I’m from Aberdeen and I grew up going to an independent school, before joining ISA in Grade 4 when my Mum was teaching here. In Elementary School I found it a lot more enjoyable than my primary school because there was a lot of interactive learning and even with the homework there was a lot more choice of what to do so there was always an option that suited me. I think I settled into ISA very quickly and made friends easily as everyone was very kind and caring. One thing I really enjoyed about Elementary School was the fact that there were two teachers for the year and even though you were split into the classes you were always collaborating with the other class and the other teacher.
Moving up to Middle School was an easy transition and it felt like it gave me more responsibility as we were moving about different classrooms with different teachers & taking our Chromebooks with us. At the beginning of the year I found it really useful as there were lots of activities and events that helped us settle in and meet the students joining us as well. In Middle School the subjects all have different names for example we do all the social studies in one, called Individuals and Societies, combining them to study the geography, history, politics & religion together which I’ve found helpful this year. The Middle School classrooms this year all got new furniture including sofas, high desks, circular tables, comfier chairs & stools. All of the new furniture has really helped my classes’ learning as it’s helped us have more open discussions and interact with our peers in a way that we are comfortable with.
My favourite class at ISA is PE. I really enjoy it because we get to do such a wide range of different sports, rotating each term. The after school sport programme is brilliant because there are so many different activities you can choose from and there’s always a sport activity for every day. My favourite unit in PE class is when we explore circus activities including cup stacking, slack lining and unicycling – I had never done anything like this before I came to ISA and I had help to learn to ride a unicycle. Another sport during PE that I really enjoy is roller blading where we do various activities including roller-hockey – I love that we do these sports that you wouldn’t normally get to do at a traditional school. I really like traditional sports too though, and we get many opportunities to play football. This year in Grade 7 I played for the Middle School girls football team and we travelled to Stavanger in Norway for a tournament staying with local families. The coaching at ISA has really helped my football skills improve and I hope to continue playing girls football at ISA and travelling to other tournaments.
If I was speaking to anyone thinking about joining ISA I would tell them that it’s a great opportunity for them to grow as a person and mix with lots of people from different cultures and backgrounds. I would definitely recommend it!
