South Island School’s Statement on DEI:
At South Island School, we are dedicated to fostering a community that embodies the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), aligning with our ESF commitments. We strive to provide every student with equal opportunities to access education and the necessary support to flourish and reach their fullest potential.
We embrace the uniqueness of each student through a personalized learning approach, ensuring that diversity is celebrated and valued within our school community. Our commitment to educating students and staff on the significance of positive DEI practices empowers everyone to speak up, identify learning opportunities, and engage in regular training and awareness events that promote understanding and acceptance.
We are committed to fostering an environment free from discrimination and harassment in all forms, ensuring that every student and staff member feels safe and respected, regardless of gender, race, belief, age, disability, or sexuality. In collaboration with the Pastoral Team, the Student-Led Diversity Council, and DEI Lead Teachers, we have developed materials aimed at enhancing the reflective aspect of our positive support framework. These resources are designed to address instances where a student has violated the code of conduct in a discriminatory manner, causing psychological harm to a member of our community.
We are committed to continually improving our focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. This includes taking personal responsibility for our learning and growth in these areas and providing ongoing training and professional development opportunities for all members of our community. We believe in being transparent about our efforts and progress towards our DEI goals, actively challenging unconscious biases, and remaining open to new ideas for change and improvement.
To further this goal, we invite key speakers and create opportunities for both students and staff to deepen their understanding of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in both local and global contexts. For example, we are collaborating with our Inclusion and Wellbeing Teams to review well-being surveys, incorporate questions that assess a sense of belonging. Additionally, we are looking at the well-being of our neurodiverse students and staff by integrating more neuro-affirming language into our practices. Together, we can create a thriving environment at South Island School that reflects our shared values and commitment to making a meaningful difference in the world.
We encourage our students to engage with their community, embrace differences, and contribute positively to a culture of inclusivity and compassion. This is exemplified through their involvement in service learning within a local and global context, such as the Year 9 Community Project, Year 10-11 Global Citizenship service engagements, and MAD Week, which features local and global destinations focused on making a meaningful difference. By participating in these initiatives, our students not only develop a deeper understanding of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice but also cultivate a sense of responsibility and empathy that enriches our school community. Together, we can create a thriving environment at South Island School that reflects our shared values and commitment to making a meaningful difference in the world.
Inclusion - Support for Learning
South Island School strives to help all students realise their full potential and provides an inclusive education for students who have a wide range of abilities. We use an inclusive model in which students are primarily supported within the classroom to access a broad and balanced curriculum. Our teachers and staff at South Island School will work with students and parents to ensure each student can access our curriculum according to their needs.
Learning Diversity
Learning Diversity Teachers support an assigned year group and provide tiered levels of support for students identified as Levels of Adjustment 1, 2, 3 and 4. Our inclusive model primarily includes supporting students within the classroom through a Universal Design of Learning and tiered levels of support and adjustments. The department also benefits from a team of Educational Assistants who assist in educating and supervising students with Levels of Adjustment 3 and 4. Under certain circumstances, South Island School may request parents to employ an Educational Assistant to support their child for reasons such as health and personal care, the safety of students and staff, and curriculum access.
English for Academic Purposes
At South Island School, we are committed to giving every student the best opportunities to succeed. Many students who come to our school do not have English as their first and primary language-their mother tongue. Some of these students – known as ‘BMLs’ – Bilingual or Multilingual Learners – need extra help to improve and extend their English in order to achieve their potential in all their subjects.
The EAP department offers a range of English enrichment classes and activities to help these students. Alongside this extra help, all teachers at SIS receive regular training in techniques and strategies for teaching bilingual and multilingual students in their classes.
Year 7-9
Year 7 students are assessed to determine whether they need extra help with reading, writing or speaking English. Small groups of students are then given Intensive English classes in place of either Chinese or World Language classes. Other students are withdrawn to a small group during fortnightly library reading lessons and given extra English help, which focuses primarily on boosting their reading and grammar skills and practice with writing different types of text.
Year 8 and 9 students continue these classes. New students are assessed when joining the school and placed in Intensive English and/or reading withdrawal as appropriate.
Year 10-11
Year 10 and Year 11 students needing extra English support are placed in English Enrichment classes. These run fortnightly for two hours. Students revise the reading skills and writing styles they need to master for the English Language IGCSE. They also focus on improving their grammar and building their vocabulary.
