international school of prague annual report 2011-12

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International School of PragueAnnual Report 2011–2012

Director’s Report2

2011–2012 Annual Report

Photo Credits:Jas Air CZMartin MašínCaroline Leida MattsLina NémethOndřej NovákFoto ŠkodaYvonne ViryAnke VoigtDarko Vukotic

For information about the ISP Annual Report or to request additional copies, please contact [email protected]

3Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Welcome 7 From the Director10 From the Chair of the Board of Trustees

Mission & Accreditation Report15 ISP Mission Statement16 Accreditation Report

The Principals’ Report21 The Elementary School25 The Middle School28 The Upper School

Curriculum, IT & Activities35 Curriculum40 Information Technology42 Activities and Sports

Supporting ISP47 Supporting ISP48 Our Donors52 Night at the Palace

ISP Community65 From the School Community Association69 Our Community72 Reporting from Belarus74 A Place That Has Changed Me76 Alumni

Financial Report79 From the Treasurer and the Business & Operations Manager80 Organization, Legal Matters, and Finances84 Summarised Special Purpose Consolidated Financial Information

Director’s Report4

5Director’s Report

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Welcome

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From the Director

I am happy to report that the 2011–2012 academic year at ISP was one of ongoing growth and develop-ment as we continued the implementation of our strategic plan. While many aspects of this ambitious, long-term plan are well under way, I would like to highlight a few areas from the past year.

Technology IntegrationAs a school committed to meeting the needs of twenty fi rst century learners, ISP is renowned for its innovative educational programs. Through-out the School, students are using technology as a powerful tool within the context of their learning, whether it is blogging in language arts or posting on Google Maps as part of their science fi eldwork.

In addition to our one-to-one laptop program and use of cutting-edge technology, we are ensuring that all ISP students function as good digital citizens – this is why we have integrated an extensive digital citizenship program into our curriculum not only for students, but for parents and faculty.

ISP as a Hub for Professional DevelopmentISP has hosted a wide variety of professional devel-opment workshops and conferences over the years, with the number increasing over this past academic year. Below is a short list of the many workshops, presentation and conferences which were either hosted by ISP or where our faculty and students were featured in outside conferences in 2011–12:

From the Director

Dr. Arnie BieberDirector

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• Apple Leadership Summit Prague 2010;• Apple Leadership Summit Singapore 2011

(where ISP IT Director John Mikton and I were featured speakers);

• Apple Leadership Summit Geneva 2012 (where ISP students and teachers were presenters);

• European League for Middle Level Education (ELMLE) Conference 2011, hosted by ISP;

• The International Leadership & Management Program (ILMP) 2011, hosted by ISP;

• Chapters International Workshops 2011 & 2012, hosted by ISP;

• Educational conferences for Czech Educators, hosted by ISP in partnership with 24U and Apple Europe.

In addition to these conferences, there is tremen-dous interest among international educators to visit ISP to observe our programs in action. We welcome this interest as it allows our faculty to interact with educators, thereby helping us to remain current with the latest research and trends in the fi eld of education.

NEASC/CIS Five-Year Accreditation Visit and ReportISP believes that in addition to our own regular criti-cal review of our progress as a school, it is crucial that our programs, procedures and functioning be reviewed regularly by external professional organiza-tions. In May 2012, ISP received its Five-Year Accredi-tation visit from representatives of the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). These representatives were tasked with reviewing the recommendations made aft er the 2007 visit, and determining the level of progress made by the school over the past fi ve years.

I am proud to report that the accreditation visitors made it clear in their recently received report that ISP has met or exceeded almost all of the goals identifi ed during the initial visit fi ve years ago, with only a few minor recommenda-tions. While the Executive Summary of this report appears elsewhere in this Annual Report, I will close my letter to you here by saying that the report is a credit to the mission-focused work undertaken by our talented and dedicated staff and faculty, under the guidance of our leadership team and with crucial support from the ISP Board of Trustees. The CIS/NEASC Five-Year Accreditation Report reaffi rms ISP’s role as a global leader in international education and encourages our entire community to continue aspiring to our mission of Inspiring Learners for Life!

Finally, the academic year 2011–12 was Roger Dunlop’s fi nal year as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, a post that he held for three years. During his term of service, Roger helped lead the School in realizing its most extensive construction project since the school was built. He has a deep understanding of the Board’s strategic role, ensuring that the Board continued to focus on the School’s long-term objec-tive and vision of the future. Roger is a dedicated, tireless and highly eff ective supporter of the school and its mission; he models the values found in the ISP mission of Compassion, Integrity, Respect and Intercultural Understanding. We are indebted to Roger for his contribution and know he will always be a part of our school community.

Dr. Arnie BieberDirector

From the Director

9From the Director

Leadership Team 2011–2012

DirectorDr. Arnie Bieber

HR ManagerDana Bally

Business and Operations ManagerBarry Freckmann

ES PrincipalCindy Gause-Vega

US PrincipalKathlyn Gray

ES Assistant PrincipalCorky Hawkins

MS PrincipalKevin Hawkins

Admissions DirectorBohumila Limova

Director of Information TechnologyJohn Mikton

Curriculum CoordinatorTony Mobbs

Activities and Athletics DirectorMatthew Schelble

Director of Development Clive Watkins

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The role of the all-volunteer ISP Board of Trustees is to advance the School’s development through its strategic plan, which was approved by the board in May 2010. As is evident throughout this annual report, each year brings the School closer to achieving its strategic goals of Realizing Our Mission, Inspiring Learners for Life and ensuring ISP’s Long Term Sustainability.The academic year 2011–2012 has been a year of progress and mission-focused development at ISP. Some important steps the board has taken include: • Revising the Board structure and increasing the

number of appointed Trustees in alignment with best governance practice;

• Revising the Board policy for inducting new members by requiring candidates to serve on a board committee before joining the board, whether through appointment or election;

• Revising and updating the “Board Candidate Profi le” in order to match the needs of the Strategic Plan of the School;

• Aft er an extensive process, adopting the School’s Master Facility Plan which will serve as a road map for future facility development.

• Adopting revised and aligned documents for the Foundation and the s.r.o. This fi nalizes a multi-year eff ort to normalize the status of the School in the Czech Republic.

From the Chairman of the Board of Trustees

From the Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Roger DunlopChairman of the Board of Trustees

11From the Chairman of the Board of Trustees

At the end of the 2011–12 academic year, we were joined by two new Trustees, Jan Sykora and Tim Shaw. A Czech national, Jan is Chairman of the Board of Wood & Co., a leading Central European investment bank that he co-founded. He served on the School’s Development and Building & Grounds Committees before becoming a Trustee. Tim is Director of Client Services at ADP GlobalView, and joined the ISP Finance Committee in 2011. We are honored to have their expertise.

The academic year 2011–12 was also my fi nal year as the Chairman of the Board, a post that I was proud to hold for three years. I am pleased to welcome Karin Velez-Rodriguez as our new Chairperson, who has served on the Board since 2010. Karin is a commercial arbitrator and mediator, and holds a PhD in Law (Austria), LL.M (USA), and an MBA (INSEAD, France), as well as being a parent of two

ISP students. She leads a diverse group of dedicated board volunteers, who, in close collaboration with our Director, Dr. Arnie Bieber, will continue to focus on the School’s long-term objectives and vision of the future. While I will miss working with them, I will continue to be a part of the ISP school community.

Finally, thanks to my fellow Trustees for your continued dedication to the School; and on behalf of my fellow Trustees, thank you to all ISP Families, Faculty, Staff , and Alumni for the confi dence that you place in us; your support helps guide us in our goal of inspiring learners for life.

Sincerely,

Roger DunlopChairman of the Board of Trustees

Board of Trustees 2011–2012

Chair Mr. Roger Napier Dunlop

Vice Chair Mr. Neville Parry

SecretaryMrs. Karin Velez Rodriguez - Matzinger

Treasurer Mr. Peter Ridder

MembersMrs. Marie BossanMr. Joseph PenningtonMr. Adrian Fowler

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Mission& Accreditation Report

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ISP Inspires learners to lead healthy, fulfi lling and purposeful lives, preparing them to adapt and contribute responsibly to our changing world.

ISP Engages its diverse community in an authentic global education, within a nurturing student-centered environment.

ISP Empowers Learners to• Think Critically and Creatively.• Work Cooperatively and Independently.• Listen and Communicate Eff ectively.• Act with Compassion, Integrity, Respect

and Intercultural Understanding.

