We are excited to share that the 2023-2024 school calendar for International School Qatar is now live on our website. All important dates, including term breaks and school events, are available to view at your convenience by visiting this link: Calendar - ISL Qatar, Doha | International School Qatar.

2021-2022 printed Yearbook is now available for purchase! Get your own copy and relive all the great moments of the previous academic year. We are proud to share with our community the memories and experiences that defined the learning adventure of 2021-2022. 

Experience the best in education and get a glimpse of the future! Join our Middle & High Schools Open Morning on February 15th (8am - 10 am). Our experts will present the highlights of our educational approach and what makes us unique!
Click here to REGISTER: https://bit.ly/3jgiyih      

Join us on Wednesday, January 18 (8–10 a.m.) for a special event dedicated to families with children from 3 to 10 years old. Register here: https://islqatar.openapply.com/tours/new

To update the entire community on our progress with our IB & NEASC accreditation (the CLP), the ISL Qatar CLP Steering Group has created a special edition newsletter .

"Arts Celebrations" - a unique event that highlighted the progress students have made in the arts subjects.

"Performing for the Planet": the primary students celebrated Sustainability Month on October 30th by presenting poetic, musical and theatrical numbers. Children from Kindergarten to grade 5 showcased their talents in the choir, percussion ensemble, poetry slam, homemade instrumental group and theatre troupe.

ISL Qatar played host to yet another episode of #bigbmeetup with a panel discussion themed on the Forest School and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

ISL Qatar will be hosting the Beyond COP21 Symposium on Wednesday 2nd, November and Thursday, 3rd November, 2022. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Tok as the keynote speaker!

Loris Malaguzzi, the founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, describes how educators view the school “as a living organism, a place of shared relationships among the children, the teachers, and the parents and a feeling of belonging in a world that is alive, welcoming, and authentic”. The environment plays such a vital role in Reggio-inspired programs that it is oftentimes referred to as the “third teacher”. 

The Tree Planting Marathon is a project that is part of Qatar’s ‘Sustainabilty Week’, a national campaign, coordinated by Expo2023 and started on Saturday, 8 October. 

In the last PYP bulletin post, I introduced the Reggio Emilia approach by briefly highlighting its history and elaborating on one of its pillars; the image of the child.  In this post, since the emphasis on how the child is viewed as an individual has already been established, I would like to highlight how relationships are also a vital element in a Reggio-inspired program.  

Following the public announcement of the sad news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, our school community joins together, and with other communities around the world, in expressing our gratitude to her Majesty for her extraordinary example of leadership, devotion to duty and unwavering service to others.

ISL Qatar is delighted to have received the Green Flag Award and Plaque during the assembly on Tuesday.

This week we celebrated 5 educators at ISL Qatar being selected as new Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts (MIEE).  It’s a special award that recognizes outstanding practice in the classroom using digital tools,  innovation in digital pedagogy and a commitment to professional learning.  It is not an easy process, and it requires educators to demonstrate they have reached the standards expected of MIE Expert.   They are now part of a global community of digital learning experts, who will support their continued development and practice.

      Petra Y. Fallaha (ISL Qatar student between 2017 and 2021) was 17 years old when the explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4^th 2020 hit the city.

Whether you have some familiarity with Reggio-inspired programs, or this terminology is completely new to you, my bulletin entries will highlight what it means to be Reggio-inspired and what makes our Early Years unique.

Congratulations to the ISL Qatar Class of 2022 IB Diploma Programme Cohort and teaching faculty! 

We have received the results from the May 2022 Examinations and they are fantastic.  The above statistics truly show the hard work and dedication that has been put into student learning beyond Grade 12.  Our Mother Tongue Program continues to have a deep impact on our students with 14 members of the Class of 2022 earning a bilingual IB Diploma. 

We are pleased to announce that ISL Qatar has just received the Eco-School’s Green Flag Award from the Earthna Centre for a Sustainable Future, an organisation which represents the largest global sustainable school programme here in Qatar. 

Being a primary school student is an exciting and truly magical time of life! But not all experiences are pleasant. One of the most difficult things that some children experience is bullying. Bullying is a very serious matter. When it is not dealt with, bullying may leave scars that our children carry with them far into their adult lives. Solving problems with bullying is never the responsibility of children. However, if we want to support our children with this, we need to know more about bullying.

Many students have come into my office and said, “I'm not sure what's wrong. I don't seem to be motivated at all”. This is, of course, not a new phenomenon. Every student is different, and each has their own set of motivational variables.

ISL Qatar hosts Qatar’s popular community outreach initiative #bigbmeetup’s ‘Estedama’ themed edition during Qatar Sustainability Week, in which the innovative ISL Qatar ‘Forest School Project’ was launched.  The event brought together many national and international authorities and enthusiasts to debate topics focused on sustainability in Qatar. 

