Opening in 1971 as the American Consulate School with only 14 students, Surabaya International School (SIS) has made a name for itself as the leading international educational provider in Surabaya and the East Java region. Open to all nationalities, the school is now home to more than 300 pre-school through grade 12 students from 26 nations.
The school’s success lies in its quality education which combines a challenging curricula, highly qualified teachers and first-class facilities.
Graduates of the Surabaya International School are admitted to tertiary institutions around the world. Academic excellence and achievement, balanced by a broad-spectrum co-curricular program, are SIS foci in delivering internationally recognized education. Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) in the United States, SIS follows the American school system with modifications which bring relevance students who come from various ethnicities and backgrounds. SIS also adopts International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum for Primary Years Program (PYP), which defines the curriculum from kindergarten age to year 5.
Within a balanced curricular framework, SIS is committed to developing the intellectual, social, emotional, physical and creative abilities for its students toward becoming responsible, reasoning, contributing, successful members of global society.
With dozens of nationalities represented, SIS could be characterized as a melting pot. However, the school sees itself as “a salad bowl.” In other words, SIS lets its students retain their own individual characteristics while at the same time adding to the common “flavor of the school.” And highly qualified faculty and staff are needed to mix the salad well.
SIS believes that adapting a good curriculum would be ineffective without the support of highly competent teachers. For that reason, the school provides faculty members comprising of outstanding educators from seven different countries. All teachers at SIS are certified with a wealth of experience in their respective fields. The school’s administrators are professional educators bringing their broad experiences and know-how to the SIS management team.
The faculty and administration collaborate well in nurturing students. They look at each student individually and holistically to bring out the best in everyone. The 8:1 student – teacher ratio gives teachers the opportunity to be in touch with their students, allowing them to better understand the specific needs of each one.
In order to provide a comprehensive international education, SIS emphasizes a joint effort among parents, students and teachers – all of whom are engaged in the education process. Parents are constantly informed on the progress of their children’s education, in the forms of report cards issued eight times per year and teacher-parent conferences organized twice a year. Additionally, the school publishes a weekly newsletter for all parents, while students publish a variety of their own creative media.
Conveniently located in a new housing complex, only 30 minutes drive from Surabaya’s central business district, the five-hectare SIS campus is filled with the finest infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities to support the students’ education.
The campus is recognized as one of Indonesia’s first wireless, laptop schools. There are 48 classrooms, a computer lab, a photography lab and three science demonstration rooms. In addition, the school has a “Little Theater” that is used to stage a full season of Elementary, Middle and High School drama.
SIS also offers outstanding sports facilities; a gymnasium with a climbing wall and stage, a fitness center, a 50-meter Olympic-size swimming pool, a full size track, soccer field and playgrounds for the elementary students.
With its commitment to co-curricular activities, SIS teams have participated in a number of esteemed tournaments in Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore, competing in volleyball, soccer, swimming, badminton and basketball.
Besides sports, other co-curricular activities include clubs and the arts (music, art and drama). Annually, students participate in The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) conference in Singapore as well as a Global Initiatives Network conference somewhere in Southeast Asia.
Students at SIS are actively involved in community outreach activities, believing it is important to serve the community through project, support for various orphanages and homes for the elderly, support for the Tulip Foundation and Habitat for Humanity, as well as myriad other projects designed to give our students a sense of their obligation to serve.
SIS is also home to many festivals. Each country is encouraged to share its joyous festivals with the SIS family. Idul Fitri, Christmas and the Chinese New Year are all discussed and celebrated. One overarching example, the Festival of Nations, in which all students and their parents take part, aims to strengthen the bond among the different nationalities in the school.
Truly, the vast number of various nationalities who study in SIS adds a unique dynamic to the school’s culture. Each student brings something different to the table, thus creating a broad sense of ideas and perceptions. This environment provided SIS students with a broad understanding of other cultures, which will be invaluable once they independently become part of the global community.
This advertorial was published in The Jakarta Post on January 27, 2011.
