The International School Eindhoven

The International School Eindhoven is part of the Stichting Internationaal en Lokaal Funderend Onderwijs (SILFO), an educational foundation with seven sites. Three of the sites are Dutch national secondary schools and three of the sites are Dutch primary schools serving the needs of the local community Stedelijk College Eindhoven, the Strabrecht College, De Regenboog, Beneden Beekloop and De Ganzebloem in Geldrop. The International School Eindhoven is on the Oirschotsedijk and consists of the Primary Department and the Secondary Department with a total of 1490 students.

Our Guiding Statements :

The ISE provides a caring and challenging learning environment which fosters international mindedness. We educate and inspire our students to become creative, resilient and responsible citizens who will thrive and be happy within an ever-changing world.

Our Guiding Statements in Action :

There are three key strategic directions embedded within our Guiding Statements, which will be central to our success going forward as a school, and which will therefore guide key decision making and action.

Within this context we believe that:

A.Our internationally-minded community is committed to being responsible citizens.

In this regard, we are expected to:

Demonstrate respect for human rights
Understand the relationship between rights and responsibilities within society
Be PRINCIPLED by interacting with honesty, fairness and OPEN-MINDEDNESS
Encourage our community members to appreciate and express BALANCED views
Act in a CARING, responsible, and supportive manner
COMMUNICATE in a respectful, courteous and thoughtful manner.
Develop international mindedness
Value the language and culture of the Netherlands
Celebrate and respect our cultural identities
Foster linguistic development for cultural understanding
Contribute to and collaborate with the school, Brainport, national and global communities .

B. Our learning environment ensures that students are KNOWLEDGEABLE, cared for and sufficiently challenged.

In this regard, the ISE offers nationally and internationally recognized curriculums to support the diverse learning support team of our students.

Students are expected to:

Discover the joy of learning
Learn how to learn, and how they learn best
Maintain the fluency of their home languages while valuing the acquisition of others
Attain depth and breadth of academic knowledge and understanding
Develop the skills that support intellectual and academic success
Solve problems independently and in cooperation with others
Understand modern technologies and be able to use them wisely and effectively
Prepare for the demands of further education
Learn how knowledge is acquired and justified in each subject area, and what problems there may be with such justifications and the certainty of our knowledge

Staff are expected to:

Deliver the curriculum with an international perspective
Respond sensitively to the full range of students’ individual needs
Challenge and support students to achieve academic potential
Create opportunities to enable students to develop their talents, skills and discover their passion
Involve students, staff and parents, as partners in the educational process
Provide an environment which allows new members to quickly settle and develop a sense of belonging

Parents are expected to:

Work in partnership to support student learning
Share their knowledge of their child’s interest, achievements, and special skills
Be knowledgeable of the ISE’s curriculum and opportunities to support and challenge their child
Act in a manner consistent with the ISE Code of Conduct
Take part in electing parent representatives to the School Participating Council (MR)

C. The ISE community prepares students for an ever-changing world by developing their capacity for creativity.

We will support the development of student’s creativity by:

Teaching for Creativity:

Value, acquire and utilize a variety of tools for learning and teaching which promote inquiry, comprehension and the relationship between concepts
Provide regular feedback to students which praises and thereby promotes creativity
Develop critical, reflective thinkers who have the ability to make responsible choices
Utilise strategies which require collaboration, and focus on creative problem solving, design thinking, and the application and understanding of technologies
Provide opportunities for the students to take responsibility for their own learning using a variety of strategies.
Offer a range of disciplines including those associated with activities outside the classroom and extracurricular opportunities.

A Culture for Creativity:

As educators, value the input of others, be accepting of constructive criticism, and recognize that lesson planning, strategic planning, and problem solving will benefit from the positive exchange of ideas;
Demonstrate flexibility in working with others and in the use of space, and resources;
Demonstrate the willingness to share ideas, expertise, and knowledge to inspire students to learn, accept challenges, develop greater depth in their understanding, and to take risks in offering their own views, opinions, strategies, and efforts.
Create an atmosphere in which students value creativity, reflection and the positive exchange of ideas, and which promote a growth mindset.

International Mindedness

International mindedness is a way of thinking and acting that leads to a deeper and broader understanding of our world.

