The Malaysian government has recently given (Malaysian) parents the option of sending their child to international schools. Previously, if you wanted Junior to study with the regional/global community, you'd have to be or soon be:
a) A foreign expatriate
b) Married to a non-Malaysian and travel regularly between countries
c) Migrating soon
d) Overseas for extended periods of time
e) Someone who knows how to buy a really special kind of coffee for the Ministry...(that's a joke)
But, yippee doodah, now you can just walk in to, say, Garden International or (how about my workplace?) Fairview International School and sign-up. I'm not sure what the other schools are doing but (and here I am, loyally shamelessly doing a sales-pitch) Fairview's offerings, IMHO, does have unique edges worth shouting about.
The academic program which churns out numerous top-scorers every year is scaffolded by very (almost over-) rigorous teacher-training sessions. Check this out: Each and every new teacher joining (no matter how many PGCEs' or PhDs' she/he may hold) is required to attend bi-monthly pedagogical and class management training. After about a year, you sit for a theoretical examination and a practice session where your teaching is observed. And in the midst of this year-long CPD, your teaching is also regularly QA-ed via surprise class sit-ins by the Academic Director. I recall sweating buckets at my first QA; I kid you not.
But the school isn't only about academics and trainings. It's also about character-building (students attend CE - Character Education - classes twice a week) and giving to the community (the school has given consistently to charities, orphanages, less-privileged students and so on). Of course you shouldn't think we've got seven hundred little Saint Theresas' or Saint Francis' running around, but I can assure there's a lot more going on that just getting good grades and earning fees (we are, after all, non-profit).
Finally (for this 'brochure', at least!), the school prides itself on its thinking and pedagogical tools program. We are one of the first in the vicinity to introduce Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats to students and staff so that lessons and meetings (and emails!) are littered with references to the hats. The other two mental 'devices' more frequently used are Tony Buzan's Mind-Maps (for better organisation and thus absorption of material) and Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences (catering to the myriad of learning styles in students).
So (deep breath): If you know anybody who may have an interest in sending their child to an international school, could you pleeeeease a) send him/her this link or b) email me? or c) call the school at 603-4253-2233 and ask for Alwyn. Alternatively, one can always connect via the school's website.
Thanks. (Btw, fyi, the girl second from left in the pic above? I'm her teacher - and proud of it!)
