BACK TO SCHOOL EDITION
TUSKAN TIMES
ISF
IN THIS ISSUE
ALL ABOUT DAVID OTTAVIANO
IMPROVEMENTS TO STUDENT SUPPORT
INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW PRINCIPAL
THE ISF TRAJECTORY
BERNARDO PETOCHI
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JACK BACH
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STELLA FRANCESCHI
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KATHERINE DICK
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ON THE COVERS MY INSPIRATION FOR THE COVER WAS THE PAINTINGS OF BOTTICELLI IN THE RENAISSANCE STYLE. RENAISSANCE MEANS REBIRTH. I WANTED TO REFERENCE ALL THE CHANGE AND NEW BEGINNINGS AT ISF THIS SCHOOL YEAR.
EVA GOULDER I WANTED THIS COVER TO EVOKE THE FEELING THAT EVERYONE IS FAMILIAR WITH, OF “WHERE DID MY SUMMER GO?!” IT ALWAYS FEELS LIKE SUMMER BREAK IS TOO SHORT, BUT IT’S ALSO GOOD TO BE BACK IN SCHOOL.
GUYSTAVO REGO
AFTER WHAT I HOPE HAS BEEN A RESTFUL AND REJUVENATING SUMMER VACATION, SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION. OUR WRITERS AND ARTISTS HAVE WORKED HARD TO PREPARE THIS SPECIAL EDITION, WHICH GOES OVER THE CHANGES TO OUR SCHOOL THAT HAVE OCCURRED SINCE JUNE; AS WELL AS REFLECT ON HOW FAR ISF HAS COME OVER THE DECADES. ENJOY THE ISSUE! BEST, BERNARDO PETOCHI
MEET THE TEAM
DEAR READERS,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
WRITERS
BERNARDO PETOCHI
BERNARDO PETOCHI JACK BACH
ASSISTANT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KATHERINE DICK
STELLA FRANCESCHI KATHERINE DICK SUPERVISOR
KATHRYN VAN FORST HEAD OF LAYOUT GIUSEPPINA LOPEZ
ISF
Opening up the school year with the Tuskan Times updates from students for students
ISF students supporting Corri la Vita
ISF
DAVID OTTAVIANO
The new Head of School: David Ottaviano BY BERNARDO PETOCHI '22
Following last year’s vacancy, a new man has been called at the helm of ISF. He has kindly agreed to let us get to know him, and his vision for ISF, better. David Ottaviano has worked as a teacher and headmaster in New Jersey for over a decade, led a school in Belgrade during the Yugoslavian war, and has also been the head of schools in Romania, Italy, Japan, and the UAE. In addition, Dr. Ottaviano has been the director of various international accreditation institutions. When asked about the value of this experience, he explained that it helped give him an appreciation of how diverse schools were. “When I was in the Middle East, for example, they had schools with 50 to 70 kids in a class in a low-priced school, but in a very high-priced school, you would walk into a school that had planetariums.” He added that one of the trends he noticed during the pandemic was that “many schools went down in size, because expatriots tended to return to their home country. However, what I was impressed about ISF is that during this time, the school has grown. In fact, it's never been so big as it is now.” He also conceded that the increase in size “poses other challenges, because the facility is very pressed, due to the increase in people.” In fact, when asked about an area that ISF could improve on, Dr. Ottaviano again mentioned the facility.
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He explained that while, “it's a wonderful building, and it's a wonderful setting, but it doesn't have some of the things that I think would be good for students like art or science labs, sports facilities that would be commensurate with the interest level of the students. So, those are areas that I know the board of directors is looking at to try to make better.” However, Ottaviano added that he and the board have set themselves the goal of choosing a new, long-term facility by the end of the school year, showing their dedication to continuously improve ISF. Moreover, one of the many upsides of a larger student body is that “as a school gets larger, it makes it more affordable to offer more courses which are better for students.”
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As a school gets larger, it makes it more affordable to offer more courses which is better for students.
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When discussing the range of subjects offered at ISF, Ottaviano said that “the sciences and language are already strong,” but perhaps it is possible to, "move things forwards in creative areas, architecture, and technology, so that the school will eventually have many drama productions, many musical productions, and artists that fit into the city.”
