Amongst the fleet of international schools in Phnom Penh, there emerges a new player. The Australian International School of Phnom Penh (AISPP) is the newest school to make its foray into Cambodia.

AISPP has ambitious plans in the Kingdom. The aim is to become an innovative world-class early years to Grade 12, non-denominational international school located on a single campus.

Located in the up-and-coming bustling neighbourhood of Rousey Keo, the school is sprawled across six hectares of spacious grounds.

Brand new purpose-built facilities are currently under construction. It is the setting for a most impressive array of first-class facilities including a gymnasium, swimming pool and many more recreational amenities.

Maxine Driscoll, Founding Head of School at AISPP, is confident of the future success of the school: “We are focusing on giving our students a well-rounded education and ensuring that they learn beyond just the academics to acquire the skills, habits and dispositions required to thrive and be successful in the 21st century.”

To prepare students to become successful 21st century citizens, the curriculum at AISPP guarantees coverage of the Australian National Curriculum standards in the subjects of English, Mathematics, History, Geography, Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, Science, The Arts, Health & Physical Education, Languages, Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding Capability, Personal and Social Capability and Intercultural Capability.

The Economics and Business curriculum aims to enable students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, understand the process of economic and business decision-making and its effects on themselves and others, now and in the future.

The Humanities and Social Sciences are the study of human behaviour and interaction in social, cultural, environmental, artistic, economic and political contexts. This will help students develop the ability to question, think critically, solve problems, and communicate effectively.

Science provides an empirical way of answering interesting and important questions about the biological, physical and technological world. The knowledge it produces has proved to be a reliable basis for action in our personal, social and economic lives.

The Arts have the capacity to engage, inspire and enrich all students, exciting the imagination and encouraging them to reach their creative and expressive potential. The five Arts subjects consist of Dance, Drama, Media Arts, Music and Visual Arts.

Languages

The Australian National Curriculum is designed to enable all students to engage in learning other languages in addition to English and to recognise and value the diverse linguistic, cultural and personal profiles of each child.

Health and Physical Education

The Health and Physical Education curriculum is designed to empower students to flourish as healthy, safe and active citizens in the 21st century.

General Capabilities encompass the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions that, together with curriculum areas previously outlined, will assist students to live and work successfully in the 21st century. There are seven general capabilities:

1 Literacy

Students become literate as they develop the knowledge, skills and dispositions to interpret and use language confidently for learning and communicating in and out of school and for participating effectively in society.

2 Numeracy

Numeracy involves students in recognising and understanding the role of mathematics in the world and having the dispositions and capacities to use mathematical knowledge and skills purposefully.

3 Digital capabilities

Students develop digital capabilities as they learn to use technology effectively and appropriately to access, create and communicate information and ideas, solve problems and work collaboratively in all learning areas at school and in their lives beyond school.

4 Critical and creative thinking

Students develop capability in critical and creative thinking as they learn to generate and evaluate knowledge, clarify concepts and ideas, seek possibilities, consider alternatives and solve problems.

5 Personal and social capability

Students develop personal and social capability as they learn to understand themselves and others, and manage their relationships, lives, work and learning more effectively. This capability involves students in a range of practices including recognising and regulating emotions.

6 Ethical understanding

Students develop ethical understanding as they identify and investigate the nature of ethical concepts, values and character traits such as honesty, resilience, empathy and respect for others, and understand how reasoning can assist ethical judgement. Ethical understanding involves students building a strong personal and socially oriented ethical outlook that helps them to manage context, conflict and uncertainty, and to develop an awareness of the influence that their values and behaviour have on others.

7 Intercultural understanding

Students develop intercultural understanding and international-mindedness as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. They come to understand how personal, group and national identities are shaped, and that culture is variable and can change.

“Amongst the 116 International schools out here I am confident we will stand tall with our thorough curriculum and our outstanding, highly qualified teachers. Our expertly crafted units of inquiry are organised under overarching themes. These include rich assessment tasks and are designed with concepts such as necessity, creativity, sustainability and change. Thereby allowing for a real world focus on what the students are learning,” concluded Driscoll.

The school will open its doors to the very first batch of students in August 2017.

You can learn more about AISPP at www.ais-pp.com and the facebook page.