ISP Mission Statement

ISP Mission Statement

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CIS/NEASC FIVE-YEAR ACCREDITATION REPORT – MAY 2012 VISIT TO ISPExecutive Summary – Submitted to the Board of Trustees by Director Dr. Arnie Bieber, 29 August 2012

In May 2012 ISP received a Five-Year Accreditation visit from representatives of CIS (Council of International Schools) and NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges). The team was tasked with reviewing accreditation recommendations made in 2007 as part of the original accreditation visit, as well as determining the level of progress made by the school and

identifying any areas that are in need of attention. The recently received report presents the team’s fi ndings, benchmarked against the 7th edition of the CIS/NEASC accreditation standards. During the four-day visit in May, the two member team observed and evaluated all aspects of ISP, including:• Review of the extensive ISP accreditation

documents and evidence; “The Five-Year Report was very thoroughly and thoughtfully prepared. The Visitors were impressed by the quality of the work and the comprehensiveness of the report.”

Accreditation Report


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• Extensive tour of ISP facilities• Classroom observations• Meetings’ observations• Conversations with ES, MS and US students• Numerous meetings with parents, Board members,

teachers, staff and administration

The accreditation Visitors made it clear that ISP has met or exceeded almost all of the goals identifi ed during the initial visit fi ve years ago, with only a few rather minor recommendations. Having completed most of the previous goals from the 7th edition, we are encouraged by the team to focus on the 8th addition of the accreditation standards, in preparation for the next accreditation cycle, to begin in fi ve years time.

“Because ISP is a mature school, the Visitors suggest that it closely examines the protocol for the 8th edition and considers how to move forward into this version of accreditation ready for the next cycle.”

The report indicates that they view the ISP Strategic Plan as a well-designed road map for the School to follow.

“The Visitors are pleased to commend the Board and Senior Leadership Team for developing a Strategic Plan with both long term and short term goals for facilities improvement, funding and programme improvement.”

The accreditation team, which visits numerous schools each year, was highly impressed with many aspects of our school. For example:

• “The School’s mission is alive and thriving integrally to planning and delivering the work of the school.”

• “The high level of parental satisfaction with their children’s education at ISP.”

• “The positive and harmonious relationships amongst and between all parts of the ISP community.”

• “The Visitors were impressed with the eloquence and confi dence shown by the students, who demonstrated frankness and integrity in their conversations.”

• “The communication throughout the school at all levels is excellent.”

• “The unity of purpose and positive relationships are palpable.”

• “A highly dedicated and professional attitude of the staff and faculty.”

• “IT provides rich technology resources for the ISP community.”

• “The Visitors were impressed with the use of space in the school (now everything is better connected and movement ‘fl ows’), its beautiful educational facilities, and its rich resources to help the school community meet its Philosophy and Objectives.”

• “The Visitors commend all those concerned with the attention paid to trying to create as environmentally friendly a facility as possible.”

• “The budgeting process in the school is clearly defi ned and transparent. The School is well provisioned in all areas.”

• “The Board of Trustees is clear in the members’ roles and responsibilities.”

• “The board are commended by the Visitors for their long term vision and vigilant dedication to continual improvements for ISP.”


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Below is the full list of major strengths and major features needing attention identifi ed by the accreditation team.

MAJOR SCHOOL STRENGTHS• New mission statement• Curriculum development• School facilities• Technology integration• School wide assessment agreement and

implementation• Development Offi ce• Human Resources Support• International Baccalaureate Diploma Program• Strong commitment to professional development

of faculty and staff • Strategic Plan aligned to the school mission• The positive and harmonious relationships

amongst and between all parts of the ISP community.

• The highly dedicated and professional attitude of the staff and faculty.

• The Board’s very clear understanding of its roles and responsibilities.

• The Board’s long term vision and vigilant dedication to continual improvements at ISP.

• Communication which is exceptional throughout the school at all levels.

• The focus on creating an environmentally friendly facility.

• The outstanding Art work created by the students exhibited throughout the school.

• The incredibly articulate students.• The attractive, spacious and well-resourced library.• The high level of parental satisfaction with their

children’s education at ISP.

MAJOR FEATURES NEEDING IMPROVEMENT• Middle School faculty members complete the

curriculum mapping.• The Drama teachers work together to strengthen

the profi le of this subject at ISP.• The curriculum for Music to be fi nalised by the

Music teachers.• A Health and Safety committee is formalised.• The faculty investigates ways to create attractive

interactive displays of student learning.• Faculty members consider how to fully embed

an ethos of Community and Service learning into the culture of ISP.

• Faculty members consider how to ensure smoother educational transitions for new students.

• Faculty members review the structure of student council meetings to ensure authentic leadership opportunities for Upper School students.

While every school must continually strive to improve, the CIS/NEASC accreditation report affi rms ISP’s signifi cant achievements and encourages ISP to continue to align itself with the School’s mission and strategic plan. The report’s conclusion congratulates the entire school community on its tremendous progress over the past fi ve years.

“The development of the School over the past fi ve years is not only noteworthy but is to be congratulated and applauded. The Visiting Team report has been received with seriousness and commitment and the school has clearly taken major steps to improve in both the quality of teaching and learning and its facilities to support this.”


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The Principals’ Report

21The Elementary School

The Elementary School

Dr. Cindy Gause-VegaElementary School Principal

During the 2011–12 school year, the Elementary School continued to focus attention on improving and fi ne-tuning work in three areas: literacy, inquiry-based learning, and reporting on student progress.

LiteracyTo further our work in supporting students’ reading development, three Elementary teachers participated in the fi rst year of a two-year ECIS/CEESA Literacy Coaching Cohort. This is a two-year training program that will develop teacher leadership and expertise in reading and writing methodology within the faculty. As a part of their training, the in-house Literacy Coaches began their

work to support colleagues by planning for a year-long focus on conferring with children about their writing. During the 2012–2013 school year the three Literacy Coaches will lead their colleagues in learning more about conferring with students about their writing.

“We are inquiry-based.”

What does this mean? It means our primary purpose is to foster children’s natural curiosity and sense of wonder while helping them to develop a sense of themselves as lifelong learners and problem solvers. Starting in PreK 3 children engage in investigating the world around them, learning

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how to ask questions and fi nd answers to those questions. Teachers guide the children as they develop an understanding of big ideas such as ‘wellness’, ‘diversity’, and ‘interdependence’ through inquiry into diff erent age-appropriate and engaging topics. Through these investigations the children learn to think like scientists, mathematicians, historians, anthropologists, geographers, etc. These opportunities to investigate questions of substance and big ideas continue through Grade 5. In Grade 5 students fi nish Elementary School by applying all the inquiry skills they’ve developed in their own investigation of the questions that most intrigue them. In 2011–2012 we worked on communicating more clearly about the focus on inquiry. This included documenting the Units of Inquiry being investigated in grade level blogs (open to parents), as well as creating a bulletin board in

the Elementary School Reception area displaying a range of the questions being investigated in grades PreK 3–Grade 5 throughout the year.

A major focus of our work in the Elementary School continues to be the development of these grade level Units of Inquiry that foster children’s curiosity and support the development of thinking and research skills, as well as a deep understanding of developmentally appropriate content and concepts. Grade level teams met each week to coordinate planning of Units of Inquiry, determine common authentic assessments, and look at children’s work to help in refi ning these units to meet students’ needs.

To support our work with inquiry-based learning, Kath Murdoch (noted expert in inquiry-based teaching and learning) came to ISP to work with the Elementary School faculty once again for two days in January. She helped teams to refl ect on Units of Inquiry already developed and taught, focusing on incorporating students’ interests and giving them a greater voice in their own investigations and learning. We have already scheduled her visit for the 2012–2013 school year, during which she will teach model lessons, meet with teams, and give workshops on inquiry to teachers and parents.

A second team of elementary teachers also participated in an online course off ered by Harvard University called, ‘Visible Thinking’. We used several faculty meetings to learn from this team about how to use the thinking routines in our work with students. A third team of teachers from grades PK – Grade 12 will participate in this online course in the fall of 2012.


23The Elementary School

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Reporting on Student ProgressOne of our goals during the 2011–2012 school year was to complete the development of a new report card and reporting system. We wanted any changes we made to more clearly refl ect the exciting learning the children are doing at ISP, celebrating their achievements and identifying areas for future growth.

As a faculty we agreed we wanted a report card that would:• More eff ectively communicate to parents,

students, and future schools what ISP Elementary students understand, know, and can do – reporting on ISP’s standards for learning.

• Represent the whole child, reporting on physical, social and emotional development, as well as the behaviors and skills that support learning.

• Be integrated with the student’s portfolio, demonstrating the complexity of learning at ISP, as well as serve as a detailed portrait of the child’s learning for future schools.

• Include a place for the children’s own refl ections about their learning and their goals.

Throughout the course of the year we developed several draft s of diff erent parts of a standards-based report card that met these criteria and would eventually be integrated within each child’s portfolio. The committee shared these draft s with the grade level teams, the whole faculty, and parents soliciting their input, as well as feedback. An assessment committee composed of classroom

teachers, specialist teachers, and administrators met regularly throughout the year to consider this in-put from the faculty and parents and think deeply about our goals for reporting.

