NewsLetterIssue4 April-June10.indd - RIS stories

REDEEMER INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL THAILAND
Maintaining Excellence at RIST
by Sudarat Tanattanawin, RIST Assistant Principal
t has been just a year-and-a-half
Isince the Western Association of
Schools and Colleges, in one of the
first joint accreditation processes
with the Thai authorities (ONESQA)
granted Redeemer International
School Thailand a five-year term of
accreditation, the maximum possible
WASC term in Thailand. However,
this was not a signal for complacency
to set in. School development and
improvement are top priorities for
our school, not just to maintain
accreditation, but to provide the
best possible teaching and learning
environment for our students in a
constant drive towards excellence.
Stakeholder involvement is high:
faculty, staff, parents and students are
all represented on the Curriculum and
School Development Council, which
meets three times a year, and the five
School Development Committees,
which meet monthly. These are
permanent features of school
operations, designed to address and
monitor the ongoing Schoolwide
Action Plan. This plan,
which incorporates major
WASC recommendations
and drives all school
development initiatives,
is collaboratively revised
annually after evaluating
progress from the previous
year. Individual faculty
members and departments
are also expected to
develop annual goals that
relate to the Action plan.
All documentation related to
accreditation and school development
is published on the RIST website,
including a yearly Action Plan
Progress Report for all stakeholders.
After reviewing the Progress Report,
stakeholders have a variety of ways
to provide input into Plan revision,
including survey input from parents,
students, and staff, discussion
of the plan by all departments at
scheduled meetings, and the review
of achievement data by the faculty,
parents, students and staff. Through
this process, all stakeholders at RIST
have input into the Progress Report
and are directly involved with school
initiatives and improvement efforts
underway at the school.
RIST Principal, Mr. Mike Booton,
has served on five WASC Visiting
Committees, two of them as Chair
for visits to international schools in
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Kobe,
Japan. His valuable experience
supporting the improvement process
in other schools provides insight and
leadership for the ongoing impetus
towards excellence at RIST.
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NEWSLETTER Volume 3, Issue 4