ANNUAL REPORTSCHOOL YEAR 2015-2016

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Mission statement ............................................................................................................. 3

Director’s message ............................................................................................................ 4

Chairman’s report .............................................................................................................. 6

Admissions ......................................................................................................................... 8

Admissions enrolment from 2006/2007 to 2015/2016 ................................................ 9

A diverse student body representing 46 countries ........................................................10

IB and IGCSE results 2016 ..............................................................................................11

University acceptances & placements for classes of 2015/2016 ...............................12

University destinations at a glance .................................................................................15

Fundraising activities / Friends of ISL ............................................................................16

Financials .........................................................................................................................18

Parent Teacher Organisation ...........................................................................................20

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OUR MISSION IS TO PROVIDE AN OUTSTANDING EDUCATION IN A CARING INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT, INSPIRING ALL OUR STUDENTS TO REACH THEIR TRUE POTENTIAL AND TO ACT AS RESPONSIBLE PARTICIPANTS IN A GLOBAL SOCIETY

MISSION STATEMENT

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4

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

The ability to use technology effectively is pivotal in a student’s education and in 2015-16, the Upper School launched its 1 to World programme with all students in grades 6-8 bringing their own laptop to school each day. This will be extended to grades 9-11 in 2016-17. We remain extremely appreciative of all the support that Ernst and Young has provided for us over many years in the development of technology at ISL. The establishment of our Design Technology programme has been graciously supported by Nordea Bank in the form of our first 3D printer which has also reinforced the School’s goal to further student understanding of the product design process together with the requisite problem solving skills. The opening of the MakerSpace at the Forum on the Campus Geesseknäppchen has also provided the opportunity for both Upper and Lower School students to extend their learning experiences in the field of design and creativity.

Cultures of Thinking has been a central theme in the Lower School in 2015-16 with teachers approaching concept based learning through inquiry where students are encouraged to think individually and to share their ideas collectively as a means of developing new knowledge and deeper understanding as they build on their literacy and numeracy skills. Students in the Lower School are also developing their Information Technology Skills (IT) through the use of iPads and laptops as they learn to think visibly through working collaboratively. Successful student learning and achievement in the final years of school is the culmination of the foundations first laid down in the Early Years and built across the primary and secondary years through students’ natural curiosity, enthusiasm, enjoyment and great teaching.

International schools are truly special places for students and teachers. The experience of growing and learning together at ISL in such a multilingual and multicultural environment with more than forty five other nationalities is an extraordinary opportunity that cultivates international mindedness as a way of thinking and one which may well influence our young people for the rest of their lives. ISL was delighted and proud to be the first school in Luxembourg to sign the Diversity Charter in spring 2016. Given the nature of our unsettled world, bridging the gap in understanding between different cultures, languages and beliefs must surely be a real priority for 2016 and beyond and our students are in a unique position to help make a difference as global citizens.

2015-16 has seen the initial stages of the implementation of ISL’s new Strategic Plan for 2015-20. Our Mission Statement drives the Strategic Plan as the framework for the next five years of the School’s development. The plan focuses on seven overarching objectives which include an active, engaged and successful student body, outstanding staff, a strong curriculum and high academic standards, effective communications at all levels, optimal use of space and highly functional building facilities, financial strength and stability and a sound future.

A strong curriculum is one which encourages students to think for themselves, to be curious, to question and to build on knowledge and skills through teamwork and sharing of ideas, guided by the expertise of their teachers. Student achievement is measured in many ways across a school, whether in the field of the Arts, sports, community service, global citizenship or academic results.

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The International Baccalaureate is a highly rigorous programme of studies. Our mission encourages students to challenge themselves to work towards their potential and so we are extremely proud of every one of our students taking classes in the programme. 2015-16 saw the largest cohort to date complete the two year course with 90 students. Our 98% pass rate (compared with this year’s global average of 79%) with six of our IB students gaining either 43 or 44 out of 45 points and 16% of the class achieving over 40 points was an excellent result for students and teachers alike. The class of 2016 should be warmly congratulated on its considerable achievement.