By the end of the school year the new classroom report cards were completed, a small group of teachers had worked with the database to give feedback on the functionality of the new system, and a model for specialist reports was determined. We also fi nalized the reporting “system”, agreeing to continue to communicate with parents about their child’s learning through parent-teacher conferences, student-led conferences, and report cards and portfolios as has been our practice in the past.

Having met all our deadlines, we are on target to meet our goal of implementing the new report cards for the 2012–2013 academic year. The new standards-based report cards will clearly refl ect each child’s level of progress (Beginning, Developing, Meets) toward the Standards and Benchmarks, or expected learning outcomes. In keeping with our goals, the report cards will be integrated in the portfolio of the child’s work, providing detailed evidence of the complexity of each child’s learning. Each student will also have multiple opportunities to refl ect on his/her own learning and progress, documenting this self-refl ection in the portfolio.

Dr. Cindy Gause-VegaElementary School Principal


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Over the past year our primary focus in Middle School has been to prepare ourselves for implementation of a fully standards (and mission) based assessment process.

In 2012–13 we will roll out the completed assessment process system for students and parents, culminating many years’ work. In order to be ready for this implementation, we needed to work with teachers, students and parents during 2011–12 to be sure we have a process that is meaningful, manageable and clearly understood by all. This is no easy task given the general attachment to traditional (if fl awed) approaches to grading and the complexity involved in researching and deciding on the most

eff ective way to build feedback so as to stimulate learning and provide access to achievement for all learners. Our intention is to transform the traditional approach into something far more meaningful and relevant to 21st century learning.

In order to prepare the way, we spent the year reporting to parents as usual, with traditional letter grades, whilst under the surface we were busy developing ways of recording achievement and giving feedback to students that would bring us closer to the ideals outlined above. This proved a diffi cult process as we were in between both systems and trying to make a meaningful bridge for all. Teachers saw the benefi ts of the new approach


The Middle School

Kevin Hawkins Middle School Principal

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and were keen to move away from letter grades sooner rather than later. Students in general were adaptable and quick to understand, but we needed the time to also work with parents and ensure they could see the value in what we are trying to achieve. We had an excellent parent-teacher working group that represented a wide variety of perspectives and opinions and in the end we produced something that we believe will work very eff ectively for all concerned.

Our work on student portfolios continued so that all grades now have electronic portfolios and samples of work are selected for a variety of purposes in each subject area. Students then refl ected on their own learning journey and set goals for their next steps.

We surveyed the students at the end of the year and learned that we need to fi nd ways to provide more authentic audiences with whom the students may share their portfolios next year.

A new development this year was the introduction of monthly “Projects Days”. This entails scrapping the schedule for the day, and having grade teams plan a series of events which bring together activities, ideas and perspectives from various subject areas. The students oft en get the chance to be more self-directed on these days and we can also use the time for fi eld trips and other activities that can be diffi cult to organise when locked into a regular school schedule. The creativity, collaboration and general ‘buzz’ that these project days released have encouraged us to continue with them next year. They do require more work on the part of teachers (and especially the grade teams) but the results convince us that the eff ort is worthwhile.

In addition to the above, we have of course done a great deal more! The four grade-level trips, the inquiry-based and integrated learning initiatives, the development of our excellent advisory program, the introduction of service learning projects, the fi ne-tuning of our support programs, etc. All of this, and much more besides, are thanks to the dedication of our dynamic and talented team of Middle School teachers and the open, good-natured willingness to learn of our amazing students. The atmosphere in the Middle School has never been better!

Kevin Hawkins Middle School Principal

The Middle School

27The Middle School

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The following report was provided by Kathlyn Gray, the ISP Upper School Principal for four years (through the end of the academic year 2011–12). Aft er graduation ceremonies, Kathlyn returned to the United States, where she is now the Director of Stanford University’s Online High School. I thank Kathlyn for her diligent work that has provided us with an Upper School that is vibrant, motivated, and eager to continue its goal towards fulfi lling the School’s mission.

Sincerely,

Mark FrankelUpper School Principal

To proceed chronologically in reverse, the 2011–2012 school year closed out for the students in Grades 9–11 with the fi rst ever “Upper School Field Day”, an event long in the planning (given that it had been canceled in June of 2011 due to the strike by Prague transportation workers!). Aft er careful planning by the Upper School Student Council, each advisory group competed in activities such as Holey Poley, 3-Legged Races, Childhood Games, Water Balloon Tarp Volleyball, a Swim Cap Relay and the classic Tug of War – our primary goal was to ensure that our students had fun, and it was a wonderful way to fi nish the year. On the fi nal day of school, Academic Excellence was recognized with the traditional Book Awards Ceremony (sponsored

The Upper School

Dr. Mark FrankelUpper School Principal

The Upper School

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by the SCA). While 73 books were awarded, the entire faculty agrees that all students are deserving of recognition for the many large and small achievements that happen during the course of any given academic year.

The work that was started in 2010–2011 with the founding of the Vietnam Club, continued to grow and blossom this year as the students sponsored a “Vietnam Festival” to raise money for the Friendship Village, an orphanage established for disabled children whose parents were exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. This event was entirely student run and included outstanding entertainment presented by talented Vietnamese artists from both the ISP and Prague communities,

craft workshops run by our ISP students, and delicious food from the Vietnamese restaurants of Sapa (Prague’s “Little Hanoi”, named aft er the hill tribe town in northern Vietnam). The ISP community and the Prague Vietnamese community collaborated together on this special project. The money raised was taken to the Friendship Village by the second group of ISP students to visit and support the Friendship Village in two years. Plans are already underway for the ISP Vietnamese Festival that will happen in October 2012.

Also in the fall, the Upper School presented its fi rst musical in about ten years. The wonderful music of “Grease” fi lled the Theater, with over 50 Upper School students dancing, singing, acting,

The Upper School

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and supporting this production, as well as being part of the live student orchestra. We were much indebted to Grease’s Musical Director, Caroline Maiva (Middle and Upper School Choral teacher); Orchestra Director, Amy Schelble (Middle and Upper School Band teacher); and Acting Director, Richard Cameron (Upper School Drama teacher). The three performances were nothing short of remarkable! I will share with you this note from Mr. Cameron that I received the day aft er the close of the show: “It is very rare for the third and fi nal performance of a High School musical to be the best; actors are usually a bit chilled and relaxed, even blasé, but last night the kids were HOT. It was a sizzling performance from both stage performers and the band. The energy was phenomenal and

the timing was electric. Perhaps not coincidentally, yesterday’s audience of nearly 200 was also the loudest and most enthusiastic, driving the kids on to new heights of achievement.”

ISP played host to two student conferences this past year, the CEESA Math Competition and the 2nd Annual European Student Film Festival. Not only did ISP students act as perfect hosts at these events, but they also participated and walked away with many of the honors earned. For the Film Festival, the comedy, “Slivovice” earned both the Jury’s Grand Prize “Overall Excellence Award” and the “Viewers’ Choice Award”. The actors included ISP parents, students, and staff . It was produced by fi rst year IB Film students: Lukas Borovicka, Martin Kejval,

The Upper School

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Ashkan Kamssehpour, Balazs Kuti, Andrew McVey, Julien Mikton, Christian Moesby, Stevan Slezak, and Kristian Voldrich. The Jury Award for Excellence in Cinematography was awarded to: “Kontrabassi” by 2011 graduate Anna Ramischwili-Schafer. The Jury Award for Excellence in Screenwriting went to: “Partners” by ISP Senior, Arvie Martinez. Finally, twelve fi lms were created during the festival as part of a 24-hour fi lm challenge, with mixed teams from all participating schools racing against time (and each other). Each fi lm was produced under the working title „Revolutions, Revelations“. The winning entry’s production group included ISP juniors Ema Exnerova and Julien Mikton, who created the fi lm, “Czechmate”.

The faculty was active this year on many curricular fronts. A formal Homework Policy was written that

will be implemented during the 2012–13 school year. Discussions were held so that during this current school year the faculty will test ways to assess the dispositions honored in our ISP mission. Also, a pilot program was implemented so that during 2012–13, all parents will have access to teachers’ grade books through our PowerSchool Parent Portal.

Finally, it was diffi cult to say good-bye to the 53 young adults of the Class of 2012 that left ISP with their graduation ceremony at Zofi n Palace. We will miss them, but we know that they are more than ready to take their many abilities out into the world and make a diff erence, similar to the diff erence they made in the Upper School at the International School of Prague. We wish these individuals of integrity, leadership, creativity and enthusiasm the very best life has to off er!

The Upper School

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Curriculum,IT & Activities

35Curriculum

It was a very busy and productive year in the area of Curriculum and Professional Development.

