Reykjavik - School Report Question and Answers
Describe the general climate of the grade level that you teach or your child attends:
Mainstream - Mar 2015
My class had eleven students from eight nations around the world. They ranged in ability, age (7-9) and nationality. While there were certainly challenging times, as with all schools, we developed a well-nuturing community that displayed admirable degrees of curiosity, hard work and kindness. We had memorable times working with the grades below and above us on activities such as blueberry picking, maritime exploration, Halloween celebration and Icelandic culture days. - Aug 2014
ISI is a small school. My children's homeroom classes consist of 5-6 students each. However, during subject matter learning (e.g. English, Math), children are grouped together across different grades. Part of the grouping is based on format, skills and abilities. - May 2014
The curriculum is unorganized and feels thrown together without much thought. There are no full-time teachers just many part-time teachers and only two native English speakers for a school of 65 students. This round robin of teachers and the poor curriculum make this school an absolute waste of money and your child's time. - Apr 2014
The teachers are nice and try hard but the school is not up to the standards that DOS personnel expect from an International School. It's highly unlikely that any of the teachers currently teaching my child could be hired by another international school for work. This school does not recruit teachers the way other international schools do. Instead of casting a wide net and finding the most highly qualified professionals they can find, they hire locally, teachers who already have residency permits to live in Iceland. They are basically taking the easy way out, as by this method they don't have to go through the process to get new hires work permits. You should know upfront if you are going to consider putting your child in this school that it is very, very different from what you might be used to. Last year the school had hired a "real teacher" from the U.S., and many of us were hoping to move our kids into his class, but unfortunately he was only with the school for one year before moving on to greener pastures. - Mar 2014
