Fri, 29 Mar 2024 Today's Paper

The British School in Colombo becomes first BSO-accredited school in Sri Lanka

29 May 2023 12:02 am - 4     - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A A A

The accreditation demonstrates that BSC has reached a standard the UK government expects of independent schools.

 

The British School in Colombo (BSC) recently became the first international school in Sri Lanka to receive British School Overseas accreditation. To be a BSO accredited school, a set of standards written by the Department for Education in England must be met. The accreditation demonstrates that BSC has reached a standard the UK government expects of independent schools. BSC now joins a list of around 204 elite British international schools in the world that have achieved this BSO status.


“It has been a long and important period of development for the school,” said Hannah Wells, Principal of BSC. “The work to get this accreditation started even before I joined the school and I think that demonstrates the hard work and commitment of our staff over a number of years. We know that results alone don’t make us a world class school. This accreditation gives staff, parents and teachers further confidence that we are benchmarked against standards in the UK.”
Even though the inspection team was due in October 2019 and subsequently in May 2020, the Easter attacks and COVID-19 delayed the inspection further. 


Ms.Wells further said that there’s a common set of standards set out by the UK government that has to be followed by an inspection team. “The standards look at the quality of the curriculum, quality of education provided, spiritual, moral and cultural development of pupils,their welfare, health and safety, the suitability of the proprietor and staff, the school’s premises and accommodation (including boarding); and the school’s complaints procedures. This way we can compare ourselves with independent schools in the UK against a common set of standards. There’s no inspection body in Sri Lanka so it can be difficult for us to benchmark ourselves with other schools. For our staff, it has been an interesting and challenging journey because they had no previous experience of what an inspection would be like. I think I can speak for the whole school community when I say that we are delighted to finally have this accreditation and are excited about our next steps as a school.”


The inspection was carried out by Penta International, one of only three inspection providers approved by the Department of Education in England. The three-day inspection visit included

Hannah Wells, Principal  BSC

over a 100 lesson observations as well as a series of learning walks. In addition, school documentation and policies were analysed, students’ workbooks were scrutinized and discussions were held with senior staff, the management team and a range of teachers, parents and groups of pupils. The BSO status now enables BSC to become a full member of the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA). This full membership means that students and staff can make full use of the enormous range of opportunities provided by FOBISIA, it gives the school voting rights whilst also providing an opportunity to host events here in Sri Lanka. The BSO accreditation provides confidence to other schools that the school’s safeguarding and child protection measures are robust. As such the school can now participate in more events, competitions and staff training courses. “One of the huge benefits of this accreditation and full membership of FOBISIA is that it allows our staff and students to connect and interact with others across the region. Our children in year 5 and 6 have just returned from Thailand where they participated for the first time at the Under 11 Friendly Games Competition. They did brilliantly, coming first in swimming and second in Tee-ball which is a combination of baseball and cricket. It is wonderful that they can connect with and compete against other schools from across the region.Our older students also participated in a leadership conference in Thailand earlier this year,” ms.Wells added.


When asked about the importance of inclusive education, she further said that there’s a huge lack of understanding and awareness and we are still learning about learning. “It can be easy to shy away from planning education for a particular child. The key is to understand that all children can make progress. One of the core aims of our school is everyone achieving the highest academic standards. This is for any child in our school. What we really try to determine during the admissions process is whether a child coming to our school is going to thrive. If we don’t think we can meet their needs, we will communicate that to the family. That’s what we need to get right.”


“We need to move away from rote learning. Children need to engage in their learning, be motivated, collaborate with their peers, they need to be able to solve problems in the future  jobs that they are going to do, they need to be able talk to people, they need to be internationally minded. You won’t have that passion for learning if all that you have to do is learn by memory. It won’t give you the energy and drive to learn,” she explained.


She further said that it’s extremely important to engage parents in the education process. “Again that comes with making sure that parents understand what we are trying to do and what we are trying to achieve. There also needs to be clear communication. Our parents are amazing and we call them BBSPs (Brilliant British School Parents) because they are genuinely interested and they want to be involved and we embrace that as a school. I don’t know why any school would keep parents at arms length. They play a vital role in the success of their children. This year, we invited parents so they can see children learning in classrooms. They enjoyed the opportunity to learn something about the curriculum and spend some time with their child looking at their work. We think that it is really important to involve parents in this way. That’s what’s really exciting for me about this accreditation. I don’t want us to be complacent as a school. Education is moving forward all the time and we have to move forward with it. We must not stand still and we have to be lifelong learners,” she added.


