Vienna International School Annual Report 2012-2013

Vienna International SchoolAnnual Report 2012-2013

Our Beliefs

We believe in challenging students to realise their personal potential for excellence in an inclusive and

supportive environment.

We believe in nurturing confident, responsible, reflective, and independent life-long learners.

We believe in embracing diversity as an enriching resource and unifying force in our school.

Page 3

Table of Contents

Facts & Figures Page 4

Strategic Plan Page 5

Chairman Report Page 6

Director Report Page 9

Primary Report Page 16

Secondary Report Page 19

University Placements Page 22

Treasurer Report Page 25

Contact Information Page 27

Page 4

Facts & Figures

1,376 Students

1,150 Computers

570 Community

Services Projects

104

Nationalities 95% Attend

University

Page 4

73 Languages

Spoken

238

Employees

936 Families

150 Sports Events

35 Years in

Existence

76 After School

Activities

31 Arts Events

26 Mother Tongue

Lessons

40,000

square metrecampus

32 Competitive Sports Teams16

Camps or Class Trips Organised

We are a learning community that places students at the We are a learning community that places students at the centre of all our decisions.

Page 5

We aspire to consolidate, communicate, and celebrate our We aspire to consolidate, communicate, and celebrate our strategic plan goals and objectives.

Strategy 1

We will develop, deliver and share a

comprehensive international

curriculum continuum, which will successfully meet the needs of all 21st century students.

Strategy 2

We will inspire and support students to

develop their potential in aspiring towards

excellence.

Strategy 3

We will establish a strong, able and

united staff, who are motived and dedicated in

supporting students in their educational and

personal development.

Strategy 4

We will establish VIS as a technology

integrated school contributing to the

improvement in quality of learning and administrative

efficiency.

Strategy 5

We will create the physical, financial and

legal conditions to secure the long-term future of the school

and sustain VIS at the forefront of

international education.

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I am honoured to serve the last three years and as your VIS board chairman this past year. I hope I gained your confidence to re-elect me for another three-year term. In addition, I am privileged to work with such a committed board that has a vested interested in seeing the school succeed on its path of excellence.

Besides our long-standing members (Theo Juurlink, Brigitte Strobel-Shaw, Péter Ulbrich and Richard Golden), we are grateful to have two new members join the team. Michelle Kay, an active PTA member, and Tarek Sarwat, who comes from the IAEA. Each board member brings unique and invaluable expertise to the group and I am grateful for all their hard work. A special thanks goes to Caroline Nicholas, VIS association president, who runs our meetings and who will be proposing general assembly procedural changes during our April meeting.

As you know, the main purpose of our spring general assembly is to review and approve our 2013 - 2014 budget. This year the school once again exercised significant financial accountability in managing the gap between planned and actual enrolments all the while delivering quality education to our students. For the coming year the board approved a budget that is reflective of the financial challenges experienced across our community.

We are now in the third year of our 2011-2014 Strategic Plan and I am delighted to report that much progress has been made. As a school, we continually strive to re-evaluate our students’ needs in conjunction with the most recent educational developments. In that regard, our first and most important strategy is to deliver a comprehensive international curriculum continuum, which will successfully meet the needs of all students in the 21st century. I am pleased to report that:

• We can celebrate that we surveyed, evaluated and published a guide of exemplary age-appropriate teaching strategies that will be used campus-wide.

• The school also reviewed its student assessment policies and procedures and we now have a coherent and cohesive approach to assessment practices. Parents, therefore, now have a better understanding and ability to track their child’s progress and performance.

• Given the international nature of the school, we successfully developed and implemented a consolidated school-wide language policy, philosophy and guidelines. In our rigour, we added to our strategic plan a review of all language B courses.

• We can also communicate that we developed more advanced systems for tracking student learning, including learning that falls outside the mainstream, to ensure the curriculum meets the needs of all our students.

• Finally, we provided students with the opportunity to celebrate their successes in all areas of academic, social, physical, and emotional development through the introduction of an achievement portfolio.

Board Chairman’s Report - Walter Heider

We can celebrate that we surveyed, evaluated and published

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These are simply a few examples of goals achieved in our strategic plan. While we are extremely proud of these achievements, we know more work needs to be done to complete the specific results we set out.

