APPLICATION
Application process
Applications are now open for the 2025 International School Awards.
THE PROCESS
How to apply
Applications are now open for the 2025 International School Awards.
The Awards provide an opportunity to highlight your community’s good practice, creative endeavours and innovation. Your application should focus on one specific initiative that meets the following three criteria:
- Supporting at least two of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Rooting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ)
- Supporting your school and/or local community
Once you have selected the initiative to put forward, please follow these next steps:
- Create an account on our online application platform. This will allow you to save your progress and return to the application form ahead of the deadline (5th July 2024).
- Start your form by selecting the category that best matches your school (this will be checked and updated as necessary as part of our review process to ensure applications are judged fairly):
- Category A: International schools charging tuition fees identified as low within their country
- Category B: International schools charging tuition fees identified as average within their country
- Category C: International schools charging tuition fees identified as high within their country
- Fill out the eligibility section to confirm that your school can take part.
- Complete the application form, responding to every question within the given word limits. Incomplete applications and failed attempts to fill out compulsory questions will result in your form being unable to be submitted.
- Select your supporting evidence carefully and upload at least one image or video via the application form. You are allowed to submit no more than five photographs and one video per application.
- Once complete, submit your application.
ELIGIBILITY
School eligibility
The International School Awards are hosted by ISC Research, which uses specific criteria to identify international schools. Applicants must therefore check the eligibility of their school before submitting an application. We will not be able to consider schools that do not meet the eligibility criteria for the International School Awards.
ISC Research welcomes applications from international schools meeting these criteria:
- schools that have chosen to deliver a curriculum wholly or partly in English to some or all of their students aged between 3 and 18, in a country where English is not an official language; or
- schools that deliver a curriculum other than the host country’s national curriculum wholly or partly in English to some or all students aged between 3 and 18, in a country where English is an official language.
Online schools eligibility note:
To qualify for the International School Awards, an online school must either:
- offer a whole English-medium curriculum for children of any age between 3 and 18 and be publicly accessible for students from a variety of countries to enrol; or
- only enrol students from within one single country and offer a whole English-medium curriculum that is not the national curriculum of that country.
FAQS
Frequently asked questions
What do schools win?
Recognising that no two schools and initiatives are the same, all schools within each fee category that meet a strict judging threshold will receive an International School Award. This will be in the form of a certificate and badge that can be displayed on the school’s website, documents and social media. This is a valuable quality mark for schools. Winning initiatives will be recognised throughout the year on the ISC Research website, community and in International School Leader Magazine.
How do I enter?
You can enter via our application platform. Please view the process detailed above for further details.
How much does it cost to enter?
Entry is free.
Who can enter?
The International School Awards are hosted by ISC Research, which uses specific criteria to identify international schools. Applicants must therefore check the eligibility of their school before submitting an application. We will not be able to consider schools that do not meet the eligibility criteria for the International School Awards.
ISC Research welcomes applications from international schools meeting these criteria:
- a school that has chosen to deliver a curriculum wholly or partly in English to some or all of its students between 3 and 18, in a country where English is not an official language; or
**OR** - a school that delivers a curriculum other than the host country’s national curriculum wholly or partly in English to some or all of students between 3 and 18, in a country where English is an official language.
To qualify for the International School Awards, an online school must either:
- offer a whole English-medium curriculum for children of any age between 3 and 18 **and** be publicly accessible for students from a variety of countries to enrol;
**OR** - only enrol students from within one single country **and** offer a whole English-medium curriculum that is not the national curriculum of that country.
Online schools eligibility note:
Some online learning providers offer subject courses as a supplement to a classroom-based curriculum, but to be eligible for the International School Awards, an online school must offer a permanent whole programme of subject learning in an online environment that meets the criteria described above.
When do applications close?
Friday 5 July 2024 at 23:59 (GMT+1)
What period do these awards cover?
Judges will be looking for an outstanding example of best practice and innovation that has been implemented during the 2023-2024 academic year. If the initiative was introduced prior to this year, the initiative can be submitted provided it has been developed further and this development has been evaluated during the 2023-2024 academic year.
How do I know if my school is eligible to be nominated for an International School Award?