Following the Curriculum Review Cycle, Language Arts/Literacy & Visual Art were in Year One, which means developing a Philosophy & Common objectives and reviewing the Standards & Benchmarks which guide the teaching and learning for the entire school (PK through Grade 12) in those subjects. New Standards & Benchmarks were written based around the skills of Speaking, Listening, Viewing, Presenting, Reading and Writing. The teachers are now developing a set of performance indicators to guide teaching and assessment.

The Visual Arts team fi ne-tuned their existing curriculum and are in the process of collecting exemplars of performance at each level as a guide for students and teachers, all of which will be housed electronically.

Math went into Year Two, with the Middle and Upper teachers looking at the course alignment and introducing new texts. The Elementary School began to review the current Math course with the intention of being able to move to a more inquiry-based method of learning.

The main focus in the Elementary School was to further develop the Units of Inquiry under the

Curriculum

Tony MobbsDirector of Curriculum

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guidance of Kath Murdoch, who again worked with the faculty. For the second year, many faculty took the online course, “Visible Thinking”, off ered through Project Zero (based at Harvard University), which is a fl exible and systematic research-based approach to integrating the development of students’ thinking with content learning across subject matters. This is now being applied widely throughout the School, with faculty from Middle and Upper Schools scheduled to take the course in 2012–13.

Middle School teachers continued to work on the development and trialing of a standards-based report card, and a workshop to share ideas was

held at ISP with other schools. Faculty continue to develop Integrated Units to develop a more authentic approach to learning for students, and both teachers and students worked with Mark Springer, who is an expert on integration.

Upper School continued to work on developing a clearly defi ned assessment policy that focuses on reporting learning habits (lateness, attitude, behavior and eff ort) separately from academic performance. The view of homework is now to support classroom and independent learning through practice, pre-learning, processing, or checking for understanding in order to provide feedback and develop intrinsic motivation.

Curriculum

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There were two new exciting additions to the Language program in 2011–12; it was decided that Mandarin would be introduced school-wide in 2012–13, and (in order to provide our students with additional language learning resources) ISP has purchased a site license for Rosetta Stone (one of the leading language-learning soft ware programs in the world). There are 25 languages available, including English as an Additional Language; we see this as being an important learning tool for students, both in and out of school.

ISP teachers attended over 100 conferences, workshops and training courses in 2011–12, many of them as presenters. We also continued to develop ISP as a regional hub for Professional Development; ISP hosted a number of workshops on subjects such as Assessment (with Tom Guskey), ESL in the Mainstream training, and the Integration of Poetry (with Georgia Heard). ISP also hosted the annual European League for Middle Level Education conference.

An exciting development at ISP during 2011–12 was the establishment of faculty Professional Focus Groups to brainstorm around the theme of “Future-Focused Schools”. At the beginning of the school year, all teachers chose educational readings connected to the following areas, and then met in groups to discuss:• 21st Century Schools;• 21st Century Skills;• Assessment for Learning;• Authentic Learning/Inquiry in Practice.Teachers discussed and debated topics that they felt are relevant to our School’s future development

and their own professional growth. Teachers then formed focus groups based on their own interests. These included:• What does it mean to be an international school?• iLife integration into classroom instruction.• How to give students more ownership of their

learning.• Visible Thinking and Inquiry based learning.• Exploring global virtual collaboration.• Integrating Czech culture into the curriculum.• Environmental awareness in action.The ISP Professional Focus Groups are a unique approach to instituting school change, and is aligned to the ISP mission. Twenty-fi rst century schools should empower student learners, and ensure that teacher-learners are empowered to deliver change and feel a sense of ownership and pride in the future development of schools.

Tony MobbsDirector of Curriculum

Curriculum

40

2011–12 has seen quite a few developments for Information Technology at the International School of Prague.

This past spring, ISP had the honor of hosting two Czech Teacher summits with a focus on Information Technology and the Integration of iPads in the classroom. Over 200 Czech teachers participated in each conference, learning about these new technologies and sharing their own experiences in their respective schools. These events were co-sponsored by 24U.cz and Apple Europe.

Our iPad program has continued to expand in our Elementary School to support our Learning

Specialist, Literacy Specialist and EAL teachers (see http://blogs.isp.cz/ipad). We also now use a small cart of iPads to further support the curriculum and learning in our PreK through Grade 2 classes. In our Upper School Science department, iPads are being used to support a variety of activities tied to the science units and curriculum. Our Learning Specialist department continues to work with iTouch as part of their tools to support students (see http://blogs.isp.cz/litsupport/).

The Petr Mares one-to-one Laptop program in our Middle School has now entered its fi ft h year, and in the Upper School all students in all grades are now included in the laptop program. The laptop

Information Technology


John MiktonDirector of Information Technology

41

program makes the ethical and appropriate use of technology an active and integral part of the student’s education, within our curriculum. The use of laptops allows us to engage the students “where they are”, and makes learning much more real for them.

As a Certifi ed Apple Training center, ISP continues to provide a variety of Professional Development certifi cations to our Faculty & Staff in the Apple Suite of applications, iLife and iWork. This year, over 40 of our faculty participated in the certifi cation program. As of this year, four members of our IT Department have now received the Google Apps Education Certifi ed Trainer certifi cation, allowing us to provide Professional Development courses specifi c to the Google Apps Education environment. The fi rst course will be off ered by our own staff members in the fall of 2012 to other ISP faculty and staff .

Our IT Department was again quite busy hosting visiting international schools this year, with appearances by the International School of Zug and Luzern (Switzerland), the International School

of Lausanne (Switzerland), the American School of Paris (France), the International School of Lyon (France) and the ACS Hillingdon International School (England). The focus and interest of these schools is to see ISP’s model of integrating Information Technology into the curriculum and how teachers have integrated mobile technology tools into the classroom. We also explain our set up on the hardware and network side, and the IT management, facilitation, and maintenance of our laptop, iPad, iTouch programs and IT systems. Visitors are given unfettered access to our faculty, IT Specialists, and IT Support team; needless to say, we’re honored to receive the attention, and proud of our people who have played an integral role in the development of this program.

2011–2012 saw us facilitating the “Digital Life” series of parent workshops with the support of the School Community Association (SCA). We had an excellent turn out for these workshops, which give parents an opportunity to learn about social media, digital tools and information literacy and how to support their children both at home and school. Information Technology continues to be an integral part of the curriculum throughout our school program, and our faculty and students demonstrate on a day-to-day basis a rich and diverse use of these tools to support learning. We are excited and look forward to further supporting our learning community with Information Technology in the coming year.

John MiktonDirector of Information Technology


42

The Activities Offi ce was ably led through the 2011–12 School year by Matt Schelble, who returned with his family to his native Utah at the end of the academic year. I thank him profusely for handing over a dynamic offi ce with a fi ne reputation and some exciting challenges. The following report on the 2011–12 academic year was provided by Matt.

Sincerely,

Joe MonksDirector of Activities

The 2011–2012 school year was a great year for the ISP Falcons! ISP hosted the CEESA Middle School Girls Tennis, CEESA Varsity Boys Soccer, CEESA Varsity Girls Basketball and CEESA Middle School Boys Volleyball tournaments, in addition to various friendlies against regional international schools. During the year ISP welcomed over 300 students from schools all over Europe to compete against ISP teams, and stay with ISP families. It was a terrifi c year in ISP sports, capped off by a CEESA Championship by our Varsity Boys Volleyball team and Sportsmanship Awards by our Varsity Girls Tennis, Varsity Girls Basketball and Junior Varsity Boys Basketball teams.

Activities & Sports

Activities & Sports

Joe MonksDirector of Activities

43

In all, ISP had 30 Middle and Upper School teams competing in soccer, tennis, cross-country, basketball, swimming, volleyball and soft ball tournaments. Over 250 ISP students traveled to cities such as Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Moscow, Kiev, Istanbul, Riga, Zagreb, and Tirana. The opportunities for ISP students to compete against other CEESA schools and travel to such exciting destinations is unique to international schools. Travel with CEESA teams provides occasions for our students to challenge themselves athletically while also experiencing some of the local culture and history.

The activities program at ISP has continued to thrive at ISP as well. In February 2012 ISP hosted more than 50 “Mathletes” from CEESA schools for the CEESA Upper School Math Competition. ISP students

also participated in Model United Nations, Speech & Debate, HOSIC, Global Issue Network, Band and Choir teams. These programs provide students with additional opportunities to challenge themselves and extend their learning outside of the classroom.

Finally, the Elementary Aft er-School Activities program continues to be an integral part of Elementary life at ISP. Approximately 90% of Elementary students participate in ASA’s, which provide opportunities for students to participate in a variety of activities. Some examples of ES ASA’s off ered during the 2011–2012 school year are “Lights, Music, Action”, Swimming, Dance, Floorball, Adventure Games, Cooking, Pottery, Chess and Band. These programs off er outstanding opportunities for students to develop skills and interests outside of the classroom.