Besides quality education, safety and security is a priority for our student community and us. In an ever-changing and complex world, we realise that school campuses need to occasionally reassess their security procedures. We believe we have thoughtfully and thoroughly addressed these concerns and new security measures will be in place for the 2013 - 2014 school year.

As we approach 2014, I would like to update you on our contract negotiations with the city of Vienna and the Austrian federal government. Several of our board members as well as the director have been actively involved in securing high-level meetings. All parties understand that a positive resolution is mutually beneficial and we are making good progress in reaching a solution that is in the best interests of the school. We are assured that any solution will allow the school to remain on its premises for many, many years to come.

Speaking of years, the Vienna International School moved to its present location in 1984 and in 2014 we will be celebrating 30 years of educational excellence. In a continued effort to reach out to our alumni and parent community, the school will be planning various events and activities throughout the 2013 - 2014 calendar year, such as a career day, a 2014 class gift presentation, and a summer weekend celebration. Please keep an eye out for more details, spread the word, and we hope you will join us in these commemorative activities.

As a VIS parent, two issues close to my heart are substance abuse prevention and bullying. These are issues that our community takes very seriously.

We started a series of parent and student information events on substance abuse prevention and the next one is scheduled for later this spring. At these meetings, we not only invite specialists in the field but also encourage youth involvement and empowerment in spreading the word about the dangers of drug use.

With regard to bullying, we recently surveyed secondary students about how safe they felt at VIS - 85% of students feel ‘very safe’ or ‘mostly safe’ at school, which is an improvement from our 2009 survey. Questions regarding the type and frequency of bullying at VIS show that the majority of our students were not bullied at all this school year. Students also reported that cyber bullying was well contained at VIS, with almost 90% of students saying they had not been cyber bullied.

While these positive results indicate that bullying is not a widespread practice in our school, I believe that all students should be able to learn in an environment that is 100% free from bullying. Congratulations and let’s keep modeling good behaviour at VIS!

Thank you again to the entire VIS community, and especially Peter Murphy, who make this school such an inspiring and inviting place to come to every day.

Walter Heider, Chairman

Board Members Roles Executive Voting

Mr. Walter Heider Chairman - Parent elected member X X

Mr. Theodor Juurlink Vice-Chairman - Appointed by CTBTO X X

Mr. Péter Ulbrich Treasurer - Appointed by UNIDO X X

Ms. Brigitte Strobel-Shaw Secretary - Appointed by UNODC X X

Mr. Tarek Sarwat Appointed by IAEA X

Mr. Richard Golden Parent elected member X

Mrs. Michelle Kay Parent elected member X

Ms. Caroline Nicholas VIS Association President Invited attendee

Mr. Erwin Kubesch Ministry of European & International Affairs Invited attendee

Mr. Peter Murphy VIS Director Invited attendee

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Reflective

Balanced

Reflective

Thinker

Inquirer Principled Risk Taker

Knowledgeable

Open Minded

Caring

We aim for students to be inquiring, inspired, and involved We aim for students to be inquiring, inspired, and involved lifelong learners.

Page 9

Director’s Report - Peter MJ Murphy

At the start of this school year we set out to address another ambitious agenda of activities and projects that will collectively contribute to us successfully meeting our mission statement. The three significant challenges of providing for students to be inquiring, inspired and involved life long learners was framed within a structure that more clearly defines some expectations that we can measure ourselves against.

There continues to be encouraging progress in completing the twenty-one specific targets within the 2011 - 2014 Strategic Plan. It is anticipated that we will complete this work on schedule, and that our 2013 - 2014 school year can be a focus period for the community to define the next strategic agenda. Each year we generate an operational plan that is used to to shape the scope of our work. This year three approaches -- consolidation, communication and celebration -- provided a framework within which we seek to complete each stage of the specific targets.

Consolidation is considered important because without it there is a danger that nothing ever really gets finished -- a common concern whenever new ways of working are being implemented.

It goes without saying that communication, on all of the many levels that it exists, remains a challenge in a large and diverse organisation like VIS. We worked hard to take on board suggestions that came from internal and external review processes. Some of the changes are easy for us to see like the introduction of the Inquirer newsletter or the greater frequency of meetings for parents to help them understand the complexities of our academic programmes. Others are less visible, but equally powerful in their potential for creating a stronger partnership between school and home.

