History

Saigon South International School (SSIS) was established in 1997 as a not-for-profit international school to serve both expat and local families in Ho Chi Minh City. Today, over 1500 students from 47 countries attend SSIS. The school boasts a beautiful state-of-the-art campus and has earned a reputation as one of Vietnam’s top international schools. 

Background

In 2015, I had the privilege of doing a student teaching practicum at the Canadian International School of Beijing (CISB). During my time at CISB I connected with a number of dynamic educators who have gone on to serve at some of the top international schools in the world, one of which was Cory Dickson. Cory is a fellow New Brunswicker who currently serves as the Director of Admissions at SSIS and was kind enough to show me around the school. Cory is a collaborative and empathetic leader who skillfully leads the admissions department using market research and analysis. Throughout his career he has worked at international schools in China, Singapore, and Vietnam. 

Highlights

When it comes to cultivating a positive school culture, welcoming environments are essential. You can’t have a positive school culture if you have messy spaces, grumpy greeters, and limited signage. SSIS’ environments have been purpose built and renovated to be welcoming, with wide hallways, well-lit spaces, clear school color branding, and visitor-friendly signage.  

SSIS offers regular parent meetings on a variety of topics. Some are hosted by the Head of School, Dr. Catriona Moran, division principals, school counsellors, or college counsellors. This type of investment in communicating with and educating parents is not inherent in international schools. It requires plenty of extra effort, yet this level of connection with parents has the potential to elevate your school culture. 

Research shows that one of the things leaders can do to improve school culture is to guide the teaching and learning process at their school. This is clearly something the leadership at SSIS is investing in because of the dynamic projects and instruction on display during my visit. One great example of this was from Tammy Stevens-King’s early elementary art classroom. Her classes were in the middle of a multifaceted project to understand the importance of bees to our ecosystems. The students were using fine motor skills by rolling colored paper up and placing it into sections of metal fencing to represent various cells found in a beehive. This type of meaningful multidimensional learning is a hallmark of top international schools like SSIS. 

Phenomenal facilities abound at SSIS. Though I typically like to highlight athletics facilities because of my background as a PE teacher, I have to highlight the secondary podcasting studio where Middle School Principal Dan Kerr records episodes of the Blue Skies Leadership Podcast. Check the podcast out if you haven’t heard it yet. I love to see schools investing in unique spaces like this, though podcast studios aren’t common in schools, podcasting has become very popular. Providing relevant spaces like this for students to experience this type of production shows the school’s ability to be on the cutting edge of education. 

3 Key Takeaways

• Understand Your School Culture: Research shows that leaders need to understand their school culture before they can improve it. What can you do to understand your school culture more clearly in preparation for next school year? 
• Collaborative Leadership: Leadership team meetings that are reflective and use collaborative processes to reach conclusions make teams and schools better. What sort of collaborative exercise can you insert into your next leadership team meeting that will help your team improve? 
• Success Built On Strategy: The power of aligning all school initiatives around dynamic strategic planning is unmatched. Does your school have a strategic plan? If not, why? If so, do your school’s initiatives align with the plan?  

Build culture, unlock potential. Visit my Connect Page or send a message on LinkedIn. 

Stay tuned for more international school visits – up next Hoi An International School!

Peace & Blessings, 

– Josiah