Our IGCSE results were equally rewarding with 89% of our students receiving A*-C grades. All students in grades 3-8 and 10 also participate in the Australian Council of Educational Research (ACER) International School Assessment each year which compares a snapshot of our students with those in similar schools around the world. The benchmark results in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy highlight our student achievement.

Communication plays an essential role in any organisation and after the appointment of a Head of Communications and Marketing this year, a community communications survey assisted the School in developing an Action Plan to move communication forward at ISL. As a result, considerable improvements were made to the news flow and the School will launch its new Community Portal in 2017.

ISL benefits from excellent facilities and this year has been able to maximise the teaching space available with the opening of five further classrooms in the Hillside building. The gym has been extended with a fitness centre and the Timber playground has been developed as a play space for grades 3-8. Given the urban setting of ISL, the School will continue to develop its green spaces as far as possible.

ISL students are learning to become responsible participants in a global society and have again been very active this year. Students of all ages across the School have supported projects in Nepal, Zambia, the Philippines and South Africa as well as in Luxembourg with the Red Cross refugee programmes (Hariko n’Action), ZAK where our ISL students support young handicapped persons through sport activities and the LAP and CAS programmes where students support their peers and younger students here at school. Lower School students have also collaborated with the Eis Schoul, L’Institut pour Deficients Visuels and have rekindled links with DuPont de Nemours. The Global Issues Network, Model United Nations group, Student Councils, the Nature Club, Discover Luxembourg and the International Forum have all encouraged our students to become more locally and globally aware. Students also helped host the AMIS High School Choir Festival and the NECIS Swim Meet, took part in the ‘Hour of Code’, took to the stage in theatre performances across the school and exhibited their Art in ISL’s first school-wide vernissage. The myriad of extra-curricular activities offer students the opportunity to work interdependently as part of a team in a wide variety of different setting complementing their academic programme and enhancing their overall experience and confidence.

My thanks to all our staff, parents, the Board of Governors, the PTO, LAP volunteers and Leadership Team for your support which helps ISL offer students so many outstanding learning opportunities.

Nicki Crush Director

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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

I have been honoured to have been asked by my fellow Board members to take over the role of Chairman this year. In saying this, I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Henry Munster, who graced the role with tact and great civility.

I would not have joined the Board, let alone agreed to be Chairman unless I had a very strong belief in ISL as a first-class educational establishment, led by a Director for whom I have the greatest esteem.

ISL has grown in the last few years. It has roughly doubled in size since my daughter joined G7 ten years ago. IB results are not everything, but they count for more than any other factor in assessing a school’s success, and they have continued to be considerably better than any available comparator, even as the graduating class has grown.

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7

What was particularly pleasing about the 2016 IB results was the success of students with various special educational needs. This is a tribute not only to the students themselves and the efforts they made, but also to the skills and hard work of our teachers.

The Board does not run the School and is certainly not responsible for its academic success! We are there to provide a framework of sound governance, sustainability and financial stability within which the School, its students and teachers can achieve their true potential (to quote from our mission statement).

Coming, as we do, from a wide range of nationalities, backgrounds and professions, it is also the Board’s role to bring different perspectives and to provide challenge as well as support.

A particular challenge for the Board is to manage the finances of a non-profit organisation with an annual turnover of €30m. Not only are we not permitted to create significant surpluses by our not-for-profit status, but also we stand to lose part of our government funding if we do. In my two years on the Board, I have learnt that budgeting neither to make a surplus nor a loss is like walking a high wire. In the past, we had growth in enrolment as a means of pulling in additional income to cover unforeseen costs. With the School more or less full, this compensating factor is no longer available to us.