ISF
DAVID OTTAVIANO
Dr. Ottaviano stressed the importance of establishing a direct link between administration and students. “I would like to increase student voice by eventually having several students or student council members sit on the board of directors.”
Dr. Ottaviano concluded by saying that these opportunities will be realized as “the school grows.” However, what most impressed Dr. Ottaviano about ISF was its people. “I met families, I met parents, I met some students, and I was really impressed with the level of their commitment to the school, to the institution, and to learning. I was impressed with the fact that some of them were jokesters, that some of them were good-natured, and that some of them were very serious. The second thing that impressed me was the staff and the teachers that I met. They seem to be very loyal and very committed to this institution, and taking it not just as a job but as something that is a life calling,” Dr. Ottaviano also has an Ed.D in psychology and has published multiple articles on the subject. When asked about how this background influences his style of teaching and leadership, he explained that “I just think of psychology as the way I approach life. I'm interested in people, and I'm interested in why people want to do what they want to do. I'm interested in how to help people be better people, so it's an all-around thing. It has also served me well because cultures are so different: in Japan, you never shake someone's hand. You have a name card, presented like this, [present a card in front of his body] so that the other person looks at it, but never touches it. That's a country where there are 130 million people in a space that is maybe a quarter the size of Italy. So they've had to learn to live with many people close by. In fact, years ago people would have these masks because they didn't want to infect other people. These, for me, are interesting cultural differences.”
He explained that direct contact “will allow things to move faster.” He added that “some of the board members are interested, and we're going to raise this at the next board meeting.” It seems that the priorities of ISF’s new leader are in order: to understand the limits of a facility, and use the school’s growth as a catalyst for improved learning across a broader range of subjects; to increase student voice and action, and above all, understand what is at the core of ISF – bright students, and steadfast, brilliant teachers.
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ISF
WELLBEING
Improvements to Student Support
BY JACK BACH '22
The start of the 2021 school year saw some of the most historical changes ever made at ISF in strides for student support. Last year in June, major structural changes to the Wellbeing Program were announced, including two new major positions –
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Vice Principal of Student Support and a Schoolwide Social and Emotional Learning Counsellor.
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Ms. Angeletti, the school’s new Vice Principal of Wellbeing, and Mrs. Szablinski, the new Vice Principal of Student Support, were both interviewed in hopes of both gaining a better understanding of their new responsibilities and their intentions for the future. Ms. Angeletti, the new Vice Principal of the Wellbeing Program, is more than qualified for her new role. She is a member of the International Positive Education Network, has a diploma in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and trains in Life Decider Skills – a program that helps people of all ages balance and support their own mental health. She is a certified trained teacher of Mindfulness for eleven to eighteen year olds and has had her own personal practice as a member of the field since she was twenty-five years old.
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With an extensive background and field of knowledge on the subject of Wellbeing and Behavioral Therapy, she has lectured and given presentations to health professionals for the fields of Education and Research in Milan, Rome and Barcelona. In her previous role at her last international school, she was the head of their Wellbeing Program, creating a team and curriculum that drew from, as she put it, “best practices from around the World in the fields of Education, Health, and Psychology.” Alongside her work with the program, she led workshops for students, staff, and parents in her school’s community. Not only is she an extensively knowledgeable member in the field of therapy and mental health, she is an avid supporter and member of “Theater Practice” and believes in many ways that the two are very intertwined. “For me, Student Well-being and Theatre Practice have many connections. Theatre is all about exploring the human condition using a variety of languages both visual and sensory. Student Wellbeing is about creating the conditions for all students at ISF to work in a safe environment and be enabled and empowered to develop their own unique creative voices within the school and the wider world… Wellbeing lies at the heart of being able to attain well and it also builds a strong, connected community.”
ISF
WELLBEING
To top it all off, Ms. Angeletti is currently writing a book on the connections between Theater Practice and Wellbeing. As far as how Ms. Angeletti is using her field of knowledge and experience in the past, she is responsible for developing an updated ISF Wellbeing Curriculum that is “meaningful, purposeful, and relevant to ISF students drawing on best evidence-based practices from across the world.” She also emphasizes that she wants to
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empower student voice, ensuring that knowledge acquired, skills practiced, and attributes developed, can make up a toolkit to equip students for life as they go out into the world.
