of sports during 2022 capping a successful return to face-to-face competition. These results don’t just happen by chance. Not only are they the reward for all the hard work put in by students and staff alike, but they are also the outcome of a sporting philosophy which was adopted with a long term vision of success in mind. The success that BSB has enjoyed over the last months and years can be traced back to the refocusing of the school’s sports philosophy in 2016 following a significant and visionary investment by the Board of Governors into sports facilities. With the opening of the state-of-the-art Jacques Rogge Sport Centre that year, it was only fitting that a new, clear mission for sports should be developed at the same time. That mission, to be ‘A Global Beacon for Sport,’ would be presented to the Board of Governors at the end of 2017 in the form of the 2020 Vision: Sport Strategy.
18 • The British School of Brussels
This strategy included five Whole School commitments: Every BSB student would be given the platform to become the best swimmer they could be; the whole school, from Reception to Year 13, would receive two hours of specialist PE per week; Enrichment would invest in three Tier One sports that run year-round, whilst also expanding recreational opportunities through further investment in external specialist coaches; PE provision would improve through recruitment, curriculum content, initial teacher training and academic provision, and students would have the choice to find ‘their’ sport and continue with lifelong healthy activity. These commitments were ambitious and required a collective effort to achieve. The adaptation of existing structures, fantastic recruitment, and a school commitment to support and investment have ultimately led to BSB hitting all the above targets. In our bid to become a Global Beacon for Sport, BSB is now the only British School in Europe to be part of the three flagship sport conferences: ISSA (International School Sport Association), ESC (European Sports Council) and SCIS (Sports Council of Internal Schools). Alongside this we are the only international school to be part of ISGA (Independent Schools Gymnastics Association) and ISFA (Independent Schools Football Association).