So I am particularly glad that we have been able to set up a stability reserve in the last year. Essentially this is a legally permitted way in which a non-profit organisation can create a reserve fund, without jeopardising its non-profit status. The fund can hold up to 25% of one year’s expenses or 3 month’s operating costs, which is still not a huge amount. But it does give us some flexibility to absorb financial shocks and a limited ability to avoid passing these immediately to parents. Around 80% of our costs are staff costs that are based on rising incremental pay scales and are subject to indexation increases. The Luxembourg Government pays 26% of those costs, but that subsidy is calculated by reference to the cost of state education, not ISL’s costs. So the only variable income source is parents’ tuition fees. In such circumstances, meeting the expectations of both parents that their fees will remain close to near-zero inflation rates and of teachers that their salaries will increase annually on automatic incremental scales is challenging.

Other challenges that the School faces are to ensure that its administrative systems and capabilities evolve in line with its increased size. A great deal of attention has been focused on communications, which have undoubtedly been stretched with the School spread across three different buildings and many more students and commensurately larger parent and teacher communities.

The Board will be overseeing a number of initiatives aimed at improving both the process and culture of communication within the School and towards the world outside. In doing so, it will be as well to remember that “good communications” is something everyone believes is owed to them, but few believe they owe to others!

Robert DeedChairman of the Board

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ADMISSIONS

437 331 307 261Applications received Applications completed Places offered Enrolled

8

9

392 439 474 484 485 510 537 558 597 613 624

328384

427 477 482559 580 640

677 724 734

ADMISSIONS ENROLMENT FROM 2006/2007 TO 2015/2016

06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13 13/14 14/15 15/16

720

823901

961 9671069

11171198

12741337

+12,5%+8,7%

+6,2% +0,6%+9,5%

+4,3%+6,8%

+6%+4,6%

392 439 474 484 485 510 537 558 597 613 624

328384

427 477 482559 580 640

677 724 734Upper School

392 439 474 484 485 510 537 558 597 613 624

328384

427 477 482559 580 640

677 724 734

Lower School

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A DIVERSE STUDENT BODY REPRESENTING 46 COUNTRIES

United States 168

12,43%

United Kingdom

132 9,76%

France 128

9,47%

Italy 116

8,58%

Luxembourg 113

8,36%

Germany 61

4,51%

Sweden 59

4,36%

Japan 56

4,14%

Russia 52

3,85%

Belgium 50

3,70%

Netherlands 47

3,48%

Spain 37

2,74%Canada 33

2,44%

Iceland 33

2,44%

China 24

1,78%

Other (31 nationalities)

243 17,97%

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ISL has a consistently high IB Diploma pass rate and our

results go from strength to strength. This year, 90 students

took the full Diploma with a 98 % pass rate and an average

score of 34 out of 45 points (global average is 30 out of 45

points). Five students achieved either 43 or 44 points, which

put them in the top 1% of IB students worldwide. The school

is very proud of all of its students.

IB AND IGCSE RESULTS 2016

IB

• 90 students took the IB diploma

• 98% pass rate (global pass rate is 79%)

• 16% of students achieved 40+ point diplomas (out of 45)

IGCSE

• 749 subject entries

• 100% pass rate

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UNIVERSITY ACCEPTANCES & PLACEMENTS FOR CLASSES OF 2015/2016

UK: 34 37%

Europe: 28 30%

USA: 13 14%

Canada: 4 4%

Rest of the world: 1 1%

Gap Years: 10 11%

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UK

Bath Spa University Bournemouth UniversityBrunel University LondonDurham UniversityKeele UniversityKing’s College LondonImperial College LondonNottingham Trent UniversityOxford UniversityPearson College LondonRoyal Veterinary CollegeUniversity of BathUniversity of East AngliaUniversity of ExeterUniversity of GlasgowUniversity of SussexUniversity of the Arts LondonUniversity of the West of England, BristolThe University of AberdeenThe University of EdinburghThe University of GloucestershireThe University of Warwick

