Personnel

Eric Larson

Director

(elarson@isps.edu.tt)

John Horsfall

High School Principal

(jhorsfall@isps.edu.tt)

Louis Moore

School Counselor (lmoore@isps.edu.tt)

Jackie Fung-Kee-Fung

Director of Admission

(jfungkeefung@isps.edu.tt)

Enrollment

High School:  164

Middle School: 94

Elementary School: 173

Contact Information

Local Address:

1 International Drive,

Westmoorings,

Trinidad & Tobago,

West Indies

US Mailing Address:

P.O.S. 1369

1601 NW 97^th Avenue

Miami, FL 33102-5307 

USA

Phone:

(868) 633-4777

(868) 632-4591/2

Fax:

(868) 632-4595

Web-Site:  www.isps.edu.tt

The International School Port of Spain (ISPS) is a private, co-educational day school based on a US curriculum model. It offers a college preparatory holistic education, in English, from Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12.  Graduates earn a High School Diploma.  ISPS was founded in 1994 and has been accredited by The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools since 1996.  Admission to the high school is non-selective.

ISPS’s families are local nationals or members of the expatriate business and diplomatic communities of Trinidad & Tobago.  The High School (Grades 9-12) includes 164 students from 22 different nations with approximately 59% local, 13% American,  9% from Latin America and 19 % from other countries, including the UK.

Educational and experiential trips are considered an important aspect of the curriculum.  Community service is actively encouraged.  Sporting events, cultural programs, student government, Model United Nations, drama productions and interaction with other regional American/ International schools are scheduled throughout the year.

Faculty: Twenty-one full-time and two part-time faculty members teach in the High School.  Of these twenty-three faculty members, thirteen hold advanced degrees, and have an average of 17 years teaching experience.  The average class size is 14 students.

Curriculum:  Courses in the High School are college preparatory courses with Advanced Placement (AP) courses available.  Classes are scheduled in eight blocks over a two-day A/B cycle, with classes being 85 minutes in duration.  It is our policy that students fill a minimum of seven of the eight blocks unless taking AP subjects. 

Credit for AP courses:  Most AP subjects fill two of the eight blocks, one on each of the two-day A/B cycle.  As such, these are two credit courses.  AP Human Geography, AP Statistics and AP Psychology are exceptions in that they are offered every other day and, as such, are single credit courses.

 AP Subjects Offered in 2011-2012:

Graduation Requirements:  In order to obtain a High School Diploma from ISPS, students must earn a minimum of 26 credits while enrolled in grades 9 - 12.  Of these, 15 must be from the five core academic areas of English, Math, Science, Social Science and Modern Languages.  In addition to these, students must complete 2 credits in PE and a half credit in Computer Technology.  Electives and additional academic credits make up the required 26.  Please note that although students may earn credit for high school courses done prior to 9^th grade, all students must still earn the required 26 while enrolled in the high school.

Elective courses are usually semester courses, although some may be offered as full year courses.  These include Art, Drama, Music, Dance and Technology. 

Students are accepted into AP courses upon recommendation from teachers together with a minimum grade of “B” in pre-requisite courses.  ISPS offers no Honors courses. 

Ranking Policy:  Due to small class sizes and the transient nature of our student population, students are not ranked. 

GRADING SYSTEM and GRADE POINT AVERAGES:

The school year consists of 182 instructional days divided into semesters and quarters.  Formal grade reports are issued at the end of each quarter and exams are taken at the end of each semester.  Only semester grades are entered on students’ cumulative transcripts.   GPA's are computed using the following scale for all ISPS courses including AP courses.  

Weighting Policy:

Advanced Placement courses are weighted with one extra Grade Point.

Transfer Students:

Students who transfer to ISPS during their high school career, do not have their GPA re-computed.  ISPS accepts the GPA granted from the former institution, if any is given.  Further, ISPS will not compute GPAs for previous years’ work where no GPA is given. 

STANDARDIZED TESTING: 

In the High School, the following standardized tests are available: PSAT, SAT Reasoning Test, SAT Subject Tests, ACT and AP Exams.   In grades 9 & 10, it is recommended that students do the PSATs.  Juniors are required to do the PSATs.  It is recommended that juniors do the SAT Reasoning Test at least once before their Senior year.  Students are encouraged to do SAT Subject Tests as they complete respective AP courses.  AP exams are administered in May of every year in accordance with the College Board’s policies and procedures. 

SAT I score range:

AP Results, 2010

Please note that 70 % of all grades were “3” or higher. 

Colleges:    College Guidance at ISPS focuses on matching students with prospective colleges and universities.  Following is a select list of colleges that our graduates have been accepted to in the last five years.