We’re proud to be featuring in Cognita School’s School Spotlight. We have an incredibly diverse student and staff population, representing over 70 countries around the world. Through our school value of compassion, students quickly learn to embrace and respect different cultures, beliefs and perspectives – an essential attribute to take forward as global citizens. One of the most special cultural events at SAIS is Lunar New Year in January, where students and staff participate in drumming lines, Lion dances, and learning about the importance of the celebration in all classes at all levels.
We offer an outstanding English as an Additional Language (EAL) program, providing a unique environment that has students integrated into the mainstream classroom and supported by dedicated EAL experts. EAL students are taught by highly qualified subject teachers along with highly qualified English Language Acquisition teachers. Every EAL student has at least one EAL teacher who supports them throughout the year as they move towards independence in English. Our school sees rapid language growth from their EAL students due to their wrap-around services and focus on co-planning and co-teaching.
One of our key strengths is our ability to offer multiple pathways for students to follow, including the International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced Placement (AP) or BTEC programmes. Students can follow their own pathway to success while also enjoying the many offerings that are available for enrichment.
We’re particularly proud of our Reagan Theater – a 500-seat, fully operational theatre which allows many people from the wider community to come and view incredible drama productions and other arts performances.
Middle School Deputy Principal Kristi Fowler gave a great example of seeing the school values in action: “I recently witnessed a Grade 7 Physical and Health Education class. Our students were participating in an acrobatics and gymnastics event and they were tasked to create a performance which would show how well they could plan together, demonstrate how they work as a team and implement the physical skills they were learning. Because we’re such a diverse school, we have students with all kinds of different learning needs, including students with exceptionalities. One of these groups of 7th Grade students went out of their way to make sure a student with an exceptionality was included in their group. Although it was very challenging for the group and for the student with an exceptionality, they had this performance which was really well crafted and well-planned and you could really tell they worked hard as a team. I think those students really embody our values of compassion and courage.”
Talking about Cognita, Kristi says: “As an educator, one benefit of being part of Cognita is the global network. It allows me as a professional and my team to grow and learn from other professionals around the world at events like CogCon.” You can find out more about CogCon here.