Europe

The Netherlands

Delft University of TechnologyMaastricht UniversityTIO University of Applied Sciences, AmsterdamUniversity of AmsterdamUniversity College Maastricht

France

ESCP EuropeESMOD ParisGrenoble School of ManagementInstitut Ferrandi Paris (Culinary Arts)La Sorbonne Paris I (Dual Law Degree with the University of Florence)

Germany

Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences

Ireland

Trinity College DublinUniversity College Dublin

Denmark

Aalborg University

Normay

BI Norwegian Business School

Spain

IE UniversityUniversidad de Navarra

Sweden

Lund UniversityUppsala University

Switzerland

Ecole Hotelière de Lausanne

USA

Arizona State UniversityColby CollegeDuke UniversityGeorgetown UniversityPenn. State UniversityQuinnipiac UniversitySouthern Methodist UniversitySavannah College of Art & DesignThe Hun School of PrincetonThe University of FindlayUniversity of California, Los AngelesUniversity of MiamiUniversity of Southern California

Canada

Carleton University

Queen’s University

University of British Columbia

Rest of the World

Australia

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UNIVERSITY DESTINATIONS AT A GLANCE

UK Europe Other CountriesUSA Canada Gap Year/Others

2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016

3745

33 34 9 914 13

12 11 14

28

13

64

2

1 48 7

10

3745

33 34 9 914 13

12 11 14

28

13

64

2

1 48 7

10

3745

33 34 9 914 13

12 11 14

28

13

64

2

1 48 7

10

3745

33 34 9 914 13

12 11 14

28

13

64

2

1 48 7

10

3745

33 34 9 914 13

12 11 14

28

13

64

2

1 48 7

10

3745

33 34 9 914 13

12 11 14

28

13

64

2

1 48 7

10

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FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES / FRIENDS OF ISL

The Development Office, in collaboration

with the PTO and other parent volunteers,

organises various fundraising events

throughout the course of the school year,

including the Welcome Back Festival, the

Annual Golf Tournament, and various other

social events for parents.

The Development Office would like to thank

the numerous volunteers who helped

throughout the 2015-2016 school year.

As a non-profit organisation, the International School of Luxembourg relies on donations to continue to develop as a leading international school within Europe. The Friends of ISL is an annual request to our community to make gifts to the school which have an immediate and direct benefit to each student and faculty member. Donations allow us to continuously invest in, strengthen, and sustain the extraordinary opportunities that define an ISL education.

ISL sincerely thanks the following individuals and companies for their generous support during the 2015-2016 school year:

• Anonymous (3)• Ernst & Young• IBO• I.R.I.S.• Georges Kioes• Carine & François Knaff-Feipel• Lineheart• Munster Family• Nordea Bank• PTO• Sutherland Family

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Core Staff 69%Support Staff 11%Contracted Services 6%Teaching Resources 4%Building & Equipment 4%Sports and Student Activities 2%Other Expenses 2%Technology 1%Depreciation 1%

Tuition Fees 73%Luxembourg State Subsidy 27%

Core Staff69%Support Staff

11%

Contracted Services6%

Teaching Resources4%

Building & Equipment4%

Sports and Student Activities2%

Other Expenses2% Technology

1%Depreciation

1%

Tuition Fees 73%

Luxembourg State Subsidy

27%

FINANCIALS

How tuition fees are spent

How ISL’s operating expenses are funded

Core Staff 69%Support Staff 11%Contracted Services 6%Teaching Resources 4%Building & Equipment 4%Sports and Student Activities 2%Other Expenses 2%Technology 1%Depreciation 1%

Tuition Fees 73%Luxembourg State Subsidy 27%

Core Staff69%Support Staff

11%

Contracted Services6%

Teaching Resources4%

Building & Equipment4%

Sports and Student Activities2%

Other Expenses2% Technology

1%Depreciation

1%

Tuition Fees 73%

Luxembourg State Subsidy

27%

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School Year 2015-2016 - number of students (end School Year): 1,357