Page 10

Considerable work was undertaken over the past year to develop our Moodle platform which, when completed, will provide a powerful digital communication resource for students, teachers and parents to share. In parallel with this activity, we are busy redesigning the look and purpose of our website.

Managing the various expectations of enrolment continues to be a challenge for the school. Over the course of the past year we kept long waiting lists -- particularly in certain categories of enrolment -- and yet at the same time had three grade levels that remain under capacity with the associated deficit in revenue. The school has very clear expectations about maximum numbers of students that we will allow in each class in order to protect the quality of learning.

An additional enrolment challenge was accommodating all of the children in a family, an important element in helping to maintain as sense of community. We are conscious of the pressures that a delayed acceptance decision can have on families, and we made adjustments this year to ease the situation. The graphs above and below presents some interesting questions about patterns of waiting list and enrolment membership across the six categories.

0

37.5

75.0

112.5

150.0

UN Diplomatic Intl. Business Austrian Other VIS Staff

2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014

Waiting List Numbers by March/April Each Year

3%6%

7%

23%

11%

50%

Category 1: UN Category 2: DiplomaticCategory 3: International BusinessCategory 4: AustrianCategory 5: OtherCategory 6: Staff

Enrolment Categories

Page 11

The provision of a high-quality learning experience is the core of our activity. Over the course of the past few years considerable time and effort was directed at identifying and implementing strategies that will continue to enable us to maximise the individual talents of our students. Our strategic plan (strategy 1) highlights nine specific areas of focus in which teams of teachers across the school are working hard. We introduced a curriculum review cycle that commits the school to a comprehensive assessment of the eight major areas of learning within a five year window. This year we made good progress in drafting a set of beliefs and comprehensive learning expectations for mathematics from kindergarten to grade 12. The process involves teaching and leadership members working together to ensure that our programmes articulate coherently across all three International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes (PYP, MYP and DP). We are optimistic that by the end of this school year we will be ready to publish the first document as a community resource.

The school invested significantly in developing leadership capacity at a middle management level in the firm belief that colleagues working at this level are the engine for sustainable change. A key element of this programme is its focus on learning. Throughout the school we saw excellent examples of data collection being used to inform our learning agenda. A strength of VIS is its strong belief in being a school that is open to all. We pride ourselves on being a very diverse, non-selective school with a strong sense of caring for individuals. This sense of caring, brings an associated additional responsibility for us to understand the emotional, social and academic development of young people, and to provide them appropriately challenging learning opportunities. We are optimistic that in the near future we will be able to share learning dashboards with teachers and parents that will help them to have a more holistic picture of where students are in their individual learning journeys. This data, (both hard and soft) is now being used to inform conversations between teachers and students in understanding areas of strength and supporting areas for development.

A glance at our International Baccalaureate diploma results (see page 21) will indicate a very high level of performance by the class of 2012 with 20% of the class being awarded 40 or more points (out of 45). If one considers that 37 points is the level required for access to Ivy League or the Russell Group of universities then the achievement is easier to contextualise. While we are pleased to see such strong performance from the cohort of students we are perhaps more encouraged by the data that we collect that shows the level of added value attributed to the individual achievement of each student.

The shaded area represent the confidence limits, the green a 95% limit and the tan area a 99.7% limit. If the value lies within the shaded areas, then the value is deemed as normal whether negative or positive. It is only when the value falls outside the shaded area that the value can be deemed significant, thus implying that some factors in the teaching and learning external to the students, contributed to the value.

Annual IB Diploma Added Value Data

Page 12

Each year, the school completes the International School Assessment (ISA) administered by ACER who are responsible for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (www.oecd.org/pisa/) studies. The 45 minute assessment, in each four areas of learning, is carried out in October and draws upon learning across four grade levels.

The results from our 2012 assessment illustrate the progress of students at VIS compared to approximately 31,000 students in 122 international schools in 50 countries. The profile of these schools vary considerably with many being selective. The like-schools category relates to the percentage of students who speak English as their first language.

The ISA scales for mathematical literacy and reading are based on those developed for the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In the learning areas surveyed in PISA, the average proficiency of 15-year-old students in OECD countries is set, and periodically reset at 500.

