At BCIS we offer a whole-school, comprehensive Student Support program. Our Student Support team is at the heart of our strategy to ensure that the individual needs of all students are met. Student Support staff and counselors, in collaboration with classroom teachers, support students at both ends of the learning continuum, including students with learning needs and students who are highly capable.

Over the past year our Elementary School (ES) Student Support team have built a collaborative relationship with a local school through the Yue Cheng Research Institute (YERI) outreach program. Inspired by the success of this partnership, our ES Student Support team applied and was shortlisted to attend this year's Educational Collaborative for International Schools (ECIS) Student Support Conference in Luxembourg to present this project. ECIS' Student Support Conference is an annual global event that connects leading student support educators and administrators from international schools around the world to share ideas and learn together.

The BCIS conference workshop was delivered by our Student Support team of Meghan Branks, Demetrise Brown, Dandan Sui and Jose Tapia, who were all engaged with the local project. The session, titled "Creating and Fostering a Consortium with a Host Country", dealt with the process experienced by our ES Student Support team as they collaborated and engaged with their local school partner. The team explained to attendees the approach they adopted, detailing the mutual observation visits and idea sharing sessions, which initially focused on differentiation, general support tips for social emotional needs and the impact of classroom layout on learning. Following the building up of trust, as well as mutual respect for one another's style and capabilities, the relationