The British School of Bahrain has won an International School Award for well-being and has been recognised as among the best schools globally.
The school has won recognition for providing an accessible environment to improve pupil and staff well-being by creating a holistic support programme through which children could ask for help.
The awards ceremony took place online on January 24, and 291 applications were received this year from schools in 61 countries.
The International School Awards — hosted for the fifth year in a row by ISC Research, an educational data provider in the UK — celebrate learning, teaching, community, well-being, leadership and other initiatives at international schools.
Schools were shortlisted in 10 categories, including community partnerships, diversity and sustainability.
An independent panel of 13 international education experts selected the winners.
British School of Bahrain
Established in 1995, the British School of Bahrain has almost 3,000 pupils of 92 nationalities.
The school designed a Support 360 programme that focuses on pupils' individuality to help them gain confidence in their studies.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the school said it had found that many pupils experienced social and academic anxiety as well as attachment issues as they returned to in-person learning.
The school provided assistance in these areas as well as assisted in challenges related to autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, parental pressure and ADHD.
The British School of Bahrain's support initiative encouraged pupils to ask for help while allowing them to take ownership of coping with their own challenges. The system also took referrals from teachers.
Three schools in the UAE had been shortlisted for the award.
Ajman Academy and Millennium School in Dubai had each been shortlisted for one award, while Dubai College was in the running for two.
Ajman Academy and Dubai College were both on the shortlist for the Digital Technology in Learning Award, a prize that recognises a school initiative that uses technology to help pupils learn digital responsibility.
Dubai College had also been nominated for the Future Pathways Award, which awards a school initiative that gives pupils with the skills and values to support them in future endeavours.
Best school is in Singapore
The International School of the Year 2023 was awarded to Tanglin Trust School in Singapore.
Established in 1925, Tanglin is the oldest British international school in South-East Asia.
In addition to the International School of the Year award, there were 10 separate category winners:
- The American School of Warsaw in Poland won the Community Partnership Award for its initiative providing support for the Ukrainian community established in response to the war in Ukraine.
- The British School of Bahrain won the Well-being Award for providing an accessible environment to improve pupil and staff well-being through the creation of a support and management programme.
- The British School of Brussels in Belgium won the Future Pathways Award for offering pupils the chance to take a variety of subjects including one-to-one mentoring and non-traditional workplace experiences.
- The British International School of Houston won the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Award for its initiative which involved school-wide auditing of curriculum offerings to ensure all stakeholders felt represented.
- International College Hong Kong won the Sustainability Award for an initiative through which they helped children in kindergarten and primary school to take ownership of the natural world and develop an understanding of the role they play in sustainability.
- Marymount school in Barranquilla, Colombia, won the Digital Technology in Learning Award for its creation of a webtoon series, and for its use of technology to create pupil-friendly content.
- North London Collegiate School Jeju in South Korea won the Safeguarding Award for its initiative to confront suicidal ideas, involving the training to develop skilled intervention of school community members.
- Rugby School Thailand won the Innovation and Creativity in Learning Award for an augmented reality initiative.
- Tanglin Trust School in Singapore won the Ethical Values Education Award for embedding the rights of children into the school’s ethos and culture as part of an initiative that has also achieved the Gold Unicef Rights Respecting Schools Award.
- Western Academy of Beijing in China won the Strategic Leadership Award for an initiative focusing on pupil agency to shape the future of learning at the school.
Dubai College through the years — in pictures
