British International School of Boston


The British International School of Boston is a non-sectarian, co-educational college preparatory day school located in the Moss Hill section of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood in Boston, MA. BISB offers education for ages 3 to 18. The school opened in September 2000 and was the third school opened in the United States by the British Schools of America. Today, BISB is part of Nord Anglia Education, a provider of international schools with the headquarters in Hong Kong that was acquired by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Baring Private Equity Asia Ltd in 2017. Roughly 63% of the total student body of all Nord Anglia Education schools combined are from expat families. The remaining 37% of the student body come from local families. One in three Nord Anglia graduates in 2015 was accepted to one of the top 100 universities in the world as ranked by the QS World University Rankings.
The British International School of Boston relocated in 2004 from Dedham, Massachusetts to its current location Showa Boston campus in the Moss Hill section of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, a satellite campus for Showa Women's University in Tokyo, Japan.

Enrollment and Student Profile

The British International School of Boston's current enrollment comprises approximately 414 students. Approximately 65% of students are American and 10% are British.
Large contingents of students are from Spain, Russia, The Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Italy and many other countries. There are over seventy nationalities represented at the school. The school serves Nursery School to Year 13.

Curriculum

The British International School of Boston offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme for students in Years 12 and 13 and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education in Years 10 and 11. The Middle School uses the National Curriculum of England and the International Middle Years Curriculum. The Primary School, which includes Nursery to Year 6, offers the International Primary Curriculum and adopts best practices from the British National Curriculum.
Students at the British International School of Boston sit externally graded standardised tests in English, Maths, and Science as recommended by the British National Curriculum at the end of Years 2, 6 and 9. Optional tests are taken at the end of Years 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 in Maths and English. IGCSE and IB students take external examinations at the end of Years 11 and 13.

Teachers

The vast majority of the BISB staff are British and have been educated in the United Kingdom. They mainly hold UK degrees as well as teaching qualifications. Some teaching staff hold master's degrees.
The school actively promotes the professional development of teaching staff through ongoing programmes of training carried out in the US, UK, and Europe to promote world class learning practices through adapting and adopting examples of best educational practice from around the world. Whilst the teaching staff are primarily British educated and teach a British curriculum, courses are designed to reflect a global perspective and the international nature of the student body.

Nationalities

Though the majority of students at the British International School of Boston are American, the school hosts over seventy different heritages.

Affiliation and Associations

The British International School of Boston is accredited to offer the IB Diploma Programme and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education. The school is an active member of the European Council for International Schools and the Council for International Schools in the Americas.

Notable events

The British International School of Boston lost its founding headteacher, Julie Saville, in a car accident on 22 September 2000.