(P) A school which is quietly achieving outstanding results

With 87% of its students attending the world’s top 5% of universities, the International British School of Bucharest stands out as one of the bright lights of primary and secondary education in Romania, with a graduate record that reads like the who’s who of universities.

View the list of universities their students have been accepted into in recent years, readily available on their school website, and you will find familiar names, such as Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and UCL, to name just a few.

This is no surprise, as 45% of their students this year have already received offers to universities currently ranked in the top 1% of universities worldwide, with almost 90% of their students (87% to be precise) being offered places in the world’s top 5% of universities. This is an impressive statistic for any school.

What is surprising, however, is the fact that the school admits students of all ability levels. In fact, a number of students offered a place are those who have struggled in other schools, but gone on to achieve success at IBSB.

“My son was badly bullied in the Romanian system, and making little progress academically as a result, so we made the decision to move him at the start of Year 8. At IBSB he was accepted by the other students and given the additional support needed to restore his self-confidence and sense of self-worth. My only regret is that we didn’t move him to IBSB earlier.” Mihaela Constantinescu.

When we asked the Head of School, Kendall Peet, what the key to their success is, he told us that individual student support is absolutely essential:

“The old system of education essentially adopted a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Most schools still apply this approach, which is no longer tenable. Schools need to recognise fundamentally that each student is different, learns in different ways, arrives ready to learn with different skills and levels of knowledge, and as such needs a personalised learning programme. Our success is very much a reflection of the partnership formed between our teachers, students, and parents, all working together toward a common goal.”

On closer examination, much of their success can be attributed to laying the right foundation early on. Head of Primary, Alan Cornish, explained to us the importance of schools adopting a Growth Mindset, which he says does not limit the potential of students:

“There’s a lot of research now readily available indicating that all students can exceed expectations with the right support in place to challenge and extend. We believe in this approach, we do not limit a child’s growth, we provide opportunities and support for all pupils with the result being above average achievement across the curriculum.”