Outstanding Schools Middle East Conference, one of the most relevant and looked-forward conferences about education, invited David Bryan (Deputy Head of School and Director of Teaching & Learning) and Dr. Sergio Pawel (Group Chief Academic Officer) to participate as featured conference speakers.

Professional Development is focused on the needs of the whole school, a whole school vision, or the needs of a sector of the school. It tends to be less personalised.

The Research Institute objectives are to empower young adults to take active research having the freedom to choose their own research question. It also encourages students to discuss ethical issues considering the needs of our diverse community. 

Increasing your Arabic vocabulary is one of the best ways to learn Arabic. The more Arabic vocabulary you memorize, the better Arabic language you have.
 

All & About (AllandAbout.com) sat down with Dr. Sergio Pawel, to talk about what makes ISL Qatar one of the leaders in innovative learning and how it continues to deliver world-class education to our diverse community despite the challenges brought by the pandemic.

The IB MYP is part of a continuum education; it prepares the students for the Diploma Programme and follows from the primary years' programme. Each one of these educational cycles close with several celebrations of learning achievements.

At this point in the academic year, students are usually eagerly anticipating the school’s scheduled ‘Week Without Walls’.  This annual event is planned to develop student exposure to culture, outside adventure learning, and service.  Due to obvious pandemic restrictions, however, this year’s event cannot take place.

This week I had the pleasure of attending a primary division professional learning session on Tuesday afternoon. The grade-level teams presented both their tried-and-test assessment tools and some of their innovative ideas on assessing children's knowledge and understanding.

This week, the International School of London Qatar’s diverse multicultural community held a 3-day celebration for Qatar National Day while safeguarding its community against COVID-19. Every year, Ahmed El-Hadidi, Arabic Pastoral Leader, with a handful of student and staff volunteers organises this spectacular event.

We are extremely delighted to share the results of the ISL Qatar Class of 2020 IB Diploma examinations. 

Our Leadership Team and teachers, together with our Student Council, engaged with the new members of our community to help them transition to the student life at ISL Qatar and brief them about the blended learning system. 

Our Interim Head of School, Dr. Sergio Pawel, welcomes the community to the new academic year with updates on the improvements and additions to our facilities and the continued progress in our learning innovation.

Every single one of you has the ability and privilege to help the Lebanese community, please use your privilege for good.

On Tuesday, 1 Septemeber 2020, ISL Qatar welcomed its students back on campus after a long time being in virtual school.

Our dedicated team has taken measures to ensure that our students remain safe as we go back to school.

It is with great sadness that we learned about the tragic events in Lebanon last week and the traumatic consequences that are still unravelling there.   

We are excited to welcome our Interim Head of School, Dr. Sergio Pawel. Dr. Pawel has been involved with the development of ISL Qatar since its inception 11 years ago as the Chief Academic Officer of the ISL Group.

In the episode, two of our successful alumni reflected on being true global citizens, their professional lives and their journeys with ISL and the impact that their IB education and ISL Community had on achieving their goals.

ISL Qatar and ISL London came together to bring you the ISL Talk Show

As we start the summer vacation, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the students, parents and staff for the flexibility and resilience shown in reaching the end of what has been an extremely challenging school year. I would also to give a special mention to the Graduating Class of 2020, who I wish success, health and happiness in the next stage of their lives.

As schools and society in Qatar begin to slowly open up it is understandable that there will be varying levels of concerns, tension and needs, which will also change from moment to moment. 

Our secondary EAL students have invested an incredible amount of time in creating a variety of articles, sketches, poems, comics and stories which have all been compiled into the second edition of the EAL Magazine. 

The recent weeks have been challenging for all of us, as we have had to make the adjustment from regular face-to-face contact to now having to work in the virtual world.

Ms. Jennifer Wong-Powell, our EC-KG Coordinator, encourages the community to not dismiss play even as adults.

Ms. Reinette Evert, Primary School Counsellor, guides us on how to reduce our child's anxiety during these unfamiliar times.

ISL Qatar once again hosted the Doha Regional Round of the World Scholar's Cup led by our Grade 11 students. ISL Qatar's 21 teams competed in 4 events with students from 10 schools in Doha. Three events were played in our campus on Friday, 28 February while and continued at QNCC on Saturday. 

On Tuesday the 3^rd of December the U16 Boys Football team were crowned Champions of the U16 QUESS League. The boys put together an impressive season scoring a remarkable 28 goals, conceding only 7 and were the only team in the division to go unbeaten.  

The International School of London (ISL) Qatar hosted its sixth annual Winter Carnival over the weekend at the school’s campus.

ISL made the long trip up north to face Al Khor International School (AKIS) in a top of the table clash, wind and rain adding to the already spicy atmosphere.

