Strategic Plan
2019-2024
INTRODUCTION
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he aim of the Strategic Plan for Verita International School is to guide the educational direction of the school for the next five years. The Plan drives a continual process, which also includes an annual feedback cycle. In this way, the Strategic Plan is designed to remain flexible, relevant and up to date. Any new initiatives not already identified in the plan will be considered in line with our 6 development areas.
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etween the period of September 2018 and June 2019, Ve r i t a I n t e r n a t i o n a l School undertook a major assessment of its academic programmes, resources, governance and leadership structures, and support for student life in preparation for CIS Membership and the implementation of the IGCSE and IB DP. This evaluation was used to define the school’s strategic planning framework to ensure that VIS proactively planned for the future.
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he Strategic Plan 2 0 1 9 - 2 0 24 i s a b o u t continuity. Firstly, it honors VIS’s influence o n t h e l i ve s o f t h e students, and families through e d u c at i n g st u d e n t s w i t h t h e essential skills and knowledge re q u i re d t o m a ke a n a c t i ve contribution as they take their place in our ever-evolving global society. The plan is also about potential. VIS values and seeks to develop inquiry-based learning, self-direction, creative problem solving, collaborative, social emotional learning a n d ex p e r i e n t i a l e d u c at i o n a l experiences.
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he strategic plan outlines plans for five areas that have been identified as fundamental to s t re n g t h e n i n g t h e f u t u re o f VIS. These areas are: Teachers, teaching and staff, students, curriculum, community, learning environments. The evaluation process has provided focus for t h e d eve l o p m e n t o f re l eva n t goals and school wide action plans that will support the school’s ambition to fulfill its mission.
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MISSION Inspiring, kind and joyful learning communities, who use innovative thinking to build a mindful and sustainable world.
VISION Verita ensures that kindness is the centre of everything we do. Deeply committed to international and intercultural understanding, Verita provides an academically engaging, inquiry-based educational approach. Our responsibility is to whole-heartedly assist our students to develop the social-emotional and academic skills necessary to live meaningful, fulfilled, and happy lives.
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DEVELOPMENT AREAS 1
Teachers, Teaching and Staff Well-being, Leadership, Professional Development, Communication
2
Students
Our teachers are committed to delivering an inquiry-based, constructivist, collaborative and challenging curriculum every day.
Well-being, Leadership, Communication
3
Curriculum
Leadership, Assessment, Wellbeing, Communication
4
Learning Environments
Learning Spaces, Facilities, Resources, Communication, Wellbeing
6
Our students can learn a ny t h i n g a n d t h ey should take responsibility for their own learning.
Community
Leadership, Values, Service Learning, Parents, Communication
5
01
Finances and resources
Development, capital, reserve
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02 Students have access to contemporary curricula and co-curricula programmes that fully prepare them for the changing world.
03
Our school community thrives as a result of cohesion among its three components; the students, the school staff and the parents.
04 O u r l e a r n i n g e nv ironments should be student centred and inspire active
05 Financial management with clear procedures provide the resources needed to support a curriculum built for 21st Century learning.
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PROCESS The process to create this Strategic Plan was created with the express goal of developing a strategic direction for the school that the whole community feels is “our plan�. From August 2018 to June 2019, leadership sought input from staff, parents and students. This was explored through workshops, surveys, and individual conversations. We also began to plan our learning definition throughout this process, and that has guided or strategic plan.
While we did take input from the community, in an effort to have a plan to move forward, this was not reviewed and revised as much as we would like by our whole school community. We will be working with teachers, parents, and students throughout the year to have them help develop our plan, and make sure that there is buy-in from the community.
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TEACHERS AND STAFF What We Believe We believe that our students deserve the very best teachers who are committed to delivering an inquiry-based, constructivist, collaborative and challenging curriculum every day. We believe that our teachers are key to the process of helping students to co-construct their learning and in preparing them for the challenges of a globally connected and fast-changing world. We believe that teachers should innovate, collaborate, and model a growth mindset, striving to be the best that they can be. We believe they should have responsibility for, and take ownership of, their own professional learning, supported by the school.
What We Will Do 1A. Ensure progression, quality of work standards and consistency 1B. Ensure peer observations for professional development to share best practices 1C. Develop a culture that purposefully seeks to retain the best staff. 1D. Ensure that the roles of governance and leadership are clear and appropriate 1E. Provide IGCSE & IB training for all secondary staff and leadership as required. 1F. Continue to define and develop a system of distributed leadership that invites collaboration and shared responsibility in teaching and learning and contributes to faculty members’ sense of job satisfaction and growth. 1G. Create systems that purposefully promote and support the well-being of our staff.
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STUDENTS What We Believe We believe that our students can learn anything and that they should take responsibility for their own learning. We believe that our students should have the opportunity for their voices to be heard on matters that directly have an influence on their lives and their learning. We believe that our students should be encouraged, challenged and supported to develop academically, physically, socially and emotionally and that our students’ well-being and social emotional learning is key to this development. We believe that our students should have the opportunity to achieve their goals when leaving Verita for work or post-secondary education.