The results for this year continue to indicate that we have a very broad spectrum of ability in each grade level with students as young as 8 working close to the levels of PISA average of 15 year olds in some cases.

Each year we analyse the results to see how they compare with the baskets of data that we collect from teacher assessments. For example, in the 2013 -2014 school year students in the primary school will have up to eight lessons a week of time that is dedicated to the teaching of mathematics and the English as a Second Language (ESL) programme will be restructured to enable beginners to spend more time in their homeroom group setting.

ISA 2012 Results

Like schools VIS Highest Score VIS Lowest Score VIS Mean Score

120

282

444

606

768

930

Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 9120

282

444

606

768

930

Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 9

311

420493

543

182229

318 348

460

624

715

816

319

431

526560

Mathematics

Page 13

0

170

340

510

680

850

Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 90

170

340

510

680

850

Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 9

253

357

474532

Grade 3Grade 329

181260

344

487

584

697 727

253

359

470535

Reading

Like schools VIS Highest Score VIS Lowest Score VIS Mean Score

0

150

300

450

600

750

Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 90

150

300

450

600

750

Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 9

341

447510

565

249287 310

450475

597654

775

353

459528

583

Writing Narrative

0

180

360

540

720

Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 90

180

360

540

720

Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 7 Grade 9

376

481521

570

283

364312 333

428

590655

734

392465

523586

Writing Expository

Page 14

In the secondary school work was done to strengthen the sense of through lines in mathematics and to develop a common understanding of genres in language.

At the start of the 2012-2013 year the school implemented a common teacher appraisal process that reflects four domains of professional practice. In completing this process, we established a common vocabulary for supportive professional dialogue in a nurturing environment. It is anticipated that by the end of the year we will have completed similar processes for all other staff at the school.

Considerable work was undertaken over the past three years to enhance the quality of the school environment. This represents an investment of approximately !1.35 million. A large component of this site investment reflects the plan for the implementation of a variety of security enhancements that we hope to have installed during the summer vacation period.

As 2014 draws ever closer there is a growing, and very understandable desire to have clarification about the school’s status when the current contractual arrangements expire with the Austrian government. A major focus of our energy was concentrated on working with our government partners to identify sustainable mechanisms that will be acceptable to all. Despite the uncertainties of our eventual contractual status, there remains a very high level of confidence in the contribution that VIS makes to providing education for an internationally-minded population based in Vienna.

VIS is a strong community with a deservedly high reputation within the international school community as well as locally. The faculty and staff worked with considerable effort over the past year to implement new academic programmes and new working systems in the interests of our students. There are many, many occasions where we witnessed colleagues going the extra mile to make a difference. We are supported in our endeavours by a very effective Board of Governors, who give freely of their time and expertise in setting our strategic agenda. On a daily basis we benefit from a hard working Parent Teacher Association and Booster Club which supports students, teachers and parents in community activities.

Thank you all for your collective efforts in our continued success.

Peter Murphy, Director

ToiletsLightingFencingTheatre

Office RenovationOffice Furniture

ELC FurnitureLockersSecurity

ReprographicsCommunications

SignageBells/Clocks

Student LoungesAula

!0 !125 !250 !375 !500

!70!90

!15!20!20

!140!180

!32!22

!12!24

!196!15!30

!480

Investments from 2010 - 2013 in !k

Page 15

We are an active community full of spirit and results.

Men’s Varsity Rugby Ski Week Women’s VarsityBaseball

Women’s Varsity Volleyball

Panther Mascot School Bike Trip

Secondary Sports Day Men’s Varsity Soccer Primary Sports Day

Page 16

Primary School Report

This year, the primary school focused on three main priorities for development: refining the learning and teaching in mathematics; consolidating what we understand about assessment of learning; and expanding digital learning.

Refining Mathematics

Mathematics was the area of highest priority for development this school year. In that regard, we completed an extensive review of primary school mathematics and agreed upon a

school-wide method for “calculation”. In our findings, we recognised the number strand of mathematics (calculation, times tables, fractions) as the most important strand for both parents and teacher to focus on with the children. Grade primary and grade one also began working with the Rubicon number system.