The game was close early on with both sides creating chances. Fabian went close with 10 minutes on the clock before Niels skimmed the post. AKIS were dangerous on the break and could have opened the scoring but Affan in the ISL goal was quick off his line and suffocated the ball to keep the score level.

ISL were dominating in possession but were struggling to create any real clear-cut chances. The sides went in all square at the break, 0-0.

The ISL Qatar production of Mulan was a triumph of music, splendour and comic humour. Lavish costumes and a skillfully designed set transported the audience back to Ancient China in an instance.

In our school today we talk about Innovation, Transformation, the New Age, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, the Future School, Online Learning, Digital Learning, Maker Spaces, Student-Centered Learning, Personalised Learning, and so on and so forth. 

On Tuesday the 28^th of October our U19 Boys football team finally got their QUESS Football League under way when they travelled to participate against English Modern School (EMS).

Mr. Mark's Grade 4 Health and Well-Being class has been working on promoting physical health. Their health journey started with some fun games that got their hearts pumping. This lead to a 'Monopoly-style' game that saw groups go through multiple athletic challenges.

The ISL U16 football boys kicked off their league season in emphatic style today with a comfortable win over Measieed International School (MIS), the boys coming from behind to win 5-1.

The ISL boys certainly served up plenty of entertainment with end to end action throughout and 6 goals for the watching ISL fans to enjoy!

The Primary school has spent the last year looking hard at our Home Learning Policy. A collective of teachers and leaders met on a regular basis to review this policy. Our first step was to reflect on the existing policy, and to raise concerns and questions. We then began researching home learning and tried to find out what up-to-date studies have shown, as well as, what other school were doing. In order to make meaningful and relevant changes we asked all stakeholders (students, parents, and teachers) to tell us what they think about our home learning: strengths and weaknesses. All this information was then analysed for commonalities and finally synthesized into a new Home Learning Policy in the Primary School. Below you will find details of the policy including our key objectives, beliefs, and vision for the future. The big idea here is that we would like to focus on LEARNING. Whether inside or outside the school we aim to maximize the learning opportunities for our students. As members of our school community, and as parents, you play an essential role in facilitating and promoting our school’s home learning policy.

During the first week of school, G9 students created a vision board in their English class.  This learning task is so much more than merely cutting out magazine pictures or images from the internet and gluing them onto a sheet of A3 board.  A vision or dream board is a powerful tool for turning the individual’s dreams into a reality.  Students were invited to take the time to consider thoughtfully the message that they wished their personalized boards to convey and how they wanted them to look.

The Primary school has spent the last year looking hard at our Home Learning Policy. A collective of teachers and leaders met on a regular basis to review this policy. Our first step was to reflect on the existing policy, and to raise concerns and questions. We then began researching home learning and tried to find out what up-to-date studies have shown, as well as, what other school were doing. In order to make meaningful and relevant changes we asked all stakeholders (students, parents, and teachers) to tell us what they think about our home learning: strengths and weaknesses. All this information was then analysed for commonalities and finally synthesized into a new Home Learning Policy in the Primary School. Below you will find details of the policy including our key objectives, beliefs, and vision for the future. The big idea here is that we would like to focus on LEARNING. Whether inside or outside the school we aim to maximize the learning opportunities for our students. As members of our school community, and as parents, you play an essential role in facilitating and promoting our school’s home learning policy.

This year we are proud to boast 60 Internal and 20 External ECAs with 400 students registering across all activities. In addition, a record was broken by World Scholar's Cup gaining the highest number of participants, 67!

ISL Qatar celebrates 10 years of excellence this year and to mark this occasion held a Gala Dinner last Thursday, April 25, 2019. The evening gala highlighted achievements and students’ work. Highlights included musical performances, visual art pieces, documentaries and alumni interviews during the incredible evening.

The common theme of this year's conference was "Human Cooperation for Global Sustainability". Students from 10 different international schools around Doha engaged in productive, critical and intelligent debate in order to come up with solutions to many of humanity's problems.

The students used various approaches to art practice and all the mediums taught in the studio art department, including drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, printmaking, digital arts, photography, design and architecture and intermedia work.

Her Excellency, Ivonne Baki, Ambassador of Ecuador, graciously agreed to come and speak to the Grade 5 students about her life and passions.

The International School of London (ISL) Qatar celebrated its sixth annual International Family Food Fair (IFFF) on Saturday, March 2nd. The school was transformed into an international extravaganza, a performance and dance centre, fun-filled games and activities arcade and a prize draw. It was a magical celebration of diversity and an event which delighted all who were there. A spirit of friendship, multiculturalism and unity took over ISL Qatar.

