From the Principals Desk – 26 July, 2018 – Growth

Dear Parents,

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, our new wing is finally taking shape and it is looking incredible. The bigger classrooms, secure play area, improved design of the building and new additions of a canteen and a larger multipurpose room are amazing additions to our school.

The vision that is HBIS, has been a long time in the making and our school has certainly grown in leaps and bounds from where we started in 1999 – it’s really hard to believe that we will be celebrating our 20 Years’ Anniversary in 2019. For many of you who have been part of the HBIS family since the beginning, you have watched us grow, have experienced many changes and hopefully seen the incredible improvements our school has made since we opened our doors.

As we push forward to become the ONLY IB World school in South Africa to offer ALL three renowned International Baccalaureate programmes namely the PYP, MYP and DP, we constantly seek ways to improve on what we do, while maintaining strong links with our heritage and traditions. I am fully aware that change may be unsettling for some people but it is a very necessary part of the growth process. You have to be open to trying new things and constantly asking “how we can do what we do better?” – it is the death knell for any school who does not seek to adapt to the ever changing world that surrounds it. Of course one must never change for the sake of changing – change has to further the institution and make it stronger and more able to deliver on its vision and mission.

And so as we add a new wing to our growing campus, we will need to make some changes for next year to accommodate new classes and the extension of our programmes. This is both exciting and necessary for HBIS to “be better”. As we approach our 20th birthday, I am proud of how far we have come and the direction in which we are headed even though at times the road has been bumpy and challenging. And just as a teenager starts moving out of adolescence and into maturing into adulthood, I believe that HBIS is fast becoming an institution that most certainly can hold its head up high among all the other schools around us.

Here’s to the next 20 years of growth, improvements and proud moments. I hope that each of our families can recognise and embrace this, and be proud to be part of our HBIS family.

Kind regards,

Grant Ruskovich