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Firstly, I appreciate the opportunity to voice our concerns and thoughts regarding our support system. This is so valuable!

On of FIS’s missions is to “INCLUDE”. Are we being inclusive? Yes, school is accepting more and more students, regardless of their needs. Does that make us inclusive? Those students with high language needs spend most of their school days without support... during most UOI, Math, Advisory, and specials. They are neglected if they are not supported.

It is very simple. Our population has grown significantly, with a large number of students with different needs, but the number of support staff is decreasing. Honestly, it feels like the school doesn’t care. With our classroom becoming more diverse, we seriously need a new support system to ensure the education for both English learners and fluent students, and students with learning difficulties.

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The issue is that any information regarding students and support is not shared with HR teachers. Just sending documents is not a proper communication. Any matter regarding support should be delivered in a meeting or in person. All teachers need to know what is going on and to be on the same page in order to provide the best support to each student. We also should not forget those who are supposed to be monitored.  

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The issue is that any information regarding students and support is not shared with HR teachers. Just sending documents is not a proper communication. Any matter regarding support should be delivered in a meeting or in person. All teachers need to know what is going on and to be on the same page in order to provide the best support to each student. We also should not forget those who are supposed to be monitored.  

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It is very obvious that there are two separate issues: ELL and Learning Support. And there is one department trying to manage both very different issues. Here is where the problem lies.

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It is very obvious that there are two separate issues: ELL and Learning Support. And there is one department trying to manage both very different issues. Here is where the problem lies.

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It seems that the admission policy of FIS could be altered so that it is more selective. This would help to lighten the load of "the exceptional child". However, if FIS chooses to continue with the same admission policy while truly aiming to be a bonafide, neurologically diverse inclusive institution, the school might want to consider hiring (more?) certified special ed teachers with plenty of "real world" teaching experience as support. After all, we're all EAL teachers...

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It seems that the admission policy of FIS could be altered so that it is more selective. This would help to lighten the load of "the exceptional child". However, if FIS chooses to continue with the same admission policy while truly aiming to be a bonafide, neurologically diverse inclusive institution, the school might want to consider hiring (more?) certified special ed teachers with plenty of "real world" teaching experience as support. After all, we're all EAL teachers...

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I wonder what push-in looks like in rooms too small for push-in.

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I wonder what push-in looks like in rooms too small for push-in.

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Besides all of the language and learning needs that we are facing, we need to realize that ALL of our students were affected by COVID and masking.  These are learning losses that are across the board in the world and we all as teachers are just expected to fix it without additional support.  We need more support to help with the extra needs that have developed from this time period.

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There was no talk of language support until the end of September. Then, at a very slow start, some students were assessed. After that, some students have been grouped for pull-out or push-in. It is all happening very late into the school year, while it seems it could have happened much earlier- assess, group, push-in/pull-out- should happen from first/second week of school, especially for returning students. 

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There was no talk of language support until the end of September. Then, at a very slow start, some students were assessed. After that, some students have been grouped for pull-out or push-in. It is all happening very late into the school year, while it seems it could have happened much earlier- assess, group, push-in/pull-out- should happen from first/second week of school, especially for returning students. 

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As I understand, the entire WB team should be pushing in to literacy classes. This hasn't been happening as far as we can see, nor has it been communicated. There needs to be much better communication and support - not just ad hoc focus sessions with a select number of students

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As I understand, the entire WB team should be pushing in to literacy classes. This hasn't been happening as far as we can see, nor has it been communicated. There needs to be much better communication and support - not just ad hoc focus sessions with a select number of students

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I have no time for planning because I need to do extra work. Less time for planning means that I cannot plan as good as I expect . There are also some students who need support but because their support is taken by the very low English proficiency students, these students are neglected. Maybe if there is not enough people in support team, the head of WB should be doing push in too?

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How are we supporting high ability learners here? We have some (extremely little!!!!) support for our children with learning development needs, why are we not also able to support students who are high achievers better? 

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How are we supporting high ability learners here? We have some (extremely little!!!!) support for our children with learning development needs, why are we not also able to support students who are high achievers better? 

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What have the Support Staff been doing with their time so far this year!? It takes forever to get them to do anything and it was shocking to hear that they are working with 5 kids at the moment for Learning Support. That seems shockingly low. Also 5 members of staff supporting 5 students at a maximum of 3 hours per week? How does that work? Where is their time going?!

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What have the Support Staff been doing with their time so far this year!? It takes forever to get them to do anything and it was shocking to hear that they are working with 5 kids at the moment for Learning Support. That seems shockingly low. Also 5 members of staff supporting 5 students at a maximum of 3 hours per week? How does that work? Where is their time going?!

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The support staff have not come and assessed students in my class, have turned up to meetings with parents having not even met with the children yet or assessed them. Also made meetings with other parents without the class teacher being present. Why is there no system in place for how this procedure should go?

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The support staff have not come and assessed students in my class, have turned up to meetings with parents having not even met with the children yet or assessed them. Also made meetings with other parents without the class teacher being present. Why is there no system in place for how this procedure should go?

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Teachers are not aware of the students who are on ISPs in their class. This is frustrating parents and teachers and not helping the students.  How is this acceptable!?!?  Why have they not been shared already??? This should have been done before the first day of school.

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Teachers are not aware of the students who are on ISPs in their class. This is frustrating parents and teachers and not helping the students.  How is this acceptable!?!?  Why have they not been shared already??? This should have been done before the first day of school.

