High School

The High School English Department at SSIS is made up of dedicated and experienced teachers who are passionate about their subject area and who aspire to make students excited about language while helping them develop their skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. The department believes that students learn best when provided with opportunities to engage with a wide variety of challenging texts and when they are given opportunities to respond to those texts in meaningful ways.

Students are encouraged to make connections between the texts they study and their own lives and experiences. They respond to texts by writing in a variety of modes, including literary commentaries, analytical essays and creative pieces. Their ability to read attentively, speak persuasively and listen with discernment are also developed through a wide variety of activities and assessments.

The curriculum is designed to stimulate, challenge and also to reinforce key skills. There is also a focus on developing the ability to think critically and creatively. English 9 and English 10 introduce students to the skills of close reading and textual analysis. These skills are further developed in Grades 11 and 12, when all students take either IB or AP English courses.

Science and technology are a part of our everyday lives. As members of a world community, we are responsible for making decisions that often revolve around scientific issues. To meet the 21st century demands, it is necessary that all individuals be competent in an ever-changing scientific and technological world. SSIS, like other schools, has a responsibility to prepare students for this technological world and therefore to be scientifically literate.

To that end, SSIS supports and encourages critical thinkers who understand science as a process for investigating and understanding our world. The science curriculum is designed to expose students to the major scientific disciplines through a wide range of courses and topics. The major goal is to help students understand and adapt to a world that is changing, or still being discovered, and to understand that critical review of the data related to these changes is a necessary part of science. We believe that the application and acquisition of knowledge through laboratory or field experiences is the basic activity of science. Therefore, students will continuously be challenged to explore scientific ideas and utilize skills through a well-designed series of investigative activities in each course. Students will be expected to participate in the inquiry process, record and process both quantitative and qualitative data, draw conclusions, make inferences, communicate their experimental findings and reflect on their experiences. Through lectures, activities, discussions and labs our students will be challenged to develop individual thinking and the ability to discern the difference between good and bad science.

Mathematics allows a way to describe the world quantitatively and qualitatively. All students need to have a strong foundation in mathematics to allow more options in university. The faculty believes in helping students achieve their potential. Conceptual understanding is built from multiple perspectives through describing reasoning algebraically, numerically, and graphically.

We offer a rigorous college preparatory mathematics program that allows for a range of abilities and interest levels. Most students take four years of mathematics. The mathematics department offers Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Precalculus, Advanced Placement Calculus AB, International Baccalaureate (IB) Mathematical Studies Standard Level, IB Mathematics Standard Level, and IB Mathematics Higher Level.

In Social Studies classes at SSIS, students are involved in asking (and answering) fundamental questions about what it means to be human. Questions include: how have past events shaped the present? What forms of government best promote the rights of citizens? Why is protecting the environment of such great importance today? What do humans throughout the ages and across the world have in common? Is there any way we can learn from the past to ensure that World War III never takes place? What will the world be like fifty years from now? What can we do to make the future a place where our children and grandchildren can live happily and safely?

To help students analyze these types of broad questions, SSIS offers a range of social studies disciplines including history, geography, psychology, and economics. Social Studies courses require students to read, write, and above all else, to think critically. Students are encouraged to weigh evidence, examine opposing perspectives, and to propose solutions. SSIS believes that the verbal, writing, and analytic skills promoted by studying social studies will encourage SSIS graduates to be informed and active global citizens who are willing to tackle the various challenges facing humans in the twenty-first century and beyond.

Physical Education at SSIS provides students with an opportunity to experience a selected variety of team sports, individual sports, lifetime sports and fitness activities. The emphasis of these activities will focus on an active learning environment where students will be given the opportunity to expand their critical thinking skills as well as build their leadership capacities. Skill development, progressive drills using individual skills, teamwork, offensive and defensive strategies, basic game rules, and scoring and match information will be included. Instruction of these concepts is delivered using a student-centered approach that includes; Sport Education, Game Sense, Teaching Games of Understanding, Inquiry and incorporating the use of technology. The goal of the program is to inspire our students to engage in lifelong physical activity and health so they can live healthy, productive lives.

Physical Education 9 and 10 are required courses to graduate from SSIS. For students who are passionate about continuing their physical and health education SSIS provides a variety of options for the junior and senior classmen including; PE 11, PE 12, Personal Fitness, Lifesaving and Sports Medicine.

When students study modern world languages at SSIS, they learn more than just words and phrases—they learn how to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds, and they explore what people from other communities say, do, and think.

SSIS offers courses in Spanish and Mandarin, two of the world's most widely-spoken languages. Through a variety of thought-provoking and engaging activities, students explore a wide range of media and learn to express themselves by talking and writing about a variety of topics, from everyday conversation to global issues and literature. In addition to developing their communication skills, students learn about the cultures and values of diverse Spanish and Mandarin-speaking communities around the world.

By studying world languages, students develop a deeper understanding of their own languages and cultures, and develop the empathy to become articulate and caring global citizens.

The Fine and Performing Arts represent human expression and creativity over centuries of change. Fine and Performing Arts courses at SSIS focus on developing skills and knowledge through a practical, enquiry-based experience of Music, Theater and Visual Arts. Our Fine and Performing Arts program aims to be exciting and stimulating while encouraging students to be active learners. A range of diverse, authentic activities provides opportunities for discovering talents and developing transferable life skills regardless of experience, social status or cultural background. At SSIS, Fine and Performing Arts students learn to interpret and derive meaning from works of drama, music and visual art through hearing, reading, viewing, creating, exploring, sharing, presenting, performing and experiencing as members of an audience.