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Child Protection and Safeguarding are also crucial aspects of her job that involve actively staying in contact with various students, teachers, parents, and organizations. Ms. Angeletti also emphasizes the need to “connect with Grade 11 and 12 students who do not have Wellbeing lessons and see what they feel their needs are in relation to being supported further and share what could be offered at this point.” This was a great concern for many IB students last year; they were not included in any Wellbeing lessons and there was no counselor qualified to address any of their personal needs, leading to a year with hardly any outreach for support.
The Vice Principal of Wellbeing will also work closely with Ms. Ramirez, the School’s Social and Emotional Learning Counsellor, by “communicating important information and ensuring we have policies and practices that facilitate good communication.” She will also work closely with Mrs. Szablinski, the Vice Principal of Student Support. Under the newly appointed role, Vice Principal of Student Support, Mrs. Szablinski works with students much more on a day to day basis. She mostly handles practical concerns students may have during lunch, snack, or other interim times during the day. Mrs. Szablinski stated that her role is to, “support students. This might be just a conversation or it might be connecting a student with further support within the team and the curriculum or indeed with the school counselor James Lee or with the Social and Emotional Counselor, Diana Ramirez.” Mrs. Szablinski is the main contact point for students to address and resolve any issues they may have. The most important notion to understand about her is that as a student, her purpose is to help students. As Mrs. Szablinski explained, she is “a strong communicator and connector.
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a strong communicator and connector.
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I care about this school and the students here. I think we have strong relationships between staff and students. I felt that I could support the growth of the Community. I have spent almost half my life in education and am a parent of three children. TUSKAN TIMES
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ISF
WELLBEING
I understand what challenges students face both professionally and personally.” She also works personally with the Form Tutors and the inclusion of the English as an Additional Language association (EAL) as ISF.
Therefore, while these new improvements may not be in the form of their complete potential, it’s still in all the students’ best interest to use these new resources to their best capacity. Only under effective communication and proper use of the school’s new resources can these positions effectively integrate into the school for the students and community. At its best, the Wellbeing program has the ability to support the needs of all its students, continuously growing and offering improvement. The future of ISF student support looks positive, and it’s in all the students’ best interest to use these new resources to their maximum potential.
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These new changes and goals for the Wellbeing program are a much needed breath of fresh air for the student body.
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Ms. Angeletti and Mrs. Szablinski stressed their new promises and responsibilities are still in their “early days.” This is completely understandable; such an improved expansion for the students’ support system could not come to true fruition in less than a month after the start of school.
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Note: Avery Fernie interviewed Ms. Angeletti, and Gustavo Rego interviewed Mrs. Szablinski to make this article possible.
ISF
JAN STIPEK
INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW PRINCIPAL: JAN STIPEK
BY STELLA FRANCESCHI 22'
As many of you know at this point, Jan Stipek is the new Upper School principal here at the International School of Florence. Originally Czech, he started his teaching career in 1998 at the International School of Prague, followed by teaching and leadership roles in China, Singapore and Italy. He has also worked at the IB Global Center in The Hague. Since 2016, Mr. Stipek has served as the Secondary Years Principal and Deputy Head of School for GEMS World Academy in Singapore. In this interview, we will get to know Mr. Stipek a little better and learn about his intentions for improving the school for the ISF community. What motivated you to enter the world of education as a teacher and then a high school principal? When I was about sixteen or seventeen years old I really didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew that I loved languages. At that point I’d already studied German and English, so I decided I wanted to do something focusing or working with English as a language. I was thinking about interpreting, but then I saw an opportunity come up, and I decided to enroll in a university with teacher preparation programs. While there I met a professor who
had moved onto the International School of Prague the following year. We kept in touch, and when I graduated, she needed a teaching assistant. That is how I got into the international school teaching straight from university. What experience as a student and with students impacted you the most? When I was a student, I think there were two experiences that impacted me the most; The first would be with certain teachers. I still remember very clearly that I had an English teacher from the U.S named Gladis. She was different from all of the other teachers, who were mostly Czech given I grew up in the Czech Republic. She used a lot of authentic materials. She wanted us to use the language, not because of a textbook, but because she wanted us to communicate. The second experience that impacted me as a student were the trips. Going on residential trips and all of a sudden seeing that you are learning in different ways than only in a classroom. That carried on when I became a teacher. I've always enjoyed taking students on trips. In my first school we used to do these week-long team building trips. We went to amazing places like the top of a glacier in the Austrian Alps where we had to hike for about four hours with a bunch of grade seven students and there was no road, nothing. These trips were amazing experiential learning opportunites for students.