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If each class (or year group had a shared TA) had its own TA teachers could better prepare and differentiate their lessons. Right now teachers are expected to plan, prepare, mark, maintain a classroom, do duties and ASAs all on their own. There isn't enough hours in the day to do all of this effectively. We are a fee paying private school, surely there is a budget for this. Other international schools in Japan which are not as big as FIS can do this.

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If each class (or year group had a shared TA) had its own TA teachers could better prepare and differentiate their lessons. Right now teachers are expected to plan, prepare, mark, maintain a classroom, do duties and ASAs all on their own. There isn't enough hours in the day to do all of this effectively. We are a fee paying private school, surely there is a budget for this. Other international schools in Japan which are not as big as FIS can do this.

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Why aren't we offering any support in Mathematics. I have many students with gaps in their Maths learning but its extremely difficult to prepare lessons on higher level Maths concepts whilst also trying to teach children who can't count backwards from 10.

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Why aren't we offering any support in Mathematics. I have many students with gaps in their Maths learning but its extremely difficult to prepare lessons on higher level Maths concepts whilst also trying to teach children who can't count backwards from 10.

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We know that there is a lack of staff, BUT...
For Learning Support students, all 5 of them, the time needed is 2.5 hours 1-3 times a week.  (assuming each student receives 30 min.)

How have they not received
their services and how have we not prioritized their learning?

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I am concerned that students have not received services.  It is October (7 weeks since the beginning of school)

Has this been communicated to parents?

It should. They have been promised services that are not being administered.

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Some students need one to one support but haven't received this support until now. This lack of support holds them back from learning and achieving to their best ability. Some support information should be shared with the HR teachers, but HR teachers are not always included in the process/discussions. We need quick interventions to be put in place with stakeholders. considered.

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Some students need one to one support but haven't received this support until now. This lack of support holds them back from learning and achieving to their best ability. Some support information should be shared with the HR teachers, but HR teachers are not always included in the process/discussions. We need quick interventions to be put in place with stakeholders. considered.

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If we are a true international school, who claims to offer support for a wide range of students, why don't we prioritize having a larger support team and not just add bodies in the room. Teachers can teach all their students by themselves but it is disservice to our students to not be giving them extra support. It's not about the teachers, it all comes down to our students. 

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If we are a true international school, who claims to offer support for a wide range of students, why don't we prioritize having a larger support team and not just add bodies in the room. Teachers can teach all their students by themselves but it is disservice to our students to not be giving them extra support. It's not about the teachers, it all comes down to our students. 

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In primary it seems that there is basically a 2 person support department currently and they are pulling the weight of the whole department. I don't understand this and do not understand why some are stretched so thin and other do not seem to be pulling their weight. 

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In primary it seems that there is basically a 2 person support department currently and they are pulling the weight of the whole department. I don't understand this and do not understand why some are stretched so thin and other do not seem to be pulling their weight. 

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Extra Language support is needed, but in addition, there needs to be extra push-in support as well. We can't just support students in the language blocks and then leave the teacher to differentiate in the class when there are so many different needs. Needs from literally no English to high-achievers, behavioral issues, students on the spectrum, and other specific learning needs like dyslexia. In primary we teach literacy, math, social studies and science... with ever larger classes with these types of needs, there is no way for 1 teacher to support double digit classes and differentiate without leaving students to flounder. Please remember that this is primary - students are still developing their independence. 

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Extra Language support is needed, but in addition, there needs to be extra push-in support as well. We can't just support students in the language blocks and then leave the teacher to differentiate in the class when there are so many different needs. Needs from literally no English to high-achievers, behavioral issues, students on the spectrum, and other specific learning needs like dyslexia. In primary we teach literacy, math, social studies and science... with ever larger classes with these types of needs, there is no way for 1 teacher to support double digit classes and differentiate without leaving students to flounder. Please remember that this is primary - students are still developing their independence. 

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There needs to be more support in the language blocks to help differentiate. On the FIS website it says that we have a student to teacher ratio of 7:1 but this is not really the case. Reading groups need to be small to work well and without additional support this is not happening in many classrooms. 

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There needs to be more support in the language blocks to help differentiate. On the FIS website it says that we have a student to teacher ratio of 7:1 but this is not really the case. Reading groups need to be small to work well and without additional support this is not happening in many classrooms. 

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How can we be in October now and teachers have not had face to face meetings about ISP students? It is concerning that it was mentioned the ISPs would be reevaluated in December, when we have not even met about them by now. 

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How can we be in October now and teachers have not had face to face meetings about ISP students? It is concerning that it was mentioned the ISPs would be reevaluated in December, when we have not even met about them by now. 

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I agree that we do not have enough support this year and what concerns me the most are the students in the middle - the ones who are supposed to be "monitored." Is anyone monitoring them?  

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I agree that we do not have enough support this year and what concerns me the most are the students in the middle - the ones who are supposed to be "monitored." Is anyone monitoring them?  

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We have been growing our school by accepting more students, many with high language needs and some with other special needs as well. The support staff though has not been growing - it actually seems to be declining! So as a result teachers this year have large classes with exceptional needs and incredibly low support. This is not good for the students.  

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We have been growing our school by accepting more students, many with high language needs and some with other special needs as well. The support staff though has not been growing - it actually seems to be declining! So as a result teachers this year have large classes with exceptional needs and incredibly low support. This is not good for the students.  