I am writing this article from Eastern Anatolia in a small city called Erzurum, as part of a team of educators whose task it is to evaluate a school, which blends the Turkish curriculum with an international one. One of my tasks is to evaluate how this school’s Vision and Mission affect its operations.
Naturally, this has led me to reflect upon the Vision and Mission of our school.
At BISL, our Vision is to inspire lifelong learners and caring global citizens, in a community where everyone feels encouraged, supported and challenged.
Our Mission is to provide a high-quality British style international education in English, balancing tradition and innovation.
Our passion is creating a positive, safe and nurturing learning environment in which everyone is valued as individuals, empowering them to be versatile, motivated and caring people.
We will endeavour to create opportunities to develop creativity, collaboration and critical thinking skills through an inclusive and personalised experience.
At BISL, we are guided by our Vision and Mission. Our Vision and Mission were revised this year, as they must be on a regular basis, to ensure they are relevant and reflect the needs of our students.
However, many parts of our Vision and Mission have been present since the school’s inception. Our school has always nurtured, always created opportunities to develop creativity and always developed critical thinking skills in our students.
Today, our teachers continue to inspire students to take ownership of their learning. We hope they will identify new phonic sounds in their daily reader, learn the trickiest of times-tables, or try to impress when delivering a whole class presentation.
We aim to challenge our students on a daily basis. The very word ‘challenge’ is referred to in every planning document as we collectively strive for excellence. If a student understands the concepts, our teachers look for ways to broaden their understanding further or identify ways that their new found knowledge can be applied, thus getting the best out of each student individually.
