Natalie The private British International School of Istanbul is focusing on a new curriculum for Turkish students that combines the British education curriculum with the Turkish one. The school that now accommodates more than 40 different nationalities of students has been open for 25 years, and emphasise their small classes have an ideal teacher-student ratio so that each pupil has opportunity to reach their full potential.
Also teaching English as a second language, the new Turkish-British curriculum separates into two separate programs depending on the child’s age. From three to five and a half years, pupils follow the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) curriculum that has several development areas including communication, personal, social, creative and physical. The EYFS makes up part of the national English curriculum.
Alternatively, from five and a half to eight years old, the program changes to includes personalised tuition depending on the pupils learning style. The joint Turkish, British curriculum will also focus on specialist lessons for music and physical education and cover the basics in maths, arts and music.
In the future, they plan to roll out the dual curriculum, to middle ages pupils and for 16 to 18 years old to include a diploma program accepted by universities across the globe. Stating their aim is to ensure each child becomes a responsible global citizen of the 21st century, the BISI is the only private international school in Istanbul to be triple accredited at the same time. The Turkish Ministry of Education also certifies it and they offer a range of extra-curricular activities for pre and primary students as well as after-school sessions for secondary school pupils.
The curriculum is offered at their Zekeriyakoy Campus, on the outskirts of Istanbul city centre, near Belgrade forest. The campus with four buildings also includes two libraries and six science laboratories. Meanwhile, the sports hall features indoor gymnasiums, an all-weather pitch, tennis court and heated swimming pool.
The school that states one of their mission statements is to appreciate cultural and social diversity also has a botanical garden set aside for playtimes to reinforce the joys of nature. Priding themselves on high-quality learning, they emphasise this can be gauged by encouraging students to reflect on their performance accurately, and successfully interpret and understand new concepts.
One of the main differences between the British international school in Istanbul and other private laboratory is their approach to hiring only the best teachers. All applicants must be native speakers of English, hold a bachelor’s degree, and recognised teaching diploma, have two years’ experience of teaching abroad, excellent references, and of course, a clean criminal record.
Further information about the school, their campus and Turkish-British curriculum can be found on their website here – https://www.bis.k12.tr/. Alternatively, follow Spot Blue on Facebook, for more tourism, expat, and business news coming out of Turkey.