The highlights of the BSO inspection report included that the BSC provides a high quality UK-style education that meets the need of its pupils well; as a result they enjoy school, learn fast and thrive socially, the progress pupils make is excellent, teachers are passionate about improving skills of students, relationships are excellent and pupils’ behavior is outstanding and the performance in external examinations at both IGCSE and A level is a significant strength of the school.  
Ms. Wells further said while the school is happy about the brilliant things mentioned in the report they will also be looking at the recommendations with the involvement of parents, staff and children and that they would collectively work towards achieving their vision of becoming a 
world class school. 


Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka

  Comments - 4

Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka
  • adrian Monday, 29 May 2023 04:05 AM

    Great to have such a school where we could send our children to complete a BA in Colombo rather sending them to U.K. Wander what will be the cost !

    Sri Lankans back home in Sri Lanka do not appreciate the culture, tradition , respect for elders,and strong family we have in blessed Sri Lanka, in England they have none Monday, 29 May 2023 09:09 AM

    The English men and women who have come from England to work in the international schools in Sri Lanka have to be secretly amused by the respect they receive from the Sri Lankans and the ignorance of the Sri Lankans to know the extent of the pathetic state of what is happening in state schools back in England. The department of education in England which is being revered in this article is the same department that governs all the state schools in England. I want the author of this article to google to find out for herself “shocking” facts about the state schools in England. (1) How many teachers in state schools in England were physically assaulted by their pupils in the last one year ? (2) How many female teachers in state schools in England were sexually molested or raped by their pupils in the last one year ? (3) How many teachers in state schools in England were arrested by the police for engaging in sexual activities with their own pupils in the last one year ?

    Sivakumar, Jaffna Hindu Tamil Monday, 29 May 2023 06:02 PM

    Even though throughout our post independent history we have been ruled continuously by “Indian Worshipping Corrupt” Politicians, surprisingly the high caste Hindu Tamils and the high caste Buddhist Sinhalese have remained intelligent and smart.The question is, do such people need international schools to mushroom in Sri Lanka ? Whatever gloss they project essentially these schools are all “business entities” first and “educational institutes” second.And as educational institutes they can’t promote our culture or our ancient history,children attending these schools are deprived of these vital ingredients at the important age of growing up,this will invariably make them less secure and confident rest of their lives. If this expansion of international schools is allowed to continue,in a couple of generations our mainstream Hindus and Buddhists would start to think and behave like the present day converted Christians of Sri Lanka, “ WHITE BOOTLICKING ENTITIES DEVOID OF HISTORICAL PRIDE ”

    lester Tuesday, 30 May 2023 05:30 PM

    Why do we need British schools in sri lanka? Sri Lankan education system is more than adequate to educate all children.


Add comment

Comments will be edited (grammar, spelling and slang) and authorized at the discretion of Daily Mirror online. The website also has the right not to publish selected comments.

Reply To:

Name - Reply Comment





Order Gifts and Flowers to Sri Lanka. See Kapruka's top selling online shopping categories such as Toys, Grocery, Kids Toys, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Clothing and Electronics. Also see Kapruka's unique online services such as Money Remittence,Astrology, Courier/Delivery, Medicine Delivery and over 700 top brands. Also get products from Amazon & Ebay via Kapruka Gloabal Shop into Sri Lanka

VAT increase: SOUNDs death knell for publishers, readers

Though the Government imposed VAT (Value Added Tax) on vegetables and other e

How female change-makers are driving Sri Lanka’s energy saving platform

Saving energy has become more of a responsibility than a habit in today’s c

A dull Ramadan awaits Muslims amidst the Soaring Cost of Living

In the coming days, Muslims across the world will welcome the Holy Month of R

New wildlife underpass to curtail HEC

As of February 2024, Sri Lanka lost another 38 elephants as a result of the H