Jerudong International School
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Jerudong International School was founded in 1997. It is a large, well established co-educational school offering the British curriculum to children of all ages. Pupils, both day and boarding, achieve high academic standards and compete for places at the best universities in the world. There is also an exciting extra-curricular programme. JIS is a member of the Federation of British International Schools in South-East Asia (FOBISSEA), the Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS), and its headmaster is a member of the Headmasters’ Conference (HMC) in the UK.
Jerudong International School (JIS) is a day and boarding school providing education for girls and boys between the ages of 2 and 18 years. It is governed by a Board of Directors whose members include representatives from the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) and the Brunei Ministry of Education. The school was established in 1997 and occupies over 300 acres on a single campus in Jerudong. Located near to the coast, it is a short distance from Bandar Seri Bagawan, the capital city of Brunei.
The school is arranged into four sections, comprising Junior School, Middle School, Upper School and Sixth Form. At the time of the inspection, 1278 students were registered at the school: 69 aged under five, 276 aged 5 to 10 (reception to Year 5), 301 aged 11 to 13 (Years 6 to 8), 392 aged 13 to 16 (Years 9 to 11) and 240 in the Sixth Form. Of these, 680 were boys and 598 were girls. All students attend full-time except for 69 children under the age of five, who are part-time. The school provides boarding; currently 143 boys and girls are weekly boarders, though a few students board at weekends from time to time. The boarding facilities can accommodate up to 210 students, from age 11 onwards.
The international dimension of the school attracts students from a broad spectrum of nationalities. Approximately three-quarters do not have English as their first language and of these a significant minority receive extra help for language acquisition. The school has identified 74 students as requiring additional learning support, mainly for specific learning difficulties, though none has a statement of special educational need.
Students come principally from Brunei, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Australia and the UK, but the school has smaller numbers of over 40 other different nationalities. The transitory nature of much of the student population has considerable implications for the school as students adjust to a new home, a different cultural setting and a new school environment. Most students have parents with professional backgrounds, working in various industries, in particular the oil industry, in academia, in medicine, in the diplomatic service and in the armed forces. Many of the local parents have managerial positions in government ministries, run their own businesses or are financially independent.
Students join the school at various stages from kindergarten onwards. Many have previously attended independent and maintained schools overseas or in neighbouring countries. Each year a large number enter the school in Year 7, mostly from local primary schools, and these make up about 40 per cent of the students entering the Senior School in Year 9. A few more students enter from local and overseas schools in Year 10 and many new entrants join at Sixth Form level. The numbers of weekly boarders, largely from Year 6 onwards, have grown in recent years and a new boarding house has just been opened to accommodate them. Further boarding houses are planned to meet continued expansion over the next five years.
Students leaving at 18+ mostly to go on to overseas universities, such as Cambridge, LSE, UCL and many Russell Group universities in the United Kingdom, Melbourne and other leading universities in Australia, and Ivy League universities such as Harvard in the US. Many students also choose universities in Canada, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Malaysia. The numbers applying to the University Brunei Darussalam are also increasing because of twinning programmes, particularly in medicine. The school does not select students by ability except in the Sixth Form, where a minimum number of five GCSEs at grade C or above are required in order to gain a place. However, students of all ages are assessed prior to entry in order to ascertain their ability to benefit from the curriculum offered and in order that additional support may be provided where necessary. Results from standardised testing indicate that most students are intellectually above the UK national average, although a wide range of ability is represented in most year groups. In the Upper School, about one in twenty have scores in the top five per cent nationally and about the same number are well below the average. Overall, if students are performing in line with their abilities, their results in GCSE and A level examinations are expected to be above the average for all maintained UK secondary schools.
The core philosophy of JIS is to provide an international education to students of all abilities and to foster the highest standards in academic work, in the arts and in sport. It seeks to encourage students to respect and consider others in the family, at school and in the wider community. It aims to foster spirituality and moral responsibility regardless of the student's background or confession. Self-reliance, initiative, independence and innovative thinking are strongly encouraged. In addition, it seeks to promote a positive and mutually beneficial relationship with the host community, while fostering an international outlook among its students. The school strives to be a dynamic institution that is responsive to new challenges.
Source :Independent Schools Inspection report
