One of the strengths of ISB is its genuinely international environment. Children come from many different countries and backgrounds, which gives students the opportunity to grow up around different cultures and perspectives.

Our main concern was the way the school leadership handled difficult situations. In our experience, there appeared to be a tendency to interpret conflicts between children of different racial or ethnic backgrounds through the lens of racism very quickly, even when the situation was more complex. Issues involving children require careful investigation and proportionate responses, and we did not always feel that this happened.

We also found the leadership style very top-down. Parents may be given the opportunity to express their concerns, but in our experience this often felt more like a formality than genuine consultation. Once the leadership had decided what it considered to be the right course of action, there seemed to be very little openness to other perspectives, reconsideration or compromise. Being heard is not the same as being listened to.

More generally, we found the leadership’s approach unnecessarily drastic. Problems that could have been handled calmly and proportionately sometimes resulted in strong reactions or major changes affecting students. Significant changes were also introduced abruptly rather than gradually, which made the environment unpredictable for both children and parents.

ISB has some very good teachers and a diverse student community. Unfortunately, in our experience, the leadership’s handling of conflicts and its rigid, top-down approach to decision-making significantly undermined these strengths.