苏州新加坡国际学校成立于1996年6月，是由中新苏州工业园区开发有限公司投资并管理的苏州第一家外籍人员子女学校。至2005年末，学校总投资2000万美元，为苏州和邻近地区的外商子女提供幼儿园、小学、和中学的国际化教育。学校已开设12年级，完成了幼儿园一年级至高中的15年一贯制教育的模式。学校在2001年1月成为国际组织(IBO)的会员学校，分别获得国际组织中学课程(MYP)和高中课程(DP)的授权，即我校的学生可以在世界101个国家的1182所IBO会员学校继续规划，学校高中毕业生的学历也为世界各国的大学认可。
多年来学校的招生规模持续不断地扩大，1998年至2005年，学生人数年均增长率为24%，至今天招收学生人数为1100名，分别来自27个国家和地区。
WELCOME TO SSIS. AN EXCELLENT INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION.
It may seem odd to say this, but it is not the 49 different nationalities of students that makes us international. There are schools in New York, Paris and London with as much variety but with no intent of being international. And, while it is important for us to recruit highly qualified and experienced teachers from different nations, our 20 teacher nationalities is not what makes us international either.
Internationalism is a value summed up in our vision statement, a desire for students to become “self-motivated, lifelong learners, who value other cultures and are responsible, meaningful participants in the international community.” We start with academic rigor – without it, students’ values can have little effect. This is why we offer the academically rigorous IB programmes and are proud of students who have joined the tiny elite who have scored full marks at IB Diploma and IB’s Middle Years Programme (MYP). We are proud our IB scores consistently and significantly perform above world average; and we are proud of the students who graduate from this to the world’s top universities such as Cambridge or Princeton. Yet it is more than academic rigor: we are most proud of the kind of people our students become.
Excellence, like internationalism, is a quality of character. Our excellent facilities certainly help, from our track, field, tennis courts, floodlit soccer pitch, theatre media center, high tech design labs, science labs, to the world-class data center and network. Yet these are a support for our excellence, not the essence of it, which is a belief that everyone of all abilities can improve, can achieve more than they have done; that no-one should rest on their laurels, and no-one should give up. This “strong culture of educational excellence at SSIS” was singled out for praise by CIS and NEASC, our European and North American accrediting agencies, which in their most recent accrediting report awarded us with a very high number of commendations.
Starting with a half-day Pre-Nursery programme for 2 year olds, through the three IB programmes or a German programme to graduation at 18 years old, our students are first and foremost members of an international community, one that takes pride in the excellence of its academic results and its facilities but understands that true excellence is in the character of its members.
Richard Bruford,
Head of School
