At KCIS, we believe in fostering the holistic development of our students, focusing on their social and emotional development and well-being, in addition to striving for academic excellence.

Our approach to pastoral care is founded on the school’s core values: RESPECT, HONESTY, COMPASSION, COLLABORATION and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

Surrounding these, student welfare and development are cultivated through setting high expectations, instilling strong routines, and creating firm boundaries both within and beyond the classroom.

The school rules are encompassed by three words: READY, RESPECTFUL and SAFE. Using these words allows students and teachers to identify and reflect on their behaviour. At KCIS, we use a restorative rather than a punitive approach, focusing on accountability, acknowledgment of harm caused, reflection on behaviour, and employment of measures needed to repair relationships to restore harmony. We also celebrate the good through a comprehensive Merit Award system, issuing Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum awards to students for their efforts.

Ensuring an effective pastoral system is hinged on what we, as a school, do every day. We believe that all staff are responsible for ensuring students are provided with an environment which is supportive, empathetic, and respectful of their individual needs. Thus, the staff of KCIS acknowledge and accept that it is our individual and collective duty to nurture the well-being of students entrusted to our care. With staff as the models of positive behaviour and attitudes, and instillers of the school’s core values, our aim is to equip our students with necessary tools and values to make them holistically successful individuals of the broader community.

This year is set to be an exciting year in academics. As we welcome our new students and look forward to the progress they make in their learning this year, we are also enthusiastic about the continued progress of our current students, who we have had the pleasure of guiding on their learning journeys over the past few years.

The consistent curriculum pathway we implemented last year - to ensure continued long-term progress for students from Grade 1 to Grade 8 within each subject area - has made for a fantastic foundation to build on, but this foundation is only the beginning. With clear pathways now in place, both throughout the school and into future learning in Grade 9 and beyond, we are now able to focus more on how we build upon it.

Changes being implemented this year will mark significant progress on previous years, perhaps most notably the introduction of a dedicated EAL department to help improve the English levels of our students. Already our three EAL teachers have been visiting classrooms to assess the language needs of individual students, so that they can begin support their learning according to their needs in the coming weeks and ensure quick progress.

We welcome a large group of Korean students to the school this year, and whilst we always encourage celebrating our cultures, of which language is an aspect, supporting and encouraging the accelerated learning and use of English at the school is incredibly important given that English is the school’s common language and the language in which our curriculum is taught. Improving student’s English confidence and competence will, in time, improve their learning in other subject areas as well.

The Maths support programme in G1-5, which was initially introduced last year, will identify students in need of more practice after each topic is covered, after which they can be supported in their learning in small groups. Ensuring this support is in place is essential for giving each student their own strong foundations upon which to continue to progress in their future study.

Whilst it is important to have support in place for struggling students, it is equally important to explore ways to support our most able students in G6-8, those who already have a strong foundation of skills, to ensure that they maximise their potential now and in the years to come. The planned trial of English extension classes (initially in Grade 7) is one way we will look to achieve this goal, commencing just after the October holiday. If this trial is successful, we will explore ways of supporting students in G6-8 in the second semester.

We are dedicated to finding ways to maximise the potential of all students. Whether it is helping struggling students improve to access more of the curriculum or to extend those already achieving, we are incredibly excited to find out how far our students go within the curriculum this year.