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JAN STIPEK
ISF
How are you planning to work with the student leadership to create an open conversation? I met with the high school student council representatives yesterday. I am yet to meet with the middle school student council. What I told them yesterday was that
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I definitely want there to be a consist dialogue so I am always available.
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We actually set regular meetings. We are going to meet once a month regularly, but I am also available for conversation. We also spoke about accountability and expectations, really making sure that the student council feels supported while also knowing that their proposals have to come in a formal way. The conversation we will have hopefully will lead to improvement overall, but if they have a very specific request, it has to be written, it has to come as a proposal, it has to be vetted by the student council supervisor. They know there is a process, and I think it is very important in any position of leadership you have to understand the bigger picture. Leadership doesn't just happen because of a conversation, it happens because you do the hard work. You do your research, you discover what is feasible, not feasible, what are the limitations. And then you actually really make the decision whether the proposal is something you want to take forward.
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How are you planning on balancing wellbeing with academics during the school year? The key word is balance. At the end of the day we want students to feel successful and in many cases get into the university of their choice, absolutely, but we are human beings. So, we need to recognise that we can only perform at our best when we feel supported, when we feel okay, when we feel emotionally stable, and when the affective filter down. That comes from wellbeing. I absolutely believe that you can always have really high performing students, but do you also have happy students? Do you also have balanced students who will not be burnt out? I know of a lot of schools in Asia which consistently will get the top DP scores, every year, but at what cost? We have to decide as a school what we value, and for me it's the balance. We want the top scores possible, but at the same time, we don’t want to be burning students out. Wellbeing does not take away from academics; rather it enhances it and helps students be more balanced in life in general.
The wellbeing program in
my opinion is really
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important, and I don't see it for one second as conflicting.
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ISF
JAN STIPEK
What is your focus for this upcoming school year? The focus for me this year is just to get to know everybody and to get to know the context of the school. It has been around for 70 years and many of your teachers have even been students here. ISF is not just an organisation; it's a community. My focus is to understand why certain things are being done a certain way. At the same time, I will be taking note of what I believe should be changed and improved. That really can be anything, from the curriculum to the assessment to the campus, and then working with the leadership team to see what we can realistically change and within what time frame. What are you looking forward to here at ISF and in Italy in general? More personally, what I'm looking for is hopefully fulfilling our reason for coming back to Italy, which is taking advantage of all that Italy has – from the beautiful countryside, to the food, to the people. My wife and I love Italian as a language and so as a family, one of our goals is to improve our Italian and for our boys to learn it. Settling in, finding our feet, finding a routine, and then finding the balance between work and life – that is what I am looking forward to.
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ISF is not just an organisation, it's a community.
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ISF
TRAJECTORY
The ISF Trajectory BY KATHERINE DICK '23 On the first day of school, students waiting to get their temperature checked outside formed a line from the parking lot all the way back to the gate down the hill. Did we always have this many students? ISF has more than doubled in size over the past twenty years. Since 2016, student enrollment in the school has increased 21%; from 472 to 573. To its credit, the school has continued to grow its faculty in response to the increase in students and in preparation for the future. While there have been some physical expansions, are they enough?
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Where have we been and where are we going?
“I remember the graduates walking up in their caps and gowns and all the little first graders running up and hugging them. It was such a family feeling,” said Ms. Yiannakis. Every year, she was sure to know each student by name, where they came from, and something about them. It was a very special and “congenial relationship.” In the 1990s, there was a point when the school had only one teacher per grade with a graduating class of five students. While the International Baccalaureate Diploma was offered, it was very limited. Students could not select any courses and were required to take English, Italian, French, mathematics, biology, and history.