School-wide, the maths curriculum was reviewed, and will be realigned and strengthened from ELC to grade 12. For the first time, eight mathematics lessons will be scheduled into every class timetable from grade primary to grade one, beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, ensuring that all students receive the recommended learning time for mathematics. Overall, we believe we are on the right path toward the improvement of our mathematics programme.

Primary Principal’s Report - Michael Hosking

Page 17

Consolidating Assessment of Learning

Ensuring that our students get the best education possible is a priority for our school. The visit by Professor Paul Black in October that focussed on assessment provided a framework for discussions and attention on formative and summative assessment strategies in the primary school. This is an on-going priority that allows us to examine our current practices in light of the assessment policy, and make curriculum adjustments where necessary. It also gives parents a better picture of his/her child’s performance.

Expanding Digital Learning

While our main focus in digital learning is the implementation of the Moodle learning management system starting from grade 3, we are moving forward with digital learning in a variety of ways. As much as possible, technology skill acquisition is integrated into the curriculum rather than it being stand-alone instruction.  

Our Digital Learning Integrator worked with all grade levels and specialists to provide high quality training in technology, especially in how to use Google for education resources. To improve information literacy, we appointed a member of staff in the new role of Literacy and Information Resource Teacher. He is based in the library, but also works in classrooms.

Our goal is to help students learn the skills to search for and interpret all the information that is available to them from many different sources. For example, students from ELC through to grade 4 are using digital storytelling tools such as Storybird and Little Bird Tales – these tools allow students of all mother tongues and language abilities to tell their stories, be it orally, textually and/or pictorially.  

We also developed and are trialling a primary school digital learning curriculum, based on the work and standards of the International Society of Technology Educators, the US National Education Technology Standards, the IB document: ”The Role of ICT in the PYP”, and the American Association of School Librarians.

In preparation for accessing Moodle and Google Apps for Education tools, grades 3-5 completed a six-month digital citizenship curriculum programme that resulted in each student being able to earn their own digital driver’s license.  The program focused on six core areas of good digital citizenship:  chat/email netiquette, cyber bullying, creative commons and copyright, search skills, balanced technology use, and password security.  To date, all students in grades 3-5 qualified for and earned their licenses.

Some other technology firsts worth noting are:• Integrating iPod Touches – the ESL

department continues to receive training in the use of picture annotation tools (Skitch & Evernote) and multilingual keyboards while the PE department received training in the use of video analysis applications for their fitness curriculum.

• Animation and Filming – students in grade 5 are learning how to use iMovie to edit their exhibition films.  Grade 4s are learning how to use Styx animator as an introduction to animation and programming.  

• iPad Trailing – five teachers are trialling the use of iPads in their classrooms.

• Homework – teachers in Grades 3/4/5 are considering different ways to deliver homework using digital technologies.

Staff Development

It is important that our teachers have the necessary skills and knowledge to continue to be successful, and to be the best teachers they can possibly be. Therefore, the primary school continues to invest heavily in the professional development of our staff.

We successfully ran the 10 week “First Steps - Number” course with grades 1 and 2 teachers, learning support staff, and English as a second language staff, who fulfilled the course requirements and assignments. Grades 3 – 5 will complete the course next year. We also ran the ESL in the Mainstream course (5 teachers) and ESL in the Mainstream for Early Childhood Teachers (11 teachers) course to support our teaching of English language.

Page 18

Each of these courses were held mostly after hours, and involved up to 30 hours of commitment from each participant. Thirteen more primary school teachers are taking part in this year’s middle level leadership course, with another 12 teachers doing the course next year. Developing the leadership skills of the middle level leaders, such as our grade level leaders and department leaders is important as it allows them to guide improvements in learning throughout the school.

In addition, all primary staff had the opportunity to work with other world-class educators such as Eithne Gallagher (learning for ESL and mother tongue students), Kathy Short (assessment) and Kath Murdoch (better assessment to support learning).

Parent Involvement

We all know that parent involvement is crucial to student learning. To keep parents fully informed, we held well-attended parent seminars about mathematics, language, the arts and Physical Education. We also held special open mornings for mathematics and language, where all classes were simultaneously open for parent visitors to observe and comment about student learning. For additional information and ways to become more involved in your child’s education, we hope you’ve been reading our weekly newsletter articles that focus on mathematics, learning, thinking, assessment and digital learning.

