Sakhalin International School

Mission statement

Sakhalin International School is an international learning community in which the child’s spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development is promoted and developed, thus fulfilling the potential of each child.

Sakhalin Island, Russia

Information about the school

Sakhalin International School is a learning-focused faculty, where children receive an excellent education that is comparable to the best of its kind anywhere in the world.

The school has purpose-built accommodation, with well-equipped rooms for all ages including the Early Years groups. Each classroom is well resourced and equipped with Smart Board technology. There is a fully equipped gym, an ICT suite, and a large library with over eleven thousand titles.

Currently there are approximately 160 children on roll, representing 30 different nationalities from the age of 3 to 12 years of age. The children are split by age into 11 different class groups. There are 17 full-time teachers and 5 learning assistants. The language of instruction is English and where possible, children can follow a mother tongue language programme.

All children follow the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). English language and mathematics are studied as set out in the English National Curriculum documents and the school makes as many international links as possible.
Sakhalin International School is an international learning community and children enjoy a challenging academic and rewarding social programme. The programme has been designed to equip children leaving the school with the knowledge, skills and understanding to meet the challenges ahead wherever they may travel.

There is a wide range of after school activities organised for the children, including arts and crafts and various sports. The school also provides a comprehensive number of extra-curricular activities such as school drama performances and outdoor adventurous activities, including hill walking and canoeing for the elder children, who also take part in an annual adventure camp.

All children learn two languages. The English speaking children study Russian while those children who are already learning in a second language have the option of school or parent led mother tongue lessons, or extra English with their class teacher.

Children can:
• Learn Russian as a second language
• Have advanced Russian language classes as a mother tongue
• Have Dutch language and culture (SIS has a fully recognized NTC School)
• Have their own culture/language lessons with their parents
• Receive additional English language support in class.

The school is located in the Zima Highlands housing development, some twenty minutes from the town of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The camp is a safe and peaceful location that turns into a winter wonderland for the children during the colder months. There is usually snow on the ground from the end of November until April and the children spend a great deal of time outdoors sledging and skiing. There is a down hill ski-slope in Yuzhno and a great many prepared cross-country ski trails. Summers are warm with temperatures in the mid twenties Celsius.

Next to the school there is a large swimming pool, a recreation centre with a sports hall and other leisure facilities that are used frequently by the children, parents and teachers, both as part of the school programme and for leisure.
During the summer, children often cycle to school whilst many sledge to school in the winter. The school does have a number of buses that transport children to and from school and these are particularly popular over the lunch break, when all Zima resident children go home for lunch.

Sakhalin International School is a warm and welcoming place in which children feel safe, secure, included and valued.

For further details, please visit the school website at www.outpostsakhalinisland.com/Schooling.html