What We Will Do 2A. Develop more ways to celebrate student success 2B. Provide college and career counseling 2C. Broaden extra-curricular activities 2D. Improve differentiation across the school. 2E. Form primary and secondary student councils with a focus on values, character and service 2F. Improve our school wide Special Educational Needs provisions 2G. Purposefully create a culture in which students take responsibility for their own learning and their learning environments. 2H. Continue to develop our SEL and wellness programme that addresses the personal, health and social issues relevant to students at each stage of their development.
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CURRICULUM
What We Believe We believe that our students should have access to contemporary curricula and co-curricula programmes that fully prepare them for the challenges of a globally connected and fast changing world. We believe these programmes should be based on best international practice and should be fully articulated, student-centred, inquiry-based, constructivist, collaborative and challenging. We believe that assessment guides learning. We believe in a curriculum that fosters academic and social emotional development.
What We Will Do 3A. Ensure the use of unit planners across the school so that the curriculum is fully documented and reflected on. Including course outlines for future IB courses. 3B. Develop a curriculum review cycle and make sure that each year has a focus, committee and development process 3C. Improve our digital citizenship plan and put it into action 3D. Develop assessment policies, practices and procedures to ensure a consistent, whole-school approach that focuses on improving learning. 3E. Ensure that fieldwork personal goals/dispositions, and the IB learner profile are known, lived and calibrated. 3F. Seek internationally recognised accreditation and get authorization to run the IB DP and the IGCSE
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COMMUNITIES What We Believe We believe that our school community thrives as a result of cohesion among its three components; the students, the school staff and the parents, where the common goal of enabling each student’s development is achieved through an ethos of nurture, celebration and a collaborative community. Students, parents and staff are encouraged to work together as a community for the benefit of others. In our ever-evolving global society, we, as citizens of our world, aim to build constructive relationships, and encourage the development of greater empathy and understanding through deeper, service-led collaborations with our wider community. We believe that building bridges achieves lasting relationships and enables us to foster hope in our community.
What We Will Do 4A. Review guiding statements with the community to make sure that we continue to have direction and a clear vision of what we want to accomplish as a school. 4B. Develop a comprehensive service learning programme across the school 4C. As a community develop admissions, assessment, academic honesty, Special Educational Needs and language policies for the school. 4D. Become a CIS member and accredited school. 4E. Continue to develop initiatives to involve the whole community in the professional learning and development of our school. 4F. Review and create opportunities and relationships that bring the local community into our campus
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LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
What We Believe We believe that our learning environments should be student centred and inspire active, creative and innovative learning opportunities. We believe that all learning spaces, neighbourhoods and other functional areas should be designed to provide opportunities for flexible, collaborative, personalised and authentic learning experiences in a stimulating, safe and welcoming community environment. We believe that technology is an important tool for learning and that it should be used to enhance, transform and personalise learning for our students and staff.
What We Will Do 5A. Develop a new Secondary campus to provide an adequate learning space until the purpose-built campus is in place. This will include a secondary library, resource centre, and Science Lab 5B. Identify new campus which supports the development of an Early Years to DP international school program. 5C. Review and develop transport systems that have a focus on safety, efficiency, health and the environment. 5D. Continue to develop digital learning environments for students to succeed.
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FINANCE AND RESOURCES What We Believe We believe in sound financial management with clear procedures and tight controls to provide the resources needed to support a curriculum built for 21st Century learning and to enable the school to develop state of the art facilities to promote inclusive, hands-on student learning.
What We Will Do 1A. Create a Development fund for the new building 1B. Establish separate capital funds and reserve funds, building towards a 5 month operating reserve 1C. Conduct annual external audits 1D. Review financial procedures and develop a financial procedures manual 1E. Target for tuition and implement our tuition policy from the policy manual 1F. Have Clear, transparent budget procedures
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CONCLUSION
This strategic plan should be viewed as a road map, helping us on the school’s journey from 2019 to 2024. It will provide the platform for taking us to CIS accreditation in 2022 and to our first DP graduates in 2023 and our first alumni in 2024. Many people have contributed to its development and the conclusions that were drawn from that data. This plan will be reviewed annually and input will be continually sought from all members of the school community. Updates will be published annually on the school website for the community to read. Therefore like all journeys, as we collect new data and receive fresh input the route may be modified as we find improved directions and identify changing needs. Budget proposals will be reassessed annually on the basis of each review to ensure that all our resources, whether they be personnel, time, or financial, are positioned to provide the greatest impact on student learning. We invite all of the community to remain involved in this process by offering your support, ideas and comments as ‘critical friends’. In this regard, we look forward to continuing to work with students, parents, faculty, administration, the advisory board members and eventually allumni in ensuring VIS’s position as an important and vibrant institution.
Review date: August 2020 Approved by: VIS Advisory Board & Founder, November 2019 Developed by: Senior Management Team in collaboration with the Learning Community of Verita International School
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