Pre-College and College - Update

First of all, we would like to thank all of the parents for coming out to the Parent / Teacher Conferences last week. I believe there were many productive meetings and, based on the comment sheets, some very useful feedback from both sides.

We are very pleased with the current growth in both Pre-College and College. For the first time ever, we have two Pre-College 1 classes and a full Pre-College 2 class. Meanwhile, we continue to receive requests from many interested families. Should the current trends continue, and we believe they will, our Pre-and College, with the IGCSE and I.B programmes, will be realizing their true potential.

Of course, with this growth also comes the responsibility of continued educational excellence and pastoral guidance. As you already know, Mr. Andrew Wulfers will be taking over the leadership of the school on February 1st and Mrs. Ulrike Müller, our prolific language teacher, will assume the responsibility of Head of Pre-College and College. It is our belief that the new team will rise to the challenge entailed in school leadership and clearly lead the SIS Basel to the next level of quality and distinction. While Mr. Wulfers will not continue teaching for the second semester of this academic year, he will continue at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year; once a teacher, always a teacher.

As we move into the second half of the first semester, the excitement and anticipation of our first batch of graduates from the SIS Basel has become palpable. The second year Diploma Programme students certainly have their work cut out for them as they head into the final phases of classroom preparation and prepare diligently for the revision period to begin at the beginning of the New Year.

We will also keep all of the parents updated on any future developments regarding the Swiss Matura. Our request / application is currently being evaluated by the ‘Basel-Stadt Maturitätskommission.’ Coupled together with the I.B.D.P, the ‘in house’ bilingual Matura would only add to our already successful secondary program and maintain SIS Basel’s position at the very forefront of Swiss bilingual education.