Activities & Sports

464646464664664646466646

Supporting ISP

47

Supporting ISP

Supporting ISP

ISP is a not-for-profi t entity. Whether you donate your time or money, 100% of your support goes directly to the benefi t of ISP students. ISP is supported not only by tuition, but by donations from parents, Alumni, corporations, and many others. This additional support is what allows ISP to maintain its reputation of unsurpassed education in the Czech Republic – and beyond. Understanding the impact that ISP students have in the world leads many to know that their philanthropic donations are put to excellent use at the School.

This year, in particular, a special thank you goes to the management and employees of Tesco and O2 for their four-year pledge to support the education of an ISP Scholarship student throughout their Upper School education. We look forward to following the progress of the Scholarship students through their ISP career.

A profound word of thanks goes out to the following companies and individuals for the fi nancial support that they committed to ISP in 2011–12.

From the left : Jürgen Stackmann, Head of Marketing of Volkswagen Group and Volkswagen Brand, Michal Kadera, Director of External Aff airs at Škoda Auto a. s., and Dr. Arnie Bieber, ISP Director

48

Robotics The International School of Prague was honored to receive a substantial donation from a Czech Engineering company, NOEN, a. s.

The donation of US$50,000 was given to support robotics education at the School. The proposal to make the gift originated with NOEN’s General Manager, Libor Sadilek, and Board Chair, Jaroslav Veverka, who are also parents at ISP. In presenting the donation, Mr. Sadilek said, “Robotics is a new endeavor at ISP, and it’s exciting to see children so keen to learn about engineering. My colleagues and I at NOEN are pleased to help the growth of this program at the School.”

ISP’s robotics teacher, Mr. John Rayworth, stated, “Starting a robotics program is capital intensive; among other things, this donation will help us to provide the right amount of hardware and soft ware for any student interested in participating.”

A signifi cant portion of the donation will be invested with the School’s Endowment, to create the “NOEN

Fund for Robotics at ISP.” The proceeds from the fund will help to promote the long-term continuity of robotics at the School.

The Director of ISP, Dr. Arnie Bieber, said, “We’re profoundly thankful to NOEN for its foresight. It’s only through generous donations like this that ISP is able to off er more than what tuition alone can provide. These gift s have a long-term impact that will ensure that the International School of Prague remains a leader in education in the Czech Republic for years to come.”

Our Donors

Our Donors

49

Art

How does Science & Technology impact social, emotional, and physical health? Thanks to a generous gift by the Kodl Gallery, Middle School student answers to this question – in the form of sculptures – are now visible to visitors to the International School of Prague. Students worked across subject areas and applied skills relevant to a variety of disciplines to answer these questions, eventually creating and presenting a proposal for a sculpture to be put on permanent display at ISP. The proposal had to clearly justify how and why their sculpture addresses the essential question of how technology or science aff ects social, emotional and physical health. In groups, students identifi ed more specifi c questions such as: what are the negative eff ects of digital media on teenagers; how does electronic communication (Skype, Facebook, YouTube, Email. etc.) aff ect social health; how does Genetically Modifi ed Food aff ect your physical health?

In Visual Arts, students worked in groups to develop their ideas on how to address a variety of issues through the medium of sculpting. They arrived at a clear sketch to address/draw attention to their issue.

In Science, students performed in-depth research to gather scientifi cally accurate information on their issue. In Language Arts – Social Science they used their research and writing skills to arrive at a well-structured and consistent formal proposal and presentation. Final proposals were presented to a panel of Judges:Robert Helmer – ISP Head LibrarianDr. Arnie Bieber – ISP DirectorDr. Martin Kodl – a Parent and owner of the Kodl Gallery, holding a PhD in Art History The judges then recommended that several of the proposals be “brought to life” by the students. Thanks to a generous gift from the Kodl Gallery, these Middle School students were able to execute their designs to a very high level using the fi nest materials.

Our Donors

50 Our Donors

51Our Donors

52

The Night at the Palace is a magical party for a special cause: to secure scholarship funds for deserving students who would not otherwise be able to attend ISP. The size and scope of such an event requires a multitude of volunteers. Parents, faculty, and staff give their time, love and energy to ensure a memorable evening for everyone, and of a caliber worthy of the International School of Prague.

Planning started in October when the committee formed, divided the key tasks amongst itself, and went to work. The committee was lead by co-chairs Mylene Weima and Marie Bossan, along with eight more special people.

Andrea Koudelkova and Olga Skatkova were the masterminds behind the auction items. With so much generosity from our donors this year, Olga and Andrea seemed to have the biggest job! Clive Watkins handled all corporate donations; Patricia Betancourt helped with the student raffl e (and helped immensely with the entertainment for the evening); Amy White directed our food & drinks sub-committee and helped with the student raffl e; Yvonne Smith worked on hospitality; Joanne Kolowrat was responsible for the beautiful decorations; and Birgitte Emborg organized those special touches that we all appreciated on our way in and out the door (photos & slippers). Although each of the committee members had their responsibilities,

Night at the Palace

Marie BossanChair of the Night at the Palace Committee

Night at the Palace

53

it was a pleasure to work with people who were ready to help wherever necessary.

The evening would not have been a success though without the beautiful venue that the Lobkowicz family so generously allows us to take over for the night, the delicious food made by their catering team, and the work of their events manager, Martina Nemcova.

We can never thank enough all of our contributors, including Brown Forman, Pilsner Urquell, Nestle, Neville Parry and Alira wines, Mylene Weima and Aix wines, Olga Polakova’s beautiful fl ower arrangements, The Four Seasons’s slippers, and Photo Skoda’s photography.

The entertainment this year was certainly extraordinary. ISP teachers Lawrence Hrubes and Ondrej Riegl packed people into their room; ISP parent Joanne Demirel, a professional card dealer, never had enough room at her Blackjack table; cigars from La Casa Latina were in high demand; Los Cumbancheros and our salsa studio dancers were spectacular; Filip Gondolan and his band pulled people into the

Imperial Hall; Manuela Zurekova put on a beautiful belly dancing show; and our outstanding DJ, Adam Nedvidek, kept people moving until late at night.

Thank you to our driver, Grzegorz Wydrzynski, and our school guards Petr Vodicka and Milan Hasek, who helped us haul everything in, ensured it was safe, and hauled everything back! Grzegorz also helped ferry people up and down from the Palace until very late. And thank you Linda Berlew and Petra Rudlova for helping with the student raffl e again this year.

A big thank you also to our student helpers, Maddie White, Christian Moesby, Ye Jin and Tina for their time and talents at the event this year – you added immensely to the overall success.

Last, but for sure not least, thanks to all of YOU who came, for supporting the scholarship fund, and for sharing such a special evening with the ISP community. As you can see, it takes a lot of generosity from a lot of people to make a successful event – and it’s wonderful to be a part of a community that has that spirit.

Night at the Palace

54 Our Donors

55

The Scholarship program at ISP is partially funded through donations to the School from parents, corporations, alumni, and others.

The goal of the program is to make the ISP educational experience available to a diverse range of students. These scholarships are based not only on fi nancial need, but also merit; ISP actively seeks

excellent students who will benefi t from an ISP education, and who will be an asset and inspiration to the ISP community of learners.

ISP Scholarships are available to Czech citizens and other residents of the Czech Republic. Currently, scholarships are only granted to students in the Upper School (Grades 9–12).

Our Donors

The following chart presents cumulative corporate Scholarship donations:

Scholarship Program

Cumulative Corporate Scholarship Donations

The Comenius Society (500.000 Czk and up)

The Falcon’s Society (250.000 to 499.999 Czk)

The Gold & Black Society (100.000 to 174.999 Czk)

56

CORPORATE SCHOLARSHIP DONATIONS in 2011–12A profound word of thanks goes to the Management and Employees of the following companies for the fi nancial support that they have committed to the

Scholarship Program at ISP. Their support directly impacts the lives of all our students, faculty, staff , and families.

