Other Academic Highlights of the 2011/2012 Year Achievement in the academic element of the programme was consistently high throughout each of the school sections and on both campuses during 2011/2012. Students were continually challenged to extend their knowledge and understanding in each of the academic subject areas and in each of the transdisciplinary skills that support their learning across all five elements of the learning programme. The introduction of the iLearn programme in August 2011 had a big impact on teachers and on student learning, as classroom practice shifted to take advantage of technology in the classroom. At the same time, the College joined the Generation Safe™ programme to support students in navigating the digital environment. A survey of parents, students and staff about iLearn in April/May of 2011 helped the College to understand where the programme is most effective and how it can be improved to enhance student learning. Recommendations from the survey will be implemented during the 2012/2013 academic year.
The Council of International Schools/Western Association of Schools and College (CIS/WASC) accreditation process for Dover Campus was completed with the official visit of the Visiting Team in October 2011. Commendations and recommendations from the team, based on their visit, the College’s selfstudy report and their observations and meetings with students, staff and parents, were fully incorporated into the Dover Campus strategic plan during 2011/2012. This will be ongoing over the next three to five years. The language review, examining English language support, the second language programme and mother tongue provision at the College, was completed during the 2011/2012 academic year and recommendations given to the Board early in 2012/2013. The introduction of Mother Tongue Language Day celebrations in February gave the whole College a muchneeded opportunity to celebrate the diversity of languages in the school and the importance and value of mother tongue for all our students. More information on these strategic initiatives can be found in the strategic plan section of this report.
Infant and Junior Schools In the Infant Schools on both Dover and East Campus, our K1, K2 and Grade 1 students continued to benefit from an emphasis on the importance of play in learning. In particular in K1, the central pod spaces continued to be an extension of the classrooms so that stimulating, collaborative play with extended elements could become everyday practice. At the same time, wordless picture books were introduced in the early part of K1, in order to foster students’ imagination, creativity, observation and storytelling skills, with less emphasis on decoding words. Reading Workshop (on East Campus) and Writing Workshop (on Dover Campus), from Teachers College at Columbia University, were introduced from K2 to Grade 5. Experts from Columbia University spent a week on each campus, doing labsites
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