2023 ISC Research's International School Awards Winners

The International School Awards 2023 took place virtually on Tuesday, 24 January. 291 applications were received this year from international schools in 61 countries.

The International School Awards were hosted by ISC Research for the fifth year in a row and they recognize outstanding initiatives being implemented in English-medium international schools around the world. The ten award categories include various important aspects of international school life including innovation and creativity in learning, ethical values in education, community partnership, and the future pathways of students.

This year, the International School Awards received almost 300 nominations, the most popular category being the Innovation and Creativity in Learning Award with almost 50 nominees. An independent judging panel of 13 international education experts selected the winners.

International School of the Year 2023

The International School of the Year 2023 was awarded to Tanglin Trust School in Singapore. The school was selected by the judging panel for implementing two outstanding initiatives.

Clair Harrington-Wilcox, head of junior school, and Craig Considine, CEO, attended the virtual event to accept the International School of the Year 2023 award on behalf of the school.

Ten Category Winners

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 Ukraine community established in response to the war in Ukraine.
   
• British School of Bahrain won the Wellbeing Award for providing an accessible environment to improve student and staff wellbeing through the creation of a support and management program.
   
• The British School of Brussels in Belgium won the Future Pathways Award for offering students the opportunity to experience a wide variety of subject choices that can lead to future success, including one-to-one mentoring, non-traditional workplace experiences, and talks from school alumni and professionals.
   
• British International School of Houston, USA, won the DEIJ (diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice) Award for its initiative which involves school-wide auditing of curriculum offerings to ensure the representation of all stakeholders.
   
• International College Hong Kong (ICHK) Hong Lok Yuen won the Sustainability Award for an initiative helping children from kindergarten and primary years 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, using technology to create student-friendly content for studying and to improve peer interaction and collaboration.
   
• North London Collegiate School Jeju in South Korea won the Safeguarding Award for its initiative to confront suicidal ideation, involving training to develop skilled intervention of school community members.
   
• Rugby School Thailand won the Innovation and Creativity in Learning Award for an augmented reality (AR) initiative that has developed the use of AR in extensive ways. 
   
• 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 (RRSA).
   
• Western Academy of Beijing in China won the Strategic Leadership Award for an initiative focusing on student agency to shape the future of learning at the school, developed in collaboration with students and alumni.

The International School Awards are only possible with the support of sponsors to ensure that the awards event and platform are completely free and accessible to everybody. The category awards were sponsored by Yellow Car, Britannica Education, Center for Responsive Schools, ClassLink, Cognia, Komodo, Royal Holloway University of London, The Safeguarding Company, Trutex and TTS Group, and the International School of the Year Award was sponsored by Pearson.

ISC Research hosts the awards to highlight and share innovative practices from international schools around the world. They celebrate teaching and learning, well-being, community partnerships, leadership strategy, and other strategic initiatives at international schools.

Details about the 2024 International School Awards will be announced in April 2023 when any international school will be able to submit an application and be considered for recognition of good practice against key criteria.

You can view a recording of the awards ceremony and learn more about the award-winning and shortlisted initiatives on the ISC Research website.

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Tash Hingston is a press officer for ISC Research.