Corporate Scholarship Donations 2011–2012

The Comenius Society (500.000 Czk and up)

The Falcon’s Society (250.000 to 499.999 Czk)

The Gold & Black Society (100.000 to 174.999 Czk)

Corporate Gift s-In-Kind 2011–2012

Lobkowicz Event Management

Corporate Scholarship Donors 2011–2012 listed by Giving Societies:

Our Donors

57

Donors listed by Giving Societies:The Comenius Society (100.000 Czk and up)Anonymous

The Falcon’s Society (60.000 to 99.999 Czk)Peter Ridder and Carol SanfordJuergen and Kerstin StackmannMark and Amy White

The Nebusice Society (25.000 to 59.999 Czk)Alexandre and Saija BenjaminDominique and Marie BossanRoger and Venetia DunlopPeter and Kasia FerrignoTodd and Christine MooreRobert and Elizabeth NealeGregor and Andrea PobstStefan and Aga RascheDavid and Philippa SturgeonCarlos and Karin Velez RodriquezFrank and Regine VersaevelSake and Mylene WeimaKoen and Leen Wilmots

The Gold & Black Society (5.000 to 24.999 Czk)Daniel and Netta AalsvelLiaqath Ali and Asima Shereen AbbasiPeter and Anna AnderssonBarak and Alexandra Bar-CohenGilles and Geraldine BerouardHelena BerovaFrancisco Munoz and Patricia BetancourtArnold and Marianne Bieber

Christopher and Nicole BoscoIvan and Sabine BottoliBrian and Michelle Burchfi elBret and Patricia CentraccoJonathan and Hollin CookMartin and Magda CotéRobert and Vanessa CucchiRonald and Rineke DasbachBenjamin and Anna DilleTod DugganTorben and Birgitte EmborgRick and Franziska EndersStaff an and Charlotta ErenmalmGiese ErnstRodney and Rebecca FarmerZdenek Raska and Lenka FilgasovaAdrian and Ashleigh FowlerBarry and Angeliki FreckmannKrasimir and Miroslava GaydovKathlyn GrayMark GroenewoudBenno Wagner and Ingrid van HaasterechtErik and Viviane HamelPasi and Marjut Tapiola-HarjuKevin HawkinsRiku and Ulla HeinonenJitka HelclKarl Heinz HellRoel and Sarah HertoghsFrank and Monique HitzertChantal HöllJohannes Bruijnincx and Veronique HoutackersFrank Fripon and Ilse Hupko

Our Donors

Individual Donations

58

Wei-Hai and Susan ChuChristoff er and Clara JonkerPaul and Karin KarafotasJan van Dam and Cornelia van KatsYuval and Abigail KatzShahmir and Sehr KhaligJin Hwan Kim & Jee Hee LeeBrian and Jennifer KingHenry and Joanne KolowratVladimir Manda and Alyssa KolowratAndrea KoudelkovaKPMG Česká republika teamBo and Heidi KristensenMichael and Carolyn KubenaKarsten and Angelika KuehmeKyriakos and Jana KyriakouArjen and Miranda LindersWilliam and Alexandra LobkowiczPetr and Ludmila MalicovskyGary and Clare MazzottiDavid and Stacy McOmberJohn and Tracy MiktonJoe Monks and Avis BeekPatrick and Gina MoulayThomas and Vera NewboldRoland and Claudia OberholzerMichael and Monica O’MaraKenji and Zuzana OsakoJoseph PenningtonStefano and Isolde PettinellaIan PhilipsAlexander and Galit PlavnikLucian and Beatrice RaduMarco RineroMark and Helena RobinsonMiloslav Rut and Milena Rutova

Per and Anne RytterDonald and Amy SeymourTimothy and Eva ShawBarry and Beth SchlosbergGurpreet Singh and Zennie MadhokJakub Jurajda and Olga SkatkovaDmitry and Julia SkuratovskyJohn and Yvonne SmithJohan and Maria StahlEtienne and Milja Kroone-StrijpRadek Svec and Hana SvecovaJan and Ericka SykoraDerk and Annet TerhorstMarco ToppinoLars and Catrin VarnlundCindy VegaThomas and Rikke VilladsenThe Walkiewicz familyJoni WatermanCharles and Rachel WilsonMilan ZocherJohannes and Moneshia Zu Eltz

The Supporter’s Society (0 to 4.999 Czk)Andrea BartosovaEva BenesovaMichael and Randi EbbesenLynne HardingCorky HawkinsFrans and Danielle HorjusRobert Ralph KieneShannon LeggettEddie and Julie LodiTony MobbsNancy vonWahldeJohn Yungclas

Our Donors

59

Auction & Raffl ePlease join us in thanking our generous donors to the „Night at the Palace“ Auction & Raffl e. Next time you frequent their business, please let them know that you appreciate their commitment to the Scholarship Program at ISP. The auction and raffl e raised 539 800,- Czk to support scholarships.

Auction And Raffl e Donors Alexandra and William LobkowiczAndrea and Robert Změlík, StarlifeAndrea SosoiovaArtělAu Pays des MimisAvon Cosmetics CRBalony Praha, Jan SmrčkaBody & Beauty Studio, Jitka HelclBořek ŠípekBotanicusBrigita Vyhnalová-KrumphanzlováBritish Tennis AcademyBrown-Forman Czech & Slovak Republics Canadian Medical CareCasa LatinaChateau McelyChip DoehringCzech Jet TeamDaniela JanotováEuro Gold CentreFour Seasons Hotel PragueHadovka Health and FitnessHill’s Pet NutritionHilton Prague HotelIndian Jewel RestaurantJiří KejvalKlára Nademlynská

Larissa RuzyakLetecké Centrum České republikyManto GalleryNestlé Česko s. r. o.Orifl ame CRPhilips Česká republikaPilsner UrquellPrague Marriott HotelPrague National TheatrePrague on Segway TeamProdexim, s. r. o.Pure Studio ZborovskaRandi Sokoloff RS Sportcentrum Romana ŠebrlehoSamsungScuderia PrahaSkydive Arena PragueTelefónica CR, a. s.Vlado VovkaničVolvo Auto CzechZátiší Group24U

Student Raffl e DonorsThe Student Raffl e took place in the weeks leading up to the Night at the Palace. It gave an opportunity not only for students to win fantastic prizes, but also to participate in raising funds for Scholarship students at ISP. The raffl e raised 92 613,- Czk to benefi t the Scholarship program.Please join us in thanking our generous Student Raffl e donors:

Au GourmandAu Pays des Mimis

Our Donors

62

Avon Cosmetics CRBakeshopThe Berlew familyBody & Beauty Studio, Jitka HelclBotanicusDolce Villa HotelFresh & TastyGabriela CastilloISP Activity & Athletic Offi ceISP School Community AssociationJames Hair

Joanne KolowratLego GroupMurtaza & Shayda RawjiOrifl ame CRPaintballGame.czPhilips Česká republikaProdexim, s. r. o.Telefónica CR, a. s.Volvo Auto Czech24U

ANDREA SOSOIOVA

PRODEXIM

CHIP DOEHRING

Our Donors

63

Individual Gift s-In-Kind Andrea and Perry BarlienJoanne Demirel Four Seasons Hotel PragueLawrence HrubešNeville and Beata ParryOlga PolákováOndřej RieglStudio Pure Zborovská

Stanislav SýkoraCarlos and Karin Velez RodriguezMylene and Sake Weima

We’ve made every eff ort to ensure that we’ve included the names of all donors, and to place them in the correct society. If we have made any errors, please accept our profuse apologies, and do please let us know of the error.

VLADO VOVKANIČ

LARISSA RUZYAK

BRIGITAVYHNALOVÁ KRUMPHANZLOVÁ

Our Donors

64

ISP Community

65

From the School Community Association

Annie LiNewcomers Committee Chair

Everything we do is driven by youThe SCA is an active, diverse, all-volunteer organiza-tion within ISP.

The SCA supports community life through volunteer work and fi nancial donations to the School. The SCA exists to support and encourage a nurturing and caring environment for our students and the rest of the School community. All sections of the School (Elementary, Middle and Upper) are supported by the SCA.

The SCA encourages parents/guardians in our com-munity to volunteer in diff erent ways by providing a variety of volunteer opportunities within our

community. SCA activities shall strengthen the part-nership between school and home. All parents and guardians are automatically members of the SCA. Events and activities organized during 2011/2012 included:

New Parent Orientation DayOur Newcomers’ Committee, together with the Development Offi ce, hosted this fantastic day for all new ISP Families. New students and parents were welcomed to the school and guided through a pro-gram designed to help them integrate into the ISP Family and Prague. All new families received a Wel-come Pack that contains a Newcomers’ Handbook with essential information on their new home city –

From the School Community Association

66 From the School Community Association

Prague. The Committee held several more informa-tional meetings throughout the year to support our new families.

Annual Information Fair & Welcome Back Picnic Many new and returning families attended the won-derful BBQ at the beginning of the year. Delicious food and music showcased by talented members of ISP faculty made this event very special. Various local vendors were also invited to the event to introduce and promote their products and services. Once again, we aim to provide our new families with

valuable information that will help them to integrate more quickly. This fun event signaled the start of the school year and was a joint eff ort between Faculty, Administration and the SCA.

HalloweenElementary students enjoyed an evening of spooky fun at our popular Halloween Party. The Trick or Treat Alley and the Haunted House were hugely popular amongst the students. Room parents pro-vided more Halloween intrigue by designing activity stations and running fun games in the Big Gym.

67From the School Community Association

Seasonal Arts and Craft FairThis event took place just prior to the Winter Holi-days. ISP families had the opportunity to purchase a range of diff erent handcraft ed or traditional goods in our school environment. Approximately 70 ven-dors presented their wares that included traditional food and craft ed goods.

