Annual Review 2019-20
Welcome to Stockholm International School’s 2019/20 Annual Review.
The school motto, challenged, valued, and prepared has certainly been apt. It was a challenging and unique year, and as a community, we rose to those challenges head-on. We are very proud and grateful for the resilience, perseverance, and understanding shown by our entire community, faculty, staff, families, and students alike.
During 2019/20, Stockholm International School proudly provided the very best learning environment to our students in the trying circumstances. As Covid-19 changed the world, we took the responsibility to be ahead of the curve.
This year’s Annual Review reveals our enormous capacities during an extraordinary year.
Watch SIS Director, Marisa Leon, talking about how 2019/2020 was a year of unity, resilience and innovation. We saw unity, through the continual strengthening of community spirit, as well as the building of a new preschool playground. We also saw the launch of the school's first annual fund, the SIS Spirit Fund.
Resilience came about through the flexibility, patience and understanding shown by our entire community due to the unprecedented circumstances. Whilst our staff, parents and students all learned new and innovative tools and technology we also introduced the new school website. And finally our new mascot, Oggi the SIS Owl, gets a well deserved mention.
Our Vision
Nurturing open-minded, critical thinking and academically skilled individuals who are fully prepared for the challenges and responsibilities of global citizenship.
Our Mission
A positive and thriving intercultural atmosphere that offers our students the best possible foundation from which to grow.
View from the Board
Watch Lage Jonason, Chairman of our Board, reveal his satisfaction with SIS’s stable self-perpetuating governance model with its excellent institutional memory, that helped to steer a safe passage through challenging times.
He also mentions his pride in the senior management team and especially Director Marisa Leon, who took the right measures at the right time, to enable a successful year despite the difficult circumstances.
For information on the Board of Trustees during this academic year, please contact advancement@intsch.se
Governance 2019/2020
The Senior Leadership Team, headed by the Director, forms a close working unit that guides the school through day-to-day processes and business. The Educational Learning Team collaborates and focuses on bringing teaching and learning to the highest levels throughout the whole school.
Top row from left: Emma Jones, Advancement Director; Harriet Martins, Head of Learning; Bradley Lister, MYP Coordinator, MAP Coordinator and MYP Mathematics teacher; Jarno Ampuja, DP Coordinator, DP Mathematics teacher; Michael Moore, Middle School Principal.
Bottom row from left: Noola Boyaci, IPC Coordinator, IPC EAL Extension Teacher; María (Marisa) Isabel León, Director; Christine Öman, Upper School Principal; Gunjit Kaur Sethi, Dean of Students; David Osler, Primary School Principal; Annica Wård, Business Manager.
Advancing SIS
Stockholm International School is an extraordinary school supported by the generous volunteer and financial support of our exceptional community.
Watch SIS Advancement Director, Emma Jones, talk about the positive impact of our first ever Annual Fund, and the three key areas supported by the SIS Spirit Fund: Student Experience, Academic Excellence and Innovation, and Campus Regeneration.
Emma also mentions the new visual identity launched in January 2020 which included a revamping of the logo, flags, website, house system and more, which better reflect where SIS is today, and put us in good stead for tomorrow.
Launching the SIS Spirit Fund
Stockholm International School is a not-for-profit foundation. The SIS Spirit Fund elevates SIS to a level of excellence that tuition alone cannot provide and allows the school to respond quickly to new opportunities and unexpected challenges
Launched in October 2019 at the SIS Spirit Fund Concert, the Spirit Fund depends on the support and involvement of our entire SIS community.
We are passionate about giving our students the best educational experience, above and beyond tuition that we can, and for that, we rely on your ongoing support.
During 2019/20, the SIS Spirit Fund supported:
Maker Spaces
Thanks to the SIS Spirit Fund we now have a collaborative workspace with the tools and equipment to design, build, and create anything. Maker Spaces allow students to create their own knowledge and to be reflective about the whole process. Hear more about the Maker Spaces below.
The Nepal Project
The vision of the SIS Nepal Project is to see a strong, healthy educational environment develop in the Shila Devi primary school in Nepal. The project also helps SIS students expand their understanding of the world and develop their sense of international mindedness.
The Main Building Auditorium
We are enormously grateful to the SIS Community for making the difference and supporting the SIS Spirit fund, which in turn paid for new lighting equipment for the main building auditorium.
Thank you
Stockholm International School wishes to thank our donors and volunteers for
their generous contributions during the academic year of 2019/20, which help us provide
ongoing academic excellence and extraordinary student experiences. We are so grateful
to members of our community who have generously supported us with their time,
expertise and financial donations. We are made more outstanding by each and every
one of you.
The SIS Parent Community (SPC)
The SIS Parent community (the SPC) is a welcoming and vibrant collection of families. They are the driving force behind so many of the extracurricular activities that strengthen school spirit. The SPC is an invaluable source of knowledge and friendship, especially for new parents and guardians arriving in Sweden and experiencing a cultural transition for the first time.