The primary school has been busy, active and focused on improving the learning for all our students. Given the wide range of language and cultural backgrounds of our students (see charts below), this has proven challenging on some occasions. Needless to say, our enhancements are significant and we have several exciting teaching and learning adjustments planned for the next school year. I wish to again thank and recognise the primary school staff that have made all of this possible.

Michael Hosking, Primary Principal

*Includes Category 4 and Austrian UN/diplomatic community.

English

German

Russian

Italian

Arabic

Spanish

Dutch

Korean

Japanese

French

Chinese

Urdu

Swedish

Hungarian

Portuguese

0 100 200 300 400

181823242426323641485769

86208

361

Highest Frequency Mother Tongue Languages Percentage of Students by Country

11.8%*

8.4%

7.5%

5.4%

4.1%

3.9%

3.3%

2.9%

Page 19

Secondary School Report

Those of us who work in the secondary school are privileged to spend our days with students who, overwhelmingly, want to learn and feel a sense of ownership of, and responsibility towards their school. A recent visitor to the school, who came to collect money that some secondary school students raised for a Vienna charity, was reported as saying, ‘I love coming to this school; it has such a lovely atmosphere’.

A student on his last day of school in grade 12 said, 'This is my home. I can't imagine not coming here every day'. VIS is a school where students feel safe. In the secondary school, this is characterised by the quality of the relationships amongst students, between staff and students and, most importantly, between the school and the home. Our school mission statement is one that many schools would be challenged to live up to. We are in a privileged position as a school where students have the possibility to develop their full potential, ready for a changing world.

What follows in this report is about the additional work that we concentrated on during the past year. None of that work can, or does, take away from our focus on students and supporting them in both the classroom and beyond, with a commitment to a holistic, student-centred education.

IBMYP & The Personal Project

The single most significant achievement of the secondary school faculty this year was the completion of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) implementation, which took five years to finalise. Our current grade 10 students are the first to finish all five years of the programme.

Secondary Principal’s Report - Elisabeth Stanners

Page 20

For the past five years, at the same time as they delivered either the (now defunct) Vienna International School Middle Years Curriculum (MYC) or the (newly implemented) IBMYP, the secondary teachers redesigned the curriculum to fit the MYP model. At the end of this school year, the newly designed curriculum will have been taught for the first time through all five years of the programme.

As the culmination of five years in this programme, our grade 10 students completed their Personal Project: ‘a significant piece of work that is the product of the student's own initiative and creativity’ (www.ibo.org). On 27th February we celebrated our first Personal Project Evening where they presented their projects to their parents and the community. The free topic choice was evidenced by the incredibly broad range of products on display that reflected design and creation as well as projects that supported and raised awareness of issues close to the students’ hearts. We were impressed by, and proud of, the manner in which the students presented their projects to all those who came to ask them questions during the course of the evening.

Assessment

In line with the work that the school as a whole is doing to reflect on its assessment practices, and in response to requests by parents for more timely information on student achievement, we put in place a process of continuous assessment feedback to parents of MYP students (grades 6 – 10). At the completion of any work that is assessed against the MYP subject criteria an assessment cover sheet with details of the task and the criterion-referenced score is given to each student to take home. The feedback we received from parents regarding this initiative is very positive and builds on our belief that partnership between the school and the home is vital for student success.

Tracking Student Progress

Our commitment is to track student achievement (see page 21) and ensure that each and every one is making progress. Our aim is to ensure that our students’ progress can be measured using both hard and soft data and that this information will show not only continued growth but a value-added growth

curve, giving evidence that the school’s curriculum is positively impacting on students’ learning.

We are doing considerable work on setting in place systems to collect and analyse this data, particularly the data we generate for school reports. At the conclusion of each reporting period we now have measurable systems that look at the results for each individual student and compare it with previous records. In cases in which the student is not showing the growth that would be expected, interventions are put in place to address the lack of progress.

The analysis of data that we now have available also allows us to track the assessment results of student groups in subject domains. This gives us scope to reflect on the effectiveness of the school’s curriculum and is being used as part of the refinement process of our curriculum.

Extra-Curricular Programmes

School finishes for most of our students at 15:15 every day. Yet on many days that would not be obvious to anyone who enters the building after that time since there are always volumes of students throughout the building.

