Parent Assembly

Rector’s Presentation

Thursday 4th June 2015

Thank you for joining us today.

This will be different to previous Parent Assemblies at this time of year.

I do not intend to go through a large number of facts and figures. This data will be available separately.

I want to use this time to explain to you our developing vision for the Anglo, the progress we have made this Academic Year and the next steps we are taking on our journey of improvement

Overall, this has been a challenging year but I think we can be proud as a community of the progress we have made.

We still have much to achieve in at least the next five years, but the level of trust and support we are receiving gives us all the energy to continue to strive for the best .

Our core focus has been to become a Values-driven school with a commitment to excellence, whilst retaining all that is unique about the Anglo.

This means educational, moral, physical and spiritual development within a context of learners becoming educated and not just qualified.

We have some distance still to travel, but I believe that the ethos and culture has already started to change for the better at the Anglo.

The four Anglo Values of Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Solidarity are now widely known and increasingly understood.

In terms of academics, the target we set ourselves in August 2015 were as follows:

Oversee a significant improvement in student performance in Grade 11 in May 2015, with all the qualitative improvement that this implies (IB Diploma and SABER 11)

No school community could have done more in one Academic Year to address both the attitude and attainment of final-year students. They will attain the highest results in the IB Diploma in Anglo’s history and go on to excellent universities.

More importantly, they will leave our learning community as better balanced young adults. This Grade has started to set new traditions and this is vital.

Our new preparations for the Colombian Matriculation examinations went as well as we could possibly manage and ICFES has now been sat by the complete Grade 11. We have performed strongly.

Our ICFES average was 361.87 points in 2015. The following short commentary may help.

Usually the criteria for entering University Los Andes is the highest among all national private universities.

The average score for Medicine and Business (the highest quoted courses) last semester for los Andes was 360 points so we should be encouraged to note that it is our school average. If we take this number into account it would mean that 66 of our students would

be admitted to the toughest programmes.

For engineering and other similar programmes the Los Andes average was 340, meaning that 95 of our students would have been admitted.

The lowest was for Humanities (language and literature, sociology, anthropology, history etc.) the average was 320, meaning 110 of our students would have been admitted.

This is to the credit to our students.

More comparative data is still emerging as the results were only received last week. The key will be the number of Anglo students who attain their fist preference course in their first preference university.

Once this data is known we will inform parents. It will also be dependent upon outstanding IB Diploma results in early July 2015.

Again, we could have done no more than we did in the time available and in future years this will improve still further as ICFES requirements are more woven in to the revised core curriculum.

Secure proposals are now in place to properly prepare Anglo students for ICFES in their final two years.

In 2014, 20% of the Grade 11 cohort went overseas beyond Colombia to study.

Already for Summer 2015 in the current Grade 11, 42% are aiming to go overseas. This is doubled in one Academic Year.

Curriculum Review

The whole-school Curriculum Review was completed as planned, with the quality of outcomes from the wide process of consultation and participation exceeding my expectations.

There remains wide ownership of the agreed way forward and this agenda for change has been embraced warmly by the critical mass.

Planning for implementation of the first phase of the Curriculum Review in August 2015, following Board approval, is progressing well.

Curriculum teams are working on the detail, there is already far more meaningful collaboration between Sections and a greater overall coherence.

Revised timetables and scheduling are nearing completion in all three Sections to reflect the new curriculum.

The PEI has been amended to reflect the changes (including revised assessment regime). We will be ready…..

Budgetary and staffing models for 2015-16 and beyond reflect our new priorities.

Clearly, the real test of success will be a direct and measurable impact upon student learning outcomes across all age ranges. We will start to see this from summer 2016.

Key curriculum changes from August 2015

Major whole-school focus on quality in Mathematics. New learning programmes and classroom pedagogy. Planned continuity between Sections

Enhancement of Arts (Music, Drama, Dance, Fine Art, Design) in all Anglo Sections

Significant improvements in curriculum iteration between Pre-School and Primary

Re-balancing of the MYP in Bach, with significant enhancements to Science

New IB Diploma subjects (Business and Management and taught Psychology)

New timetable mechanisms to enable subject blocking to aid creative student grouping.

