Responsibility: Student Growth

At OIS, we encourage students to live the learner profile. It's embedded in everything we do. We also have social responsibility as part of our mission statement: we value that individuals have the ability to change the world.

We want students to develop attitudes toward people, the environment and learning like confidence and curiosity, empathy, respect and independence.

Just recently, one of our youngest learners, Rishabh in SKG, exemplified the epitome of a principled student who is independent and able to communicate well to others. On his way in to school for "fun day," walking in on his own from his car, he was carrying a game. He met up with a friend on the way in who had forgotten his toy or game. When his friend complained that his mother had forgotten to pack his game, Rishabh quickly replied: "You know that it's not your mother's responsibility. It's your responsibility."

Hearing those words made me smile and think about how much our kids have grown this year. They've grown from nervous, often crying young children into confident children who understand responsibility. Our youngest learners are now proudly walking up and down the stairs, putting away their supplies, cleaning up after each other, asking questions and caring for each other.

All of the students have learned the importance of collaborating in teams. They've taken trips into the community to learn outside of school. They've taken action. First grade have started to collect paper for recycling. 4th grade have put in compost bins for snack time. They've been out to the beach to clean up rubbish and written letters and communicated with administration about their needs and desires.

We will get a chance on June 1st to recognize our students' first year and applaud their growth. As we settle in to the end of the school year, we need to celebrate our children, not only the knowledge they've gained, but their growth toward being an internationally minded citizen who wants to change the world.