In order to become responsible members of our community, we provide opportunities for our students to:

develop an awareness of their own identity in relation to othersbe confident and happy in their own identity
develop intercultural understanding
be open to different perspectives and viewpoints and embrace diversity
demonstrate respect
show empathy and compassion

In order to promote international mindedness, the ISE is committed to:

Building and reinforcing a student’s sense of identity while gaining an understanding and respect for their own and other cultures and peoples
Providing a school environment that welcomes new individuals to the community
Encouraging and celebrating diversity within the curriculum
Using teaching and learning opportunities to acknowledge students’ cultural backgrounds and experience
Ensuring that students can communicate effectively, and maintain the fluency of their home language while valuing the acquisition of other languages
Providing opportunities for students to think critically and open mindedly about the viewpoint of others
Encouraging students to engage positively, productively and enjoyably with each other
Promoting a community that collaborates, connects, interacts and communicates effectively
Ensuring that students are familiar with local, international and global concerns
Raising the awareness that individuals can make a positive difference to the world and an accompanying acceptance of the responsibility to take action to do so
Developing caring individuals who recognize universal human rights

Education

The ISE has developed a broad based international curriculum. In the primary international department we adopt a themed based approach to learning and utilise the design thinking process and enquiry based learning strategies which foster the development of skills, attitudes for learning, inquiry, independence and is internationally focused to meet the needs of our diverse student body. We are currently using a project based learning approach which we have called Global Missions. This is our homegrown framework for teaching students within an authentic, real world context combining elements of both project-based learning and design thinking instruction. Instruction is focused around finding a solution from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through which Geography, History, Art, Design Technology, Science and Music are incorporated. This provides the perfect opportunity for students to develop their competencies, reflect upon their learning journey and share it with their community. Students work through a process where they are able to connect their learning and take knowledge, skills and understanding with them to the next step of their journey.

The Secondary School is an IB World School and uses the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP). These curricula are designed for international students. By aligning the three programs and teaching practices, we are creating one continuous curriculum that is focused on developing the independent, global minded learner.

Personal attention

The advantages of international education are many. Small classes, together with a large mixture of cultures and nationalities, ensure that students settle in quickly. We develop each child’s unique skills, giving him/her a sense of other cultures without reducing his/her own cultural identity. We help the child to become a confident world citizen who feels that he/she is able to make a difference in his/her own and others’ futures. This is done in partnership with parents.

Organization and personnel

Currently we have 2 different structures for the school and there are a number of different rules for the Primary and Secondary departments. At the moment we are working hard to bring both departments closer together in material, organizational, financial and staffing areas. Similarities have been looked at and we are currently in the process of merging different parts.

ISE and Brainport Eindhoven

Brainport Eindhoven is famed for developing innovative technologies, bringing together a great number of IT companies and organizations in all sorts and sizes that work on the latest technologies and perform ground-breaking research. This high concentration of multinational and start-up companies attracts many expatriates from around the world. We provide excellent education to the children of international knowledge workers and we are the social and cultural centre for parents. We offer a school campus where children from all walks of life feel challenged and supported. By providing strong education opportunities, ISE supports the region to attract and retain a highly educated workforce. We focus on technological innovation and environmental sustainability (for the students) and provide educational, cultural and sporting opportunities for our students. We aim to help the expatriate families integrate into local life in Eindhoven.

Finally…

Education, student development and the school as a learning community are at the top of our priority list. If you would like to discuss any of our ideas and aspirations then please feel free to make an appointment to arrange a visit to the school.

Brief history of the Primary Department

In 1964, the Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken N.V.’s Board of Directors advanced the idea of creating an International School in Eindhoven and a decision was made to start up the Philips International School in September 1966. The school also opened its doors to students whose parents did not work for Philips N.V. and the school opened on 5 September 1966, with 28 students, spread across Dutch, English and French language streams. One year later there were 45 students and by September 1969 there were 65. It was decided to add a German stream for the 1970-1971 school year. That school year saw an enrollment of 109 students representing 22 nationalities.

To accommodate the growing enrolment, on 1 April 1975, the property on which the school was previously located – Humperdincklaan 4 – was prepared for construction and on 16 June 1975, students representing the 20 nationalities attending the school at that time laid the first stones. The construction of a school located on the Humperdincklaan put the school on a new path, which also entailed a name change. As of September 1975, the Regional International School, RIS, became a reality. In September 2013 the school, now called International School Eindhoven, took up residence at the current location on the Oirschotsedijk.

Since then, the school has grown to be a fully-fledged international school with students representing over 50 nationalities, spread over two departments, a Dutch Bilingual and an International department. As an independent non-denominational school, the school is a VBS (Association for Special Schools) member and is furthermore part of DIPS (Dutch International Primary Schools). The school is also an ECIS member (European Council for International Schools).

The school’s location

The school is located in the North of Eindhoven, close to the Ringweg (Ring road) around the city and near the arterial roads to Den Bosch/Weert/Maastricht (A2), Venlo/ Antwerpen (A67) and Tilburg/Breda (A58).

The school’s size

The total enrollment as of October 2022 is 738. The overall team in the Primary Department consists of approximately 120 members of staff.