Year 12-13
In Years 12 and 13, students attend one-to-one sessions in their study periods to receive individual or small-group support.
English as Additional Language (EAL)
Students from all linguistic backgrounds are considered for admission to the school. The admissions process seeks to determine whether applicants are sufficiently proficient in English to successfully access the school's curriculum. The school is committed to offering an inclusive support system to Bilingual-Multilingual Learners. While providing a curriculum with English as the medium of instruction, the school values supports and recognises the importance of each Bilingual-Multilingual Learner’s native language or mother tongue.
Learning Technology
Digital Literacy
As a progressive Learning Community, South Island School embraces technology as we develop and empower our community to become media-literate Digital Citizens who can Make a Difference in an increasingly complex and interconnected global society.
What do we mean by Digital Literacy?
Digital literacy is an important entitlement for all of our students at South Island School in an increasingly digital culture. It furnishes them with the skills, knowledge and understanding that enable critical, creative, discerning and safe practices when engaging with digital technologies in all areas of life.
To be digitally literate is to have access to a broad range of practices and cultural resources that you are able to apply to digital tools. It is the ability to make and share meaning in different modes and formats; to create, collaborate and communicate effectively and to understand how and when digital technologies can best be used to support these processes.
Some people associate digital literacy simply with the functional skills of being able to use a computer or particular software package effectively. But at South Island School digital literacy is about much more than having access to or being able to use a computer. It’s about collaborating, staying safe and communicating effectively. It’s about cultural and social awareness and understanding, and it’s about being creative.
Being digitally literate is about knowing when and why digital technologies are appropriate and helpful to the task at hand and when they are not. It’s about thinking critically about all the opportunities and challenges digital technologies present, whether these are, for example, Web 2.0 tools such as social networking sites and Wikis or animation and editing software or digital cameras. It can be helpful to think of digital literacy as made up of a number of interrelated components or strands.
South Island has adopted two important documents created by the English Schools Foundation (ESF) with the input of Educational Technology coordinators from across the foundation. The Digital Citizenship Framework is embedded into our Pastoral Learning Curriculum whilst students and staff from the Digital Leadership Council (DLC) advocate for safe use of digital technologies in our Laptop Induction events for students and staff as well as our annual Digital Safety Week. In 2024, the ESF released the Educational Technologies Framework which focused on four key sections: critical thinking and problem solving; communication and collaboration; technology operations and concepts; creativity and innovation.
From August 2024, the school has introduced new guidelines for the use of digital technologies. This involves the application of current research, which suggests that smartphones are increasingly a hindrance to teaching and learning in schools. Subsequently, South Island is a phone free school between the times of 7:50 am and 3:15pm from Monday to Thursday and 7:50 am until 12:55 pm each Friday. We will continue to review this strategy in light of newly published research on this subject.
South Island School 1:1 Laptop Programme
South Island School is committed to a 1-student-to-1-laptop initiative with the goal of enhancing and expanding the learning opportunities for all students. SIS opted for Apple computers after careful analysis of a variety of computing products, services and pedagogical needs. The School ICT infrastructure and e-resources are set up for the Mac platform.
All students at SIS must have a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro Laptop. A MacBook is an essential piece of equipment for day-to-day learning and communications in school. Future students may purchase a MacBook for their studies through the school or provide their own school approved MacBook after enrollment. The school’s ICT Centre cannot provide support to other brand-name laptops except MacBook.
Well-being
Message from Ms Purves - Vice Principal
"I am one of the Vice Principals at South Island School and one of my key responsibilities is to ensure that we have excellent systems in place to support student well-being.
At South Island, we want well-being to be at the heart of everything that we do. We want our school to be healthy, inclusive and supportive so that it enables our community to thrive.
We aim to promote positive mental health and well-being for our whole school community and recognise how important it is in our lives, in just the same way as good physical health.
We believe that it is every child’s right to learn and live in conditions which protect them from harm and that provide the optimum development of their intellectual, physical, emotional and social well-being.
Every student, staff and parent in the school plays a part in cultivating a compassionate community. Being part of SIS means we have all pledged to “Make a Difference.” Your child will be supported on every level from their peers and their teachers to a very active parent community”.
