ISP’s 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 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 prioritized 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 September 1 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 program 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.