We had an exclusive interview with Beat Sommer- head of Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai (SISD). Swiss International Scientific School is an IB (International Baccalaureate) school, where future generations are inspired to become confident and enthusiastic lifelong learners. We asked Sommer to provide us key insight on the school’s unique features and experiences in comparison to other schools, the key qualifications of teachers at SISD, extracurricular activities provided at the school, the boarding experience provided, inclusion measures at SISD, and lastly the vision and future of Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai
When we asked Beat Sommer about the unique features and experiences of Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai, he told us: “the quality of our school is that we are within the IB (International Baccalaureate) framework, and within that framework we got bilingual streams like French+English, German+English, English+ Foreign Language, and we are a full continuum IB school that caters to all different ages, starting from early years, going into primary, secondary up to the full diploma program.”
Next, we asked him about the key qualifications of teachers at SISD to which he answered that “all our teaching staff are international teaching staff, who not only have the necessary academic qualifications, but also they have a professional qualification; the minimum would be a bachelor degree and the respective teaching qualification in where they teach.” The school welcomes open minded, multinational, bilingual teachers and those who have previous experience in teaching in an international school.
The extracurricular activities and the boarding experience is another point we asked Beat Sommer about to which he mentioned that they have a wide variety of extracurricular activities, “be it music, arts, sports, singing, or handicraft.” In regards to the boarding experience, Beat Sommer mentioned that “our vision is to bring boarding to Dubai, because we believe that Dubai is an ideal hub and ideal place for boarding, because of that hub situation.”
Importantly, Beat Sommer talked about the inclusion (special needs), which he believes to be “a shared responsibility.” So, it is not only specialists taking care of that, but also the teachers, the parents and the school in general, however, SISD also has a specialist Department for inclusion, be it for early years, or primary or secondary.
The school has an inspiring vision, as Sommer noted: “Our school motto is inspiring excellence, which is a very good motto, because the UAE national agenda is aiming at excellence”. This is just part of the legendary words Beat Sommer mentioned about the vision of the school.
Lastly, we believe that Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai has a prosperous future, as Beat Sommer confidently said “We started SISD three years ago, with the vision of really making a difference, … and we are very fortunate to have excellent facilities, not only with regards to the actual buildings and the rooms, but also with regards to the sports facilities.” Adding to that he happily said that the school has found a niche in a very competitive environment, with around 200 international schools. The aim of Swiss International Scientific School in Dubai is to fulfill the national agenda by 2021.