Adult Social EventA night of good food and wonderful dance music designed for our community. Many couples enjoyed the wonderful night out experience on our school premises.

Staff Appreciation DayTo show our appreciation for the ISP faculty and administration, the SCA and the whole parent community worked together to host a sumptuous buff et luncheon for all ISP Staff .

ISP Clothing StoreFor a few days a week we opened the ISP clothing store to sell our branded T-shirts, jumpers, pants and

other articles. Next year the range of our off erings will even be bigger and better.

International Food FairOur most popular annual International Food Fair attracted more than 1000 visitors who enjoyed delicious specialties from more than 40 countries. Hundreds of hands prepared thousands of calories from all over the world. The volunteer work of parents, students and staff created this successful gourmet festival.

Sports Booster ClubThe Booster Club Team organized the Snack Shack for three diff erent CEESA Sport Tourna-ments held in our School. Food and drinks were very much appreciated by our kids and the visiting teams.

Monthly Coff ee MorningsThe SCA’s monthly coff ee mornings provided inter-nal and external information for parents/guardians and staff throughout the year. It was also a perfect setting to socialise and ask questions.

FundraisingDuring 2011–2012, funds raised from our events were used to pay for the Upper School Book Awards. Additional funds will go towards the purchase of headsets and receivers for our performances in the Landau Theater. And last but not least funds raised through the Booster Club will be used to help buy an electronic scoreboard for our school tournaments.

Annie Li

68 From the School Community Association

SCA Executive Board 2011–2012

ChairTracey Walsh

Vice ChairDaniëlle Horjus

SecretaryAnne Dorthe Rytter

TreasurerYvonne Viry

Lower ES RepMia Knudsen

Upper ES RepRandi Ebbesen

MS RepAngelika KuehmeIsolde Pettinella

US Rep Yvonne Smith

Adult EducationMelina Paulina TandjungAmy Seymour

Newcomers CommitteeAnnie Li

69Our Community

Our Community

At the International School of Prague, almost 800 students from ages 3–19, from more than 60 countries, learn and develop in a challenging and nurturing environment. The impact of multiculturalism is an integral part of everyone’s life at ISP.

AfghanistanArgentinaArmeniaAustriaAzerbaijanBelarusBelgiumBosnia – HerzegovinaBrazilBulgariaCanadaChechnyaChinaColombiaCroatiaCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkEgyptFinlandFrance

GermanyHong KongHungaryIndiaIndonesiaIranIraqIsraelItalyJapanKazakhstanKorea KuwaitKyrgyzstanLiechtensteinLithuaniaMacedoniaMalaysiaMexicoNetherlandsNew Zealand

PakistanPeruPolandRomaniaRussia SingaporeSlovak RepublicSloveniaSouth AfricaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTaiwanTanzaniaTurkeyUnited KingdomUkraineUnited StatesVenezuelaVietnam

72

Originally published in The Prague Post, September 5, 2012, by journalist Anton Taras (ISP Class of 2002)

“Minsk spotting of wanted Kyrgyz henchman spawns row between former Soviet republics”

Minsk, BELARUS – How to make dozens of dedicated friends on a social network overnight? Ask Mikhail Pashkevich, a Belarusian democracy activist.

On the aft ernoon of Aug. 17, Pashkevich noticed a group of suspicious men on Karl Marx street in Minsk. One of them looked like Kurmanbek Bakiev.

The former Kyrgyz president has been living in a governmental residence in Belarus since a popular uprising led to his ouster in 2010.

The activist used the opportunity to take a rare photograph and post it on Facebook. He then discovered the person he had photographed was Zhanybek Bakiev, the ousted president’s notorious brother. During the uprising, Zhanybek Bakiev led the state security guard and allegedly ordered snipers to fi re on protesters. He is now on the Interpol wanted list.

The photo became an immediate hit with the Kyrgyz media. The next day, many citizens of the Central

Reporting from Belarus


Anton Taras ’02

73

Asian republic, journalists and human rights defenders among them, were seeking friendship with Pashkevich.

“Many humble people have expressed their gratitude”, Pashkevich told The Prague Post.

The activist was willingly giving interviews and seemed to enjoy the sudden fame. But he didn’t expect the photo to cause a diplomatic scandal: Kyrgyzstan asked Belarus to extradite Zhanybek Bakiev and then recalled its ambassador to Belarus “for consultations”.

On Aug. 28, an angry crowd tried to storm the Belarusian Embassy in Bishkek. According to Asel Shabdanova, a journalist with the private Vecherniy Bishkek daily, the group of more than 70 protesters included relatives of those who had died or been wounded during the 2010 uprising.

“The women protesters were emotional and accused the embassy staff of doing nothing about the extradition. Some protesters were breaking bulletin boards and fl owerpots”, Shabdanova told The Prague Post. “I noticed that the windows were covered with metal shutters. The witnesses said the embassy had to cover the windows because the protesters were breaking them.”

The next day, Viktor Denisenko, the Belarusian ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, stated he had his doubts about the authenticity of Pashkevich’s photo and implied the matter was politically motivated. Denisenko has also stated that Belarus would further comment on the matter soon, according to 24.kg, the Kyrgyz news agency.

Aside from hampering relations between the two countries, the photo also brought trouble to its author. Pashkevich began to notice he was being followed by two minivans driven by unknown individuals. A waitress in a café passed him a napkin with the words: “Mikhail, Mr. Bakiev says hi to you.”

“If those people wanted to harm me, they would have done it”, Pashkevich said. “But I think they’ve just wanted to show they can easily fi nd me at any moment. This could have been a joke by the Belarusian KGB.”

The activist has reported the case to the prosecutor’s offi ce but says little has been done to solve the problem. As for Interpol, Pashkevich has not received any statement on their behalf.

“As far as I know, Interpol is an organization that oft en uses double standards”, he said. He noted that this year, Belarusian Interior Minister Anatoly Kuleshov, who is on the European Union’s visa-ban list, freely attended an international police event in France.

The activist may have guts, but the lack of caution has put him in a vulnerable position. According to media reports, the other men he saw on Karl Marx street that aft ernoon in Minsk were later identifi ed as Bakiev’s associates Tahir Rysaliev and Rustam Sayduev, both of whom are suspected of murder.

Pashkevich admits that, aft er the napkin incident, he has been especially pleased to read words of support on Facebook.


74

By Ai Takeuchi, 9th Grade (Japanese mother tongue)

What is a good education?What is being an excellent student?Is it only about getting A+ grades?

I wondered about it until I took study as part of my life. I have been changed a lot since I came to the International School of Prague (ISP). I used to dislike studying and being with teachers. Teachers were an “enemy” for me; however, they are my friends now and I respect them a lot.

I used to day-dream or look at the sky during the classes at my previous school. I had never thought

that I wanted to study as all classes were boring. Students did not pay attention while teachers were talking, but the teachers did not scold those students because the teachers did not care. I was one of those students who did not talk at all, that sit on own chair and stay still. The teachers did not prefer a student who talks and asks questions because the teacher had to follow the text book. This is what I was told and used to do: to follow the text book, to sit at my own chair and stay still, to study whole text book to get a good grade before the exam. I used to memorize every single defi nition or explanation without understanding and I thought it was working well until I got to ISP and I realized that I was wrong. The purpose of going to my

A Place That Has Changed Me


Ai Takeuchi ’15

75

previous school was meeting my friends and playing tennis aft er school. These two events were parts of my life. I needed to live but not to study. I spent three whole years with this environment, however my thought, my lifestyle and almost everything was changed only for the past year; ISP changed me completely.

The 26th April, 2011 (the fi rst day I came to ISP) was a massive surprise for me. Students were wearing their own clothes, earrings, make-up, dyed-hair, eating snacks in the hall way and sitting on the couch during classes. I believe there were some diff erences between cultures, but more than that, people at ISP were really free, in a good way. People were individuals. The impact that I had most was students participating in class by asking questions, helping friends and the fact that nobody was day-dreaming. I had never seen that situation in my previous school and I thought it was rude to talk in class. At the time, all of what I had done, with confi dence, was now broken. I felt I was reborn, stood at the start-line again. I threw away all the thoughts that I used to have and the ways I was told to behave in class. I decided to be into the ISP

educational style. At the beginning I was too shy to raise my hand and ask a question. I felt awkward having a conversation such as how delicious the cheese in the cafeteria is, with my teacher. And it was hard to day-dream during classes! It has been a year and fi ve months since I came to ISP. I am comfortable and proud of ISP’s educational style as it has changed and improved me as a person a lot, in a positive way. I do ask questions when I do not understand, I do help my friends rather than day-dream, and I do like to discuss things with teachers. I am into studying now, especially Social Studies which I hated before; this is my fi rst time that I feel learning, gaining knowledge and using this knowledge to understand the events that are happening in the world. Since I took study as a part of my life, everything changed and even the thing that I was not interested in, interests me these days, such as some natural phenomenon, politics, religion or global warming.