The school’s community and service (MYP) and CAS (DP) programmes focus the action and imagination of many of our students on projects that are well beyond the scope of our academic curriculum programme. We have students engaged in: awareness building for global issues; fundraising to support projects locally and internationally; performing and working to support theatrical productions; representing the school as a member of a sports team, mathematics competition or model United Nations team; writing or editing student publications, producing the yearbook; and working to organise and support events in our own community (to name but a few).

Our students do all of this while at the same time having a demanding academic programme to follow. Many adults would struggle to manage all the demands that many of them put on their time. We believe it gives them the opportunity to learn how to manage their time more effectively and is a powerful preparation for university (see page 22) and the world of work.

Page 21

IB Average Grades per Subject

Total points / candidate under 24 as a %Total points / candidate 24 - 29 as a %Total points / candidate 30 - 34 as a %Total points / candidate 35 - 39 as a %Total points / candidate 40 - 45 as a %

0

25

50

75

100

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

20.011.515.69.411.911.712.015.6

29.2

24.327.5

22.224.8

34.026.9

27.5

26.9

31.0

33.0

32.529.4

31.136.127.5

16.131.921.1

30.829.416.519.4

21.1

Average VIS grade per subject World Average grade per subject

4.5

4.8

5.1

5.4

5.7

6.0

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

IB Grading Band Percentages

Page 22

United Kingdom Universities

UK Universities Continued ...

North American Universities

Other European Universities

Aberdeen Kent Alma Barcelona

Brighton Kings College London Case Western Reserve Bocconi

Brunel Lancaster Colorado State Chalmers Gothenberg

Buckinghamshire Loughborough McGill Charles University

Cambridge Newcastle New York University Gilon Institute of HE

Cardiff Nottingham Pratt Institute Parsons Paris

Central St. Martins Oxford Quinnipiac RCS Dublin

City Reading St. Mary’s College Semmelweis

Dundee Sheffield Suffolk St. Gallen

Edinburg Southampton University of British Colombia

Szeged

European Business School London

St. Andrews University of Michigan Technical University Vienna

Exeter Surrey University of Virginia Universita Cattolica Brescia

Falmouth Sussex University of Barcelona

Glasgow University College Bournemouth

University of Linz

Herriot Watt University College London

University of Parma

Hull/York University of the West of England

University of Vienna

Imperial Warwick

Kaplan Winchester

Universities Attended by VIS Graduates in 2012

Page 23

We have a significant number of sports teams that compete both locally and in international schools tournaments. With the support of the Booster Club, there is a campaign to improve school spirit and encourage the community to come to support our teams. The gyms are decorated with huge motivational posters and, recently, a major organisational effort went into bringing together a full gallery of supporters for a varsity basketball game against a local school, which we won!

The arts are also a strength of the school. This year’s production of Across the Universe involved every secondary school student who auditioned (70+) with support from teachers from both the primary and secondary schools. A total audience of over 700 saw the production during three evening performances. It showcased student talent in visual arts, singing, acting, dancing and playing musical instruments.

As you can see, we have ambitious targets for school learning and the above developments show us that our school is on a Good to Great (Collins, 2001) agenda. It is a pleasure to work with your children each and every day and I look forward to what next year will bring.

Elisabeth StannersSecondary Principal

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We are a thoughtful community full of creativity and We are a thoughtful community full of creativity and balance.

Ceramics Project VIS Rocks Theatre Production

Food Technology Design Technology Band Rehearsal

Piano Recital Social Media Multimedia Art Project

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The VIS finance committee met at regular intervals since the start of this school year to carry out the responsibilities as defined in the board policy manual.

The annual audit of accounts was completed by Süd-Ost Treuhand GmbH and a summary of their report circulated to all VIS association members in advance of the April general assembly meeting.

The director presented draft proposals of a budget (in accordance with policy) for 2013-2014 that took into account a salaries and benefits consultation process; an analysis of pressing areas that require attention; and recommendations from the current strategic plan.

At the February meeting of the Board of Governors, the budget for 2013-2014 was approved.

2011-2012 Audited Results

• Median enrolment of 1,395 students just marginally below budget (1,398).

• Total revenues 1.86% higher than budget generating !450,000 additional income.