OPERATIONSIncome

Tuition fees 21,010,335State Subsidy per capita 7,732,704Interest on bank 29,886Other income 40,388

Total Income 28,813,313

ExpensesPayroll and related 22,237,211Contracted services 1,743,979Sports and student activities 692,435Inst. mat. and supplies 332,102Textbooks 162,338Library and audiovisual supplies 71,802Supplies and postage 114,305Marketing 66,999Technology 283,549Building expenses 1,013,413Other expenses 869,044Depreciation 439,768

Total Expenses 28,026,945

NET OPERATIONS 786,368

BUILDINGSIncome

State Subsidy /Building 2,187,576School Growth Fund/Entry fees 1,415,075

Total Income 3,602,651

ExpensesBuilding depreciation 2,631,180Interest on building financing 284,405

Total Expenses 2,915,585

NET BUILDINGS 687,066

SURPLUS / (DEFICIT) 1,473,434

STABILITY RESERVE 646,000

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PARENT TEACHER ORGANISATION

The Parent Teacher Organisation (the PTO) is the ISL’s organisation of and for parents and teachers committed to creating a sense of community within the school’s members and promoting a closer connection between school and home. It is run by a volunteer board made up of parents and Upper and Lower School representatives. Any parent or guardian of a student at ISL, and any teacher, is automatically a member of the PTO. Everyone is encouraged to participate.

The PTO strives to achieve these objectives:

• Enhance and support ISL’s educational experience

• Enhance communication between parents, teachers, and administration

• Provide informative meetings, programmes and social events for the ISL community

• Organise and oversee the Room Parents and Parent Grade Level Coordinators

• Encourage all parents and teachers to become involved with the PTO

• Raise funds for the support of PTO/ISL initiatives

Without the help of many parent, teachers, staff and administrative volunteers, the PTO would not be able to achieve its objectives. It is through the dedication of these individuals throughout the ISL community that the PTO is able to provide and facilitate the many events and activities that bring members of the ISL community together and enhance the educational experience for the students.

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Accomplishments:

In 2015-2016 the PTO worked diligently to meet and fulfill its mission and objectives. Parent volunteers donated a tremendous amount of time and effort to enhance the ISL community in a variety of ways. The following are some of the highlights:

• Provided guidance and information for new parents and support at the New Family Orientation days

• Organised and ran the third annual Welcome Back Festival, introducing ISL families to many of the useful and interesting businesses, clubs and organisations of Luxembourg

• Held Grade Level Coffee Mornings and Upper School Parent Cocktails

• Helped organise and provide support for the October International Luncheons

• Organised the Second Annual Halloween Fair at the Lower School attended by over 400 students

• Assisted with classroom activities, field trips, holiday events, dances and parties

• Supported the ISL Guidance Counselors, Sports Department, and school sponsored charities

• Organised the Teacher, Staff, and Parent Volunteer appreciation events

• Organised and ran the sixth annual “Mayfest” fundraising fair

• Total fundraising activities throughout the year allowed the PTO to donate over EUR 11,172 to the Friends of ISL.

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“EDUCATION IS THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON

WHICH YOU CAN USE TO CHANGE THE WORLD.”

Nelson Mandela

© 11/2016 International School of Luxembourg www.islux.lu

ISL is accredited by the following organisations:

Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools (CSS) and the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA)

The International Baccalaureate Organisation: The International General Certificate of Secondary Education

ISL is an IBO World School and has offered the IB Diploma Programme since 1995.

Visit the IBO website to find out more about the IB Programme: www.ibo.org

ISL has been a testing centre for select IGCSE exams for a number of years and began offering

the full IGCSE programme in August 2011. Find out more on the Cambridge International

Examinations website: www.cie.org.uk