I thank ISP, all the teachers and the friends who have changed me, in a positive way. Good education is made by both teacher and student and their curiosity. Learning is my great passion.


76

Alumni

Selma Telalagic ‘05

“ISP helped me become a more confi dent person. As a woman researching the position of disadvantaged women, I have come to realise how important it is to inspire confi dence in girls from a young age. Through debates, interactive activities and drama classes, I was taught to speak up and believe in my ideas. This was vital for my success at Cambridge, where most of the education takes place in the form of small groups.”

Selma received her BA and MPhil in Economics at the University of Cambridge, achieving First Class Honours. She is currently completing her PhD in Economics, also at Cambridge. Her topic of research is the position of women in developing countries. Selma will be taking up a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the University of Oxford next year.

Alumni

77

Gil Kazimirov ‘09

“The International School of Prague is founded on a sense of warmth that emanates throughout the School, manifesting itself in the eff orts to tend, with utmost care, to the academic and social needs of its students. Encouraged by a staff of professional and supportive teachers, I was taught to build my own bridge to success and develop the self-confi dence needed to cross it.”

Gil grew up in Israel and the Czech Republic. He holds a BA in History from the University of Warwick, and is working towards his Master of Philosophy and International Relations at Cambridge University. Gil has interned at Goldman Sachs, MD SolarSciences, and the Criminal Law division of BHM Solicitors.

ISP is proud to count Selma and Gil among its many Alumni.

Alumni

78787878787888

Financial Report

79

We are pleased to report that the International School of Prague ended its 63rd year of operations with steady enrollment (787 students) and a healthy fi nancial picture. During the 2011–12 fi scal year the total operating revenue of the International School of Prague increased 3%, to €13.3 million. Tuition and fees accounted for 99% of combined institutional income for the year. Operating expenses decreased 2% to €13.0 million. As with most schools, salaries and benefi ts continue to represent the School’s greatest expense, at 66%. The School’s net operating surplus increased to €542 thousand in fi scal year 2011–12 following on a €1.3 million defi cit the previous year.

A description of the school’s organizational structure is also included here. The structure is needed to

comply with Czech and United States laws and to retain full governance by the School Board.The fi nancial information set out above and in the accompanying tables in the Annual Report have been taken from the consolidated fi nancial results through June 30, 2012 of the grouping of entities comprising the School, and demonstrate the overall fi nancial health of the institution.

Sincerely,

Adrian FowlerBoard Member and Treasurer

Barry FreckmannBusiness & Operations Manager

From the Board Treasurer and the Business & Operations Manager

From the Board Treasurer and the Business & Operations Manager

80

The Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance of the School’s fi nancial operations and health. This includes approving annual budgets, reviewing fi nancial reports, approving the audited fi nancial statements, and planning for the long-term fi nancial future of the school. The School’s fi nancial accounts are audited annually by PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit, s. r. o., who were appointed in 2012.The Board maintains a standing Finance Committee to provide expertise and advice in these matters. The Committee is composed of the Treasurer, members of the administration of the School, and other members selected by the Board.Over the past few years, in line with recognized best practice for non-profi t organizations, the School has built up its reserve holdings and has begun growing an endowment. The emergency reserve (for use, e.g., in the event of a sudden decline in enrollment, or other unanticipated “shock”) has been established by the Board with a target set at 25 percent of annual operating expenses, and is being met annually. The endowment continues to grow and will serve as a substantial asset for the funding of scholarships and other institutional needs in perpetuity.

Organizational StructureThe School is comprised of four (4) separate entities: a Czech limited liability company of not-for-profi t character, a US not-for-profi t foundation, an Isle of

Jersey recruitment fi rm for the hiring of qualifi ed international faculty and a Czech association dedicated to supporting the development of the School. The School was founded in 1948 and operates with recognition from US and international accreditation agencies and the Czech Ministry of Education.

Legal MattersThe School Board retains the services of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, v.o.s. and Procházka Randl Kubr Partners s. r. o. for consultation on signifi cant issues aff ecting the School.

School Debt and Capital InvestmentIn April 1997 the School negotiated a loan agreement for the amount of $13M, and in October 2008 it entered into a new facility agreement establishing a revolving loan with a current limit of €12M. This “replacement” loan has a maturity date in 2025 – providing improved and fl exible fi nancial security to the school – with an annual decrease of €1,000,000 per year in the maximum limit. As well as fi nalizing payment of the original school land purchase and construction costs, this loan has helped fi nance the signifi cant facility improvement projects which the School executed during the 2008–2011 period, and is available to help fi nance future improvements and expansions to the facility. Debt averaged over the academic year was €4.2 million (€2 million at June 30, 2012).

Organization, Legal Matters, and Finances


81Organization, Legal Matters, and Finances

Salaries and benefi ts

Operational costs

Depreciation and amortisation

Interest expense

Provisions

Other operating expenses

Income Tax expense

65,8 %

25,2 %

6,2 %

1,1 %

0,7 %

0,8 %

0,2 %

ALLOCATION OF EXPENSES 2010–2011

82

as at June 30, 2012(in thousands of EUR “TEUR”)

June 30, 2012 June 30, 2011Land 2 749 2 749Buildings 18 592 18 976Other fi xed assets 1 177 1 521Total non-current assets 22 518 23 246

Accounts Receivables and prepaid expenses 1 917 3 352Cash in hand and bank accounts 8 725 11 859Other current assets 12 3Total current assets 10 654 15 214

TOTAL ASSETS 33 172 38 460

Registered capital 4 4Other funds 24 592 24 543Retained earnings (8 534) (9 076)Translation diff erence 1 730 1 818Total Equity 17 792 17 289

Bank loans 2 036 7 917Other long term payables 385 356Long term payables 2 421 8 273

Accounts payable and accrued expenses 382 374Deferred revenues 12 371 12 377Other current payables 206 147Total current payables 12 959 12 898

TOTAL LIABILITIES 33 172 38 460

Balance Sheet

Summarised special purpose consolidated fi nancial information


83

Income statement

for the year ended June 30, 2012(in thousands of EUR “TEUR”)

Year endedJune 30, 2012

Year endedJune 30, 2011

Tuition and related fees 13 130 12 704Interest income 37 32Other income 134 171Total Income 13 301 12 907

Salaries and benefi ts 8 596 8 513Operational costs 3 299 3 995Depreciation and amortisation 821 674Interest expense 149 164Provision 43 (97)Other operating expenses 111 97

13 019 13 346

Gross profi t 282 (439)

Income Tax expense (30) (379)

Foreign exchange (expense) recovery, net 290 (510)

Net profi t/(loss) 542 (1 328)


84

Notes to Audited Balance Sheet and Profi t & Loss

(a) Basis of Preparation

The special purpose consolidated fi nancial information has been prepared in accordance with General accounting principles applied in the Czech Republic except for the use of presentation currency (see Note b). The accounting policies have been consistently applied to the results, gains and losses, assets and liabilities of the entities included in the special purpose consolidated fi nancial information and are consistent with those used in the previous years. The accounting principles have been applied consistently by the Group entities. The special purpose consolidated fi nancial information is prepared on the historical cost basis, except for the revaluation of the fi nancial instruments.

(b) Presentation Currency

The special purpose consolidated fi nancial information is presented in Euros, rounded to the nearest thousand. All fi gures are in thousands of Euro (TEUR), unless stated otherwise. All companies within the ISP Group operate in the Czech Republic which is their primary economic area. All the records are kept in the Czech koruna (CZK). The Group presentation currency is the Euro (EUR). The Group has selected a diff erent presentation currency because the users of its special purpose consolidated fi nancial statements base their economic decision on information expressed in EUR.

The assets and liabilities are translated into EUR at foreign exchange rates ruling on the reporting date except for property, plant and equipment where foreign exchange rates valid on the capitalization date are used. The tuition revenues are translated into EUR at the exchange rates the revenue is recognized. Other revenues and expenses are translated into EUR at exchange rates approximating the foreign exchange rates ruling at the dates of the transactions. Foreign exchange diff erences arising on retranslation are recognized directly in a separate component of equity.

Summarised Special Purpose Consolidated Financial Information


85

The following exchange rates of CZK to EUR were used during translation:

Date Closing exchange rate CZK/EURAverage exchange rate CZK/EUR for the 12-month period

June 30, 2012 25.640 25.001June 30, 2011 24.345 24.597July 1, 2010 25.760 N/A


86 Organization, Legal Matters, and Finances

international school of prague annual report 2011-12

Documents

palace isp community65

whereisp students

ispannual report

upper school curriculum

school community association69

conferences whichwere

outside conferences

pastacademic year