This is just the beginning…….!

Prepare all necessary documentation for full CIS Accreditation (September 2015) and manage the IBO scrutiny visit for the PYP (November 2014).

The outcomes of the IBO PYP Accreditation Visit to the Anglo (held on 20th and 21st November 2014) have now been received and circulated. The PYP Team in Pre-School and Primary are working together to build the required action plan.

The outcomes were a celebration of the quality of the PYP at the Anglo and there were no major issues identified to address. This is unusual. We can be collectively proud of this outcome, without being complacent.

The extensive professional Self-Study documentation in preparation for the pending CIS preliminary Visit in September 2015 is well underway. In parallel we are currently undertaking the Endicott Survey to obtain opinions on education at the Anglo from all our community. Results will be with us in three weeks.

Focus considerable energy on building positive networks within the Diplomatic, commercial and educational community in Colombia and beyond to cement our reputation.

We have made secure progress in raising the external profile of the Anglo within Bogota and more widely within the professional educational community in Latin America.

We still have some distance to go before this approach is fully embedded, but progress to date has been solid.

Co-ordinate the Primary School move to the new buildings in late January 2015 and develop the educational vision underpinning the redevelopment of Block G and the IB College within Plan Maestro

Overall, we can assert strong progress with Plan Maestro. After some frustrating final delays, the new Primary Learning Centre is open and thriving. There is a secure underlying educational vision to both Block G and the Advanced Learning Centre.

Planning is continuing within this framework for learning at our school. There is much work still to achieve, but we are taking the right steps as a team.

Arrive at a new whole-school external and independently verifiable assessment model from pre-school to Grade 11 that gives parents reliable and consistent progress information.

Overall, we can assert strong progress. The new assessment methodology is in place and reflected in the revised PEI as well as in classroom practice. The CEM longitudinal benchmarking data is also securely in place well ahead of schedule.

This will become of increasing value to the Faculty and the Board as comparable year-on-year data starts to come on-line from the summer of 2016 onwards.

The redrafted PEI reflects these changes for 2015-16

PEIWe have completed a major rewrite of the PEI for 2016-16This reflects fundamental changes to our curriculum and in particular to assessment.

2 x semesters In Primary and Bach.

MYP criteria assessed at least once per semester

Diploma subjects assessed at the discretion of the Departments in order to provide sufficient evidence for the teacher to make a judgment

No students will be able to fail the year. Students will be judged against their individual targets as generated by CEM data. A culture of the importance of learning

PEI Changes (Continued)All evaluations are formative in nature and provide evidence for the teacher to exercise their professional judgment in assigning a grade at the end of Semester 1 (interim grade) and the year (final grade)

Bahavioural issues will be dealt with following a disciplinary process, but in every case the student will be required to demonstrate that the learning has been undertaken in their commitment to academics

All students who are not on track for their targets may be required to attend nivelacion periods. Nivelacion is a process to improve understanding and is designed to improve learning – any improvement in grades would follow as a consequence

Staffing

Considerable stability in staffing this year. Where vacancies have occurred, great new staff joining the Anglo. Very high quality.

Key new positions : Head of PrimaryDirector of Sport and AthleticsTeacher LibrarianWhole School IT plus IT Coach

Differential pay award in favour of Colombian staff to close the salary gap and motivate.

Performance Threshold for Colombian Teachers.

Directly linked to quality through six “Threshold Performance Standards”

Those Colombian staff proven to be performing on a par with Ex Pat staff will receive a major salary boost in August 2016. This will be motivational to quality in the classroom.

There are some outstanding Colombian teachers at the Anglo

We need consistent effectiveness and consistent quality.

Investment in Technology

Agreement on an investment of COP 3 billion over the next three years on IT and IT infrastructure

The Anglo will become 100% Apple

Major investment in Mac Book Pro’s, i-pads, new servers, IT learning resources, faster and more reliable wi-fi, as well as staff training.

All outcomes linked to robust measurement against the global ISTE Standards

Thank you