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Only a few people have watched ISF grow from a senior class of five students to last year’s group of 49 graduates. The class of 2023 is expected to graduate next year with nearly 70 students from the IB Diploma Program. Ms. Yiannakis has taught at the school for 30 years. She and Mrs. Szablinski, who has taught at ISF for 20 years, share a similar impression of the school. “When I think of ISF, I think of family. We are a tight knit community.” said Mrs. Szablinski. That family has grown and expanded dramatically. Before 2001, Early Years to 12th grade were located in the same building. During that time, first graders were assigned a 12th grade buddy.
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For context, today our school offers 24 IB courses with the option for standard or higher level in 20 of those. Reflecting on this striking growth of the school, Ms. Yiannakis said, “we can say we lost the sense of family, but for the students, the quality of education has improved. We’re able to offer far more courses, and we've brought in some amazing new teachers.”
ISF
TRAJECTORY
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Though the school may feel more full than it did ten, or even five years ago, the quality of education and wide range of course selections seem to have improved significantly. As the student population has grown, ISF has adapted. The student-faculty ratio has remained relatively consistent over the past two decades. As more students joined the school, new teachers were hired accordingly. In the past 20 years, the student to staff ratio has stayed fixed at a roughly 6:1 ratio.
Between 2003 and 2018, the Upper School population has more than doubled.
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Since the latest expansion in 2018, the Upper School student population has increased by 24%.
Before 2001, the entire school, preschoolers to seniors, was in Villa le Tavernule, known today as the Junior School campus. Presently, that building houses 223 students. Coincidentally, this is the same number of students in Early Years to Grade 12 that were in the entire school in 1999. Villa Torri di Gattaia, otherwise known as the Upper School campus, was added in 2001 to account for the feeling of “bursting at the seams,” as Ms. Yiannakis described. The campus expanded again in 2003 with the addition of the CAS building with three classrooms and one office. In 2018, the school added the Villa Nuova which houses a music room, two art rooms, one classroom, and several administrative offices.
This year, another two new classrooms below the terrace were added in response to the increased growth in population. According to the school leadership, we are operating at 98% capacity. Are these two new rooms enough for the 33 additional students in the Upper School? We can calculate that the maximum enrollment possible in today’s structures is 585 students. With a seemingly positive trend in student growth, how many students will ISF be responsible for next year?
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ISF
TRAJECTORY
When a few students were asked about the physical learning environment, some mentioned the Upper School campus feeling “a lot more crowded.” One student in 10th Grade described their return to school as “shocking, confusing, and overwhelming to see so many people.” Despite the campus feeling overpopulated, many students were in agreement that the school “did a great job making sure the classes never got too big.” An 11th Grade student commented that none of her classes have more than 17 students and most have fewer than 14.
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Our classes have maintained the atmosphere and relationship with the teacher.
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According to a 9th Grade student, the social dynamic has changed this year for the better. “People have started to mingle more, make more friends, and are more social than last year.” Five new IB courses were added to ISF's available curriculum last year. Many of the students who are taking one or more of these courses are thrilled about the opportunity. “Global Politics is definitely my favorite class. It's great and pairs well with many other courses,” an 11th grade student said. Overall, students are very pleased with the addition of these new courses.
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This year, 106 faculty members are working together to create a learning environment for 573 students. The curriculum is vibrant, and the international spirit and “uniquely Florentine” attitude is a part of ISF. Commenting on ISF's continued growth, Mr. Ottaviano, the Head of School, said: “As a result of the pandemic, some [international] schools were closed and many had a decline in enrollment. ISF, contrary to many other schools in the world, has increased enrollment. I am sure it is because of the school’s good reputation. The reputation is based on its students and teachers. My perspective is that ISF [in the upcoming years] should increase its waiting list for more students, or it should be poised to further develop in order to serve more students.” ISF has been a rapidly growing and evolving institution for decades. Today, we seem to be approaching our maximum capacity. Where are things headed next? Is 585 the long term enrollment number or will the school have to move? What changes might be coming next?
The Villa Nuova