From the Principal 09.09.2023

“Schools that ignore the trends shaping tomorrow will cease to be relevant to the lives of their students. We must ensure that we are preparing for their future, not our past” 

The quote above, while incredibly valid in its sentiment, is also somewhat frightening. Why? Because it was written in 1997, over 25 years ago. Many schools are still ignoring the trends shaping tomorrow and consequently not preparing for their student’s futures.

On Wednesday morning I had the opportunity to speak at the ‘New Friends’ parents coffee morning hosted by the PTA-Steering Committee and share the reasons why my family and I decided to come to KIS. I predominantly spoke not as a school leader, rather as a new parent myself. I talked about the community atmosphere, the caring people and the safe environment being key factors in our decision. However there were a multitude of further reasons I could have shared, not least of which is that KIS nurtures global citizens.

KIS is daily working to evaluate and reevaluate its approaches to teaching and learning to ensure that we live this mission. While we are not a perfect school, we are an aspirational one and one that is ambitious for our students. We want to prepare them for their future, not our past.

A highlight of Monday was meeting with the Year 6 House Captain candidates to talk about what it means to be a leader and highlight the role and responsibility they will have in shaping our schools’ future. It was also wonderful to hear throughout the week how our Heads of Primary and Secondary launched new policies with their teams looking at the integration of Artificial Intelligence and new learning technologies into the classroom.

From the inter-personal and soft-skills side of things to our approaches to information technology, KIS consistently is seeking to evolve its practice, understand the trends of tomorrow and prepare students for their future.

I strongly encourage all of you to share with your colleagues, friends and family how KIS nutrues global citizens and invite them to our upcoming Open Day on September 20th so they can see first hand what a truly special place our school is.

Many thanks

Mr Sam Gipson
Principal