ISP Admissions Policy

Admission is broadly based on the following criteria:

• There is a good fit between a family’s educational goals and ISP’s Mission and learning goals;
• There is a likelihood that the student’s learning and wellbeing will flourish in the ISP learning environment;
• The student’s individual learning and/or English language needs can be met by ISP support services;
• ISP can maintain balance and diversity in classes and across the school.

ISP students must live with at least one parent or a designated legal guardian while they are studying at the school.
 

ISP was founded to serve a global community of transient expatriate families. While the school welcomes local residents who believe in our mission, we reserve the right to give admissions priority to expatriate families over those with a viable local alternative. Therefore, admission of qualified students is prioritised in the following order.

1. Families with siblings currently at ISP (including newly admitted students);
2. Transient international families (English mother tongue or bilinguals);
3. Transient international families (with history of English as language of instruction);
4. Transient international families (with or without history of English as language of instruction);
5. Host national families (with history of English as language of instruction);
6. Host national families (without history of English as language of instruction).
    

To ensure a rich English-language learning environment and our international character, we limit admissions to no more than 20% of any one nationality/mother tongue (other than English) in any grade level, section and across the entire school. We use the following criteria to determine nationality/mother tongue:

• Passport(s) held (holders of multiple passports must indicate this information on the application);
• Nationality of parents;
• Mother-tongues of both parents and child;
• Language of instruction at prior schools;
   

Other than in the Early Childhood Foundations grades ECF3, ECF4, and ECF5, we determine the appropriate grade placement by the student’s official education to date.

Grade placement in ECF3, ECF4, and ECF5

Students wishing to enter grades ECF3, ECF4, or ECF5 must be three, four, or five years old, respectively, before 1 September of the year of entry to the grade.

On a case-by-case basis, we may permit students whose birthday falls between September 1 and 15 of the year of entry to enter the ECF3, ECF4, or ECF5 programme at the beginning of the year; however, parents should be aware that there is a higher chance that we may require such students to repeat the grade the following year.

Grade placement when transferring from schools with different calendar

Students transferring from a country with a school year that follows a different calendar than ISP (e.g. South Korea, Japan, Australia, South Africa) must continue at the same grade level which they have just completed. For example, a student who completed Grade 8 in February at their former school would be placed in Grade 8 for the remainder of the academic year at ISP (which ends in June). We do not believe that it is in the best interest of such a student to enter Grade 9 and matriculate from that Grade in just a few months.
 

As soon as we receive the completed application, the student’s file undergoes a detailed review by our Admissions Committee. This committee includes sectional principals, counsellors, learning support specialists and other members of the educational team. Certain applications may require some additional steps if we feel it is necessary to enable us to make a decision.

There is no standardised admission test for entry to ISP. However, to ensure that the school can meet a student’s learning needs, we may require further testing/screening. For example, students applying to our Middle School (grades 6-8) and Upper School (grades 9-12) whose mother tongue is not English are required to take an English language assessment (see the chart below).

Grade Level	Proficiency Requirement at time of Admissions	Assessment(s) used	Skills Assessed	Purpose of Assessment
PK-KG	None	Interview, Pre LAS KG = WIDA	Listening, speaking	Placement
Grades 1-5	None	WIDA	LISTENING, SPEAKING, READING, WRITING	Admissions & Placement
Grades 6-7	None	WIDA	Listening, speaking, reading, writing	Admissions & Placement
Grades 8	Social language + Basic Academic	WIDA	Listening, speaking, reading, writing	Admissions & Placement
Grades 9-10	Social language + Basic Academic	WIDA + Academic listening and vocabulary tasks	Listening, speaking, reading, writing	Admissions & Placement
Grades 11-12	Proficiency	WIDA + Academic listening, vocabulary and written tasks	Listening, speaking, reading, writing	Admissions & Placement

 

Unless additional testing is needed, we will notify parents of the decision within two weeks of receiving the completed online application and the Application Fee. Under normal circumstances, we communicate the decision via email.

We provide EAL support for students whose current level of English (speaking, listening, reading, or writing) limits their access to the curriculum. Our EAL specialists work to increase students’ English proficiency through a literacy and language-based programme. It is a “sheltered immersion” programme in which students develop their English skills within the regular curriculum. The EAL support we are able to provide depends on the number of students already enrolled in EAL at the relevant grade level.

There is no standardised admission test for entry to ISP. However, to ensure that the school can meet a student’s learning needs, we may require further testing/screening. For example, students applying to our Middle School (grades 6-8) and Upper School (grades 9-12) whose mother tongue is not English are required to take an English language assessment (see the chart below).

Grade Level	Proficiency Requirement at time of Admissions	Assessment(s) used	Skills Assessed	Purpose of Assessment
PK-KG	None	Interview, Pre LAS KG = WIDA	Listening, speaking	Placement
Grades 1-5	None	WIDA	Listening, speaking, reading, writing	Admissions & Placement
Grades 6-7.	None	WIDA	Listening, speaking, reading, writing	Admissions & Placement
Grades 8	Social language + Basic Academic	WIDA	Listening, speaking, reading, writing	Admissions & Placement
Grades 9-10	Social language + Basic Academic	WIDA + Academic listening and vocabulary tasks	Listening, speaking, reading, writing	Admissions & Placement
Grades 11-12	Proficiency	WIDA + Academic listening, vocabulary and written tasks	Listening, speaking, reading, writing	Admissions & Placement

 

Learning Support is part of the instructional continuum of services we provide to meet the diverse learning needs of our students. The exact number of students we can support is dependent on the resources the School has available at any given time.

Supporting Documentation

Parents or guardians of any applicant who requires additional support must submit complete supporting documentation with the application. Such documentation might include an Individualised Education Plan (IEP) that outlines the level of support required, Assessment Reports, that show the student’s current level of performance, and any diagnosis or recommendations for intervention and accommodation (such as occupational therapy and/or psycho-educational testing).

As part of this process, we may interview the applicant, and the Admissions Committee may request that a psycho-educational evaluation be conducted before we make a decision.

Please note

During the application process, it is not in the student’s best interest to withhold information that would allow the school to determine whether it can support the student’s learning and wellbeing. If, after admission, it is discovered that such information existed but was not provided, we reserve the right to withdraw our offer of admission or to not offer re-enrolment.

Level of Support Provided

We support students with Mild Learning Difficulties (MLD) who require “accommodation” but not “modification.” Accommodations do not fundamentally change instructional level, content, or performance criteria during instruction or assessment, while modifications bring different benchmarks, modified curriculum and performance criteria.

Given appropriate accommodations, a student with MLD functions within the regular classroom and focuses on the same learning outcomes as all students. We do not have a programme for students who require a self-contained learning environment or a completely separate curriculum.

When reviewing the application of a student with specific needs, the Admissions Committee takes into consideration the current number of students receiving learning support in that grade. Despite a diagnosis of MLD, we will only offer admission when the Admissions Committee determines that we can provide the level of support required for the student to be successful.