The ISC is in the early phases of our journey towards applying to become an International Baccalaureate (IB) Candidate school. This curriculum framework and accreditation has been on our strategic development plan for several years. Now that we have moved into our space, and have grown our elementary program, we are excited to pursue this journey. The IB curriculum framework begins with the premise that students are agents of their own learning and partners in the learning process. It prioritizes people and their relationships to build a strong learning community. We also believe strongly that our children can mold and create their own learning environments!

Our First- Fourth Grade students have main teachers that work on our core subjects: Language Arts, Math and the Unit of Inquiry (which is mostly Science and Social Studies). They have language arts in both French/ Spanish and English. As students progress along the elementary continuum, we begin to shift our target language acquisition to language maintenance. Typically we find that students are fully fluent by the time they reach 1st or 2nd Grade. Third Grade truly focuses on maintaining target language skills and preparing for a transition into an English Middle School curriculum. Elementary students also have additional subjects such as Visual Arts, Performing Arts, PE. Our subject teachers are currently all multilingual so there are additional times to practice language skills. Next year we are formally opening up our ISC library to weekly check-outs! 

As our children grow in our program, we remind you how important our home and school relationships are. Keeping in touch with your teaching team is so important, so be sure to send messages in Brightwheel if something special or important is happening in your child’s life. We love celebrating milestones and achievements and are here for your child and family when you need us!

Field trips are excellent ways to practice what we have learned. We aim to have two field trips per year where we ask parents to chaperone pairs or groups of students.  Sometimes we are able to help find other parents to drive your child if needed. Some of our fun past excursions have been to the Paramount, the Science Museum in Richmond, Chiles Peach Orchard, and the UVA Science Department.

Your child’s teacher will send weekly emails with a general outline of what activities the class participated in. Teachers also share pictures daily via Brightwheel. We invite parents in for conferences twice per year. We also send a report for your child twice per school year, once in January and once at the end of the year.