The SPC organises and supports so many events and activities, including online communities and online information, and of course there are the disco’s, parties, picnics, festivals, book fairs, a new Gala held for the first time during 2018/19, the ever popular Halloween Night, and the SPC Choir to name a few.
During the remarkable developments throughout the 2019/2020 school year, the SPC has been a strong partner to the school’s governance during the remarkable developments of the 2019/2020 school year. SIS is very proud of our special community but the SPC is very special indeed.
A culture of holistic learning
Watch Dean of Students, Gunjit Sethi, talking about her goals for the year. Gunjit discusses the new case managers brought in during a restructuring of Learning Support, and talks about the preparations for and thinking behind the new House System.
Gunjit also gives her insights into student reaction to the events of the year, and how students developed new ideas about well-being and keeping the SIS community spirit strong.
An educational journey that lasts a lifetime
See Primary School Principal, David Osler, expand on his three highlights from the 2019/2020 year. He talks about the new school playground opening, his pride on seeing an SIS student coming first in the world in a maths competition, and how pleased he is with the implementation of a tool that allowed parents to be more connected to school learning.
Watch Middle School Principal, Michael Moore, share what he has learnt and enjoyed in his first year as principal, including the trip to Kolmården in Norrköping, and how SIS always takes advantage of the beautiful city of Stockholm. He also mentions the advantages of the IB Middle Year Programme which focuses on, and truly benefits, student development.
Watch DP Coordinator and mathematics teacher, Jarno Ampuja explain how the SIS community response to the challenges this year went beyond expectations, and how our students managed to succeed in their final assessments regardless of the special circumstances. Jarno also recognises that having a mature, responsible student body, a well established programme, along with a professional and motivated teaching staff and leadership is well appreciated.
Celebrating our community
SIS Alumni Programme
Like our school, the SIS alumni community is truly global. We are very proud of all our alumni and our Alumni Programme with its goal of connecting alumni with each other and with the school to increase knowledge sharing and networking possibilities.
SIS introduced the Get ToGather event this year where notable Alumni are interviewed about their lives and experience since leaving SIS. Because of Covid-19, our Alumni audience was able to join from around the world.
Our first two participants were Dr. Marcus Skribek, resident oncologist at Karolinska University Hospital & Institute, and Caroline Walerud, entrepreneur, cited as one of Europe’s most successful entrepreneurs under 30.
Dr Marcus Skribek speaking at the first Alumni GetToGather event.
Caroline Walerud, our second speaker of the event series.
Nobel event 2019
An exciting evening held at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm celebrated the kind support of our donors and community. Ninth graders, as Living Statues, took on the persona of Nobel Laureates and interacted with guests. Attendees including students, staff, parents and guardians, and ambassadors from around the world were treated to lectures from acclaimed futurist, author, and global speaker, Stefan Hyttfors, as well as tech entrepreneur, political advisor and investor, Aurore Belfrage.
Financials
Watch SIS Business Manager, Annica Ward, reveal that despite the pandemic, SIS managed to keep on a steady financial footing and even increased admissions during 2019/2020.
She also mentions the school lunches donated to Karolinska University Hospital and that fact the she is blessed with truly excellent teams supporting the school.
SIS 2019/20 in numbers
660 students
58 nationalities
148 staff
70 donors
51 candidates in the class of 2020
34 points: SIS average
29.9 points: World average
125,000 lunches served
600 organic fruits eaten a week
Financials
Applications received
Total revenue (MSEK)
Summary of income
Summary of expenses
Surplus for reinvestment
3.4 MSEK
Educational Technology
Watch IT manager, Sandra Loureiro, describing how her team at SIS met the various challenges facing them throughout a very unusual year, including training new digital skills in order to seamlessly deliver remote learning and a world class education.
Watch Primary School Technology Integrator, Mmamatlhabi Tlailane and Library Media Specialist, Katalin Pongo talking about the introduction of Maker Spaces into SIS.
They explain how Maker Spaces encourage creative thinking and reveal other ways they benefit students. Finally they offer a heartfelt thanks to SIS Spirit Fund donors for supporting student education and experience.
Congratulations to our 2020 graduates!
Watch SIS’s 2020 graduates performing the Swedish tradition of “Utspring.”
Students wear a “studentmössa” (the white cap), and joyously run out of school with their graduation certificates in their hands.
They are greeted by crowds of families holding placards adorned with child and baby photos of our successful graduates.
Enriching Community, Enriching Education
Every year leaves its own mark on our personal and collective lives. The unparalleled events that began in the spring of 2020 were no exception. Our entire SIS community rallied together with enormous resilience, agile and innovative thinking and genuine kindness and warmth to overcome the challenges placed in front of us.
With the support of our community, SIS provided a seamless world-class education through the bold and considered decisions of the school leadership. Rhetoric became reality and we have never been prouder of being so “Valued, Challenged, Prepared”.
With our robust community we are looking forward to travelling onward into the upcoming school years.
