Denla British School (DBS) and a rigorous academic focus
Academic excellence and acquisition of leadership skills are the heart of a successful educational foundation for students. DBS will enable students to shine academically with many special programmes, including preparations for IGCSE and A Level examinations to get into world’s top universities.
Mr Mark McVeigh, Principal of Denla British School (DBS), a leading international school in Thailand, is an expert in education who has all-round teaching experience of over 30 years. He leads provision of education at DBS along with the team of expert teachers, so students have developed academically at a fast rate.
This academic year, DBS has launched 5 special programmes:
1) Beacon Core & Aspire, and Cartesian programmes – for the brightest and most engaged students to stretch them intellectually. Students are invited to join the programmes, based on their academic performance and attitude to their studies.
2) Comprehensive ESL programme – to ensure that every DBS student is able to access the British curriculum, encouraging a good mastery of the English language for all.
3) Accelerated Reader programme – to enable students to make excellent progress in their English language reading. Books are selected at an appropriate level for the individual, students answer questions to show that they have understood, and they can then move on to the next level at their own rate.
4) Y10 and IGCSEs plans – to ensure that the school has the right teaching team in place for the start of the IGCSEs, and that the curriculum reflects the necessary IGCSE course specifications. Plans will be put in place so that individual students receive guidance on which of the optional subjects to choose, apart from the core English, Maths and Science.
5) GL performance – At DBS, there are assessments for English, Maths, and Science called GL Assessments to measure against the world’s average. The Progress Test Series (PT Series) assesses students’ comprehension of the core subjects to identify which students need extra support and which will rise to more challenging targets. Results from GL Assessments help teachers to accurately plan for each student’s academic excellence.
Other than a rigorous academic focus, DBS is determined to nurture students as global leaders with versatile skills. In this academic year, the co-curricular programme will be enhanced with Model United Nations, an advanced learning model based on the procedures at the United Nations, giving students the opportunity to debate, discuss, analyse ideas, and present to large groups of people. This is all very important in instilling global leadership skills in accordance with the school’s vision, “Nurturing Global Leaders.”
DBS Principal says, “The British curriculum is the most popular curriculum in the world. A distinctive characteristic of the UK curriculum is the focus on students as individuals. The curriculum is designed to encourage a child’s potential in the most precise and effective way. It offers skills-based learning, so that children can think and question at a deeper level to pursue individual enquiry and be aware of global contexts. It prepares them for a future where education is more than the sum of examination results.”
The UK curriculum is delivered by two sectors in the UK: independent schools, and state schools. The UK curriculum for independent schools is very intense and it is considered the best curriculum in the UK. DBS implements an enhanced UK curriculum from the best practice of independent schools in the UK, where all teachers are native English-speakers (apart from Thai and Mandarin teachers) and they are very experienced. The uniqueness of DBS’s enhanced UK curriculum includes its approach to Personalised Learning that concentrates on encouragement, and adapting the teaching method to each student, according to their skills and preferences.
Approaches vary from specific teaching for each individual, to teaching in small groups, with teachers and their assistants supervising the entire process. The school is not only known for its academic excellence, but also encourages a well-rounded education so that children can explore and discover their own talents. Another characteristic of DBS is the additional learning period in the Extended Day system. DBS students will have 1.5 hours per day more school time than students in other schools, adding up to nearly 8 hours per week, for which parents don’t have to pay an extra fee.
Students will be encouraged to choose from over 60 courses and activities per week, including English language, literature, art, music, dance, sport, robotics, cooking and leadership activities. They can focus on what they like, they can join clubs and also use this period for homework groups to prepare themselves for the next school day. All students will be looked after by expert teachers and without an extra fee. This is enormously worthwhile and hugely beneficial to students’ development.
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