ISL Qatar hosted the Inter-school Battle of the Bands 2019, for the third consecutive year. The event is sponsored by Music Square, Rockschool UK, and the International School of London (ISL) Qatar, and actively promotes the development of the bands in young people across Doha.

Since its inception in 2007, The World Scholar’s Cup has become one of the most recognized, joyful, and fastest-growing extracurricular activities in the world. Although it may look at first glance like an academic competition, it is more aptly described as a celebration of learning—an inclusive enrichment experience in which students of all backgrounds work together to explore new subjects and practice new skills.

The International School of London Qatar (ISL Qatar), now celebrating 10 years, hosted its fifth annual Winter Carnival at its campus in North Duhail on 1st December. The school’s atrium, gym and playground were transformed into a winter wonderland. The event attracted over 1000 visitors from the student body, parents and the ISL Qatar community.

The 7th Annual ISL Qatar Masithandane Walk took place on Friday, 9th November at the Corniche. The walk was a huge success with a record turnout of participants. Students, parents and school staff contributed generously to the cause.

As part of the ‘ISL Qatar explores university/college counselling’ provision, MYP students participated in the Engineering Explorers workshop hosted by Texas A&M University at Qatar. The week-long event was held at the university in Education City.

The theme for this year’s workshop was to engineer a Coastal Cleanup Machine.

ISL Qatar’s top scorer, Rhea Arora, achieved 43 points followed by Jan Sedlacek with 42 points and Amatallah Aqlan with 40 points. Ms. Arora will be attending University of California, Berkeley where she will study Political Science, Mr. Sedlacek will attend University of Groningen in the Netherlands where he will study International Relations & International Organizations and Ms. Aqlan will attend Utrecht University in the Netherlands to study Literary Studies.

The school was delighted to receive a very positive MYP Evaluation Report from the IB in The Hague; stating that school has shown satisfactory development in the implementation of its second of three IB programmes.

The report was received after the Evaluation Visit when two official MYP representatives carried out the process over a three-day visit in April, 2018.

ISL Qatar welcomed the new students and parents at the Orientation Day. 
The orientation provided students with a chance to get adjusted to the school and learn their way around before the start of school year.

Play is quality education. When we delve into the complexities of play, we come to understand that children in play are engaged in higher levels of thinking.

Not only are they constructing their understanding about the world, but they are applying and adapting what is learnt.

Placing the Learner, your child at the center of the learning and working towards developing young adults that feel a sense of responsibility, empathy and the need to make a difference.

The attributes of the IB Learner Profile “represent a broad range of human capacities and responsibilities that encompass intellectual, personal, emotional, and social growth.”

“Masithandane” (which means ‘Let us love One Another’ in IsiXhosa) was registered as a non-profit organisation in 2006 and its mission is “To serve the community where it is needed the most, especially those infected by or affected by HIV/AIDS and TB.

ISL Qatar believes every child deserves access to quality education. Education provides opportunities, empowerment and protection from exploitation. 

The International School of London Qatar hosted its annual Grade 12 graduation to celebrate the success of 55 graduates. The graduation is the school’s sixth since its opening in 2008.

Every year the yearbook team puts together a timeline of events and emotions for the ISL Qatar community. This is the best way to summarize the end of an amazing year and the beginning of an adventurous summer.

The Solar Panel Project Team held a flea market on the 5th and 6th of June in the atrium.

Generous donations were made by parents and staff such as clothings, shoes, cookware, household items, electronics for the flea market. 

Throughout the term, students of ISL Qatar have been involved in a project where they sell snacks during their breaks.

The proceeds from the sales were used to prepare packed bags of necessary food items for our amazing ancillary staff.

The packed bags were handed out last week during a short ceremony. A special thank you to Ms Berhan who helped in organizing this wonderful project.

The International School of London (ISL) Qatar hosted its first Arabic Week to celebrate the Arabic language and culture with its students. The objective of this exciting week was to motivate the students to read Arabic books and to emphasize the importance of learning through play. 

On Tuesday the 20th of March, ISL Qatar students from G1 to G5 celebrated the French Languages Acquisition Assembly.

It was a celebration of the international day of French in the International School of London Qatar as many others schools in the world. 

Students performed plays, songs, and presentations in French. 

World

ISL Qatar celebrated Qatar's National Day on Wednesday 13 December.

ISL Qatar students participated in the World Scholar's Cup held in Yale University

ISL Qatar cordially invites you to the Workshop:​

The majority of the ECAs are now up and running.

As part of the "Earth and Space" unit, Grade 7 students studied conditions prevailing on the planets of our solar system.

ISL Qatar invites teachers to register in the ECIS Deep Dive Primary Mathematics first module 29th - 30th September that will be hosted at our campus.

The New Student Orientation Day was a great opportunity for new families to learn more about our school, meet our teachers and get familiar with their new classrooms.