Schools are eligible to participate in the International School Awards if they are a school that has chosen to deliver a curriculum wholly or partly in English to some or all of its students aged between 3 and 18, in a country where English is not an official language; or a school that delivers a curriculum other than the host country’s national curriculum wholly or partly in English to some or all students aged between 3 and 18, in a country where English is an official language.
Online international schools are eligible to participate in the International School Awards if they offer a whole English-Medium curriculum for children of any age between 3 and 18, and it is publicly accessible for students from a variety of countries to enrol. Or, if the online school only enrols students from within one single country, it must offer a whole English-Medium curriculum that is not the national curriculum of that country.
How many entries can we make?
Each school can only submit one application.
Can our school resubmit an initiative that we submitted in a previous year?
Initiatives submitted in previous years cannot be resubmitted unless significant development of an existing initiative has occurred during the past year and your application provides evidence of this.
Can I start my application and return later on to finish it?
Yes, our application platform saves your progress at whatever point of the application you are on. Start your application and come back to it ahead of the 5th July deadline whenever it is convenient for you.
What do I do if I'm having a problem with my application form?
If you have any problems or questions throughout the entry process, please contact us by email on [email protected]
When are the award recipients announced?
Award recipients will be announced virtually on the ISC Research community platform 29 January 2025.
How are the applications judged?
An independent panel of education and international school experts select the award recipients. Details of all the judges are available here
PEOPLE
Judges
A panel of independent judges select all award recipients.
Alun Cooper
Job title - Former Head of International Schools
Alun Cooper has a distinguished career within education and the international schools market, with more than 40 years of senior leadership experience at prestigious international institutions in Thailand, Vietnam, Belgium, South America along ... View profile
John Cruft
Job title - Educational consultant, manager and teacher trainer
John Cruft is an educational consultant, manager and teacher trainer with extensive experience across the Asian region. John has worked and lived in Asia for over 20 years including China, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka and ... View profile
Oleg Figlin
Job title - CEO of Faria Education Group
Oleg Figlin is CEO of Faria Education Group, based in London. He is deeply passionate about EdTech because of the transformative impact it has on the lives of countless children and families. He is committed to empowering customers and the ... View profile
Luz María Gutiérrez Vittini
Job title - Former Director of Teaching and Learning at International School Basel
Following an exciting career dedicated to education, Luz María has recently (1 January 2024) retired, after nine years at International School Basel (ISB) in Switzerland, as Director of Teaching and Learning. She started teaching in Chile, ... View profile
Jeremy Lewis
Job title - Head of School, ACS Egham International School, UK
Jeremy Lewis served as Head of School at ACS Egham International School in the UK for 12 years. Prior to joining ACS Egham, Jeremy held leadership roles in Turkey, Vietnam, Hungary, Japan and Kuwait. During his 38 years in international ... View profile
Ango Mwakisu
Job title - Senior Assistant Director of Admissions
Ango Mwakisu has been working in international higher education for more than 10 years. Originally from the land of Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar, Tanzania, Ango is an alumnus of Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany where he earned both his ... View profile
Mónica Pérez-Bedmar
Job title - Professor, Department of Natural Sciences, Saint Louis University, Madrid, Spain
Mónica Pérez-Bedmar is a double national Spanish-American. Upon completion of primary and secondary school in her hometown of Madrid, she received a scholarship to study in Florida Tech University, where she completed a BS in Oceanography and ... View profile
Paul Regan
Job title - Former Principal of Oaktree International School, Kolkata, India
Paul has worked in the field of education as teacher, head teacher and principal for over thirty years, fifteen of them in international education. He has run schools in Kenya, the Ukraine, Bosnia and India and, as founding head, he has started ... View profile
Dr Kevin Ruth
Job title - Managing Director, Westlake Global
Dr Kevin Ruth is Managing Director of Westlake Global, an innovation and growth firm for K-12 independent and international schools, as well as domestic (US) and international post-secondary institutions and institutions of higher education. ... View profile
Matthew Savage
Job title - Assessment, Wellbeing and DEIJB Consultant
Formerly Principal of an award-winning international school in the Middle East, and with a long and varied career in school leadership both in the UK and internationally, Matthew now works closely with premium schools and school groups ... View profile
Dr Helen Wright
Job title - International Education Advisor
Helen has an energetic career spanning 25 years to date in the UK and international education sector, including 13 years leading schools as Head, as well as a number of national and international roles, including as Vice-Chair of the ... View profile
