KIS is pleased to announce the opening of its Key Stage 4 programme this coming school year, with a lot of other good news to report.
To learn more, The Phuket News sat down with Ms Nicola Chokkuea, Head of Primary and EYFS Deputy Director (Academic), as well as Cherish Trakarnboonchai, Deputy Director (Non-Academic) and Kannika Krabeetong, Head of Business Administration.
First and foremost, the school is excited to announce that from this August, the school’s pioneering class will become the piloting Year 10 class, and continue as the school’s first Year 11 class next year.
For those not familiar with the British schooling model, Year 10 and 11 are equivalent to the high school freshman and sophomore years in the US, or 15 and 16 years old, respectively.
“When we started three years ago (2011) we only went up to year 6, or 11 years of age, or up to Key Stage 2,” explained Cherish.
Nicola added, “We decided to open it stage by stage to ensure we – the teachers, curriculum and facilities – were ready, and so that our children are moving up with us. We feel that this is the best way to make a winning, solid school, and that there are no gaps.”
“If you open a whole school at once, you’ve got children coming in late in their development from elsewhere, and you don’t know what they’ve done previously. So we’ve done it stage by stage for a strong foundation for the school.”
She noted that the certification and licensure process began before the school even opened, in 2010.
“We started by applying for a license from the British Council in Bangkok, which validates that the curriculum is what we say it is,” noted Ms Kannika.
She explained that obtaining the BC license was a necessary step since the school wasn’t going to use the Thai curriculum. But before the school would be allowed to open, or offer any new programmes, it needs approval from the local educational authority – the Phuket Primary Educational Service Area Office (PPESAO).
Likewise, when it opened Key Stage 3, the school had to apply for a license from the BC and PPESAO, and has just completed the process for Key Stage 4, awaiting one final visit from PPESAO reps later this month.
“While the BC validates curriculum and assessment tools, the PPESAO examines the entire school operations, verifying that all the facilities, teaching staff and materials are up to standard,” explained Ms Nicola.
“Now that we’re in Key Stage 4, the students will be doing their IGCSEs (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) examinations next year,” she added.
The school plans to offer 26 IGCSE courses initially.
Nicola explained that under the IGCSE curriculum model, over the course of two years most students will take 10 courses, including the core requirements for English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
The other electives include advanced courses and special interest subjects such as Travel & Tourism, Drama, Music, Art and Design, Design and Technology, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Global Perspectives, Accounting, Economics, Physical Education, History, Geography and Religious Studies, for example.
Unlike other curriculum models, in which students study a subject for only 8-10 weeks before moving on, the IGCSE coursework facilitates an effective two-year frame for students to master subject material.
The IGCSE will be followed by A-levels, or Key Stage 5 – Year 12 and 13 – which KIS is looking forward to implementing in due time.
Onwards and upwards
Meanwhile, the school has been busy getting accredited.
As part of the initial process, The Office of Private Education Commission (OPEC) visited KIS on March 17 to assess the school’s overall operations.
The school achieved an outstanding 99.5 per cent score out of 100.
OPEC will now pass on their findings to ONESQA (Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment), which all schools in Thailand have to go through.
ONESQA is due to visit KIS in May.
Concurring with Thai accreditation, KIS has also initiated accreditation with the CfBT (Centre for British Teachers), one of four world-recognised international accreditation bodies.
As part of the process, Nicola, as Deputy Director for Academics, along with head counsellor Kylie Millar – who was nominated as lead evaluator for the accreditation process – have been attending special CfBT preparation conferences in Bangkok, and the school anticipates an initial visit by CfBT to happen by the end of the current academic year.