• Savings in information technology expenses of !121,000 or 51% from target.

• Leasehold Improvements projects (e.g. school toilets on 1st and 2nd floor, secondary Aula changes,and school clock system) in the amount of !522,239 were successfully completed during the summer break.

• A provision in the amount of !450,000 was established for urgent maintenance work not yet commenced.

• The year-end result from financial investments contributed !309,339 to the operational bottom line.

• Total reserves at the end of reporting period !5,106,171.

2012-2013 Forecast

• School fees were down 1.85% resulting in a deficit of total revenues to budget of !372,000.

• Cost savings of !348,000 including leasehold improvements, professional development, depreciation, IT & audio visual expenses.

• We forecast a balanced operating result.

2013-2014 Budget

• Median enrolment set at 1,380.

• 2.5% tuition fee increase.

• Increase in admissions fees from !3,400 to !3,600.

• Cost of living increase for all teaching staff based on the current agreement.

• Two additional full-time support staff in security and additional investments into security enhancement.

• Prepare for 2014 and overcome structural deficit.

• Finalising school toilets refurbishment project and further replacement of fire doors.

• Total capital expenditure of !1,019,000 for building & infrastructure, ICT equipment, educational equipment and furniture.

Financial Reserve Summary

Treasurer’s Report - Péter Ulbrich

Beginning Balance August 1, 2011 ! 5,122,615

Audited Deficit 2011-2012 ! (16,443)

Ending Balance July 31, 2012 ! 5,106,171

Forecasted Deficit 2012-2013 ! (4,895)

Estimated Balance July 31, 2013 ! 5,101,276

Budget Deficit 2013-2014 ! (194,278)

Budgeted Balance July 31, 2014 ! 4,906,998

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Budget 2012-2013

Budget 2013-2014

Euro Variance % Variance

1 Revenues € 20,149,401 € 20,582,399 € 432,998 2.0%

2 Public benefits € 5,400,381 € 5,400,381 € 0 0.0%

3 Other operating income € 163,110 € 210,310 € 47,200 29.0%

Total Revenues € 25,712,892 € 26,193,090 € 480,198 2.0%

4 Personnel expenses € 21,493,610 € 22,302,321 € 808,711 4.0%

a. Salaries € 16,348,390 € 17,108,096 € 759,706 5.0%

b. Expenses for severance payments € 508,790 € 349,245 € (159,545) -31.0%

c. Expenses for pensions € 754,642 € 764,016 € 9,374 1.0%

d. Social security and payroll taxes € 3,857,788 € 4,055,964 € 198,176 5.0%

e. Other social benefits € 24,000 € 25,000 € 1,000 4.0%

5 Depreciation € 752,440 € 658,260 € (94,180) -13.0%

a. Depreciation of fixed assets € 573,595 € 625,363 € 51,768 9.0%

b. Low value assets € 178,845 € 32,897 € (149,949) -82.0%

6 Other operating expenses € 3,802,669 € 3,620,784 € (181,885) -5.0%

Total Operating Expenses € 26,048,719 € 26,581,365 € 532,648 2.0%

7 Operating Result (EBIT) € (335,827) € (388,275) € (52,448) 16.0%

8 Income from securities € 42,800 € 42,797 € (3) 0.0%

9 Income from interests and similar € 96,500 € 109,200 € 12,700 13.0%

10 Income from disposal of assets € 63,500 € 42,000 € (21,500) -34.0%

11 Financial Result € 202,800 € 193,997 € (8,803) -4.0%

12 Net Surplus (loss) for the year € (133,027) € (194,278) € 61,251 46.0%

Vienna International School Budget 2013 - 2014

VIS Administration 2012 -- 2013

Director Peter Murphy

Secondary Principal Elisabeth Stanners

Deputy Principal Derrick Devenport

Deputy Principal Anne Sparks

Primary Principal Michael Hosking

Deputy Principal Lynda Sarelius

Business Manager Rainer Dobianer

Admissions Coordinator Tina Lackner

Development Officer Susan Wolfe

Human Resources Conny Schiessel

Karin Sigle

Strasse der Menschenrechte 11220 Vienna, Austria

+43 1 203 5595 (ph)+43 1 203 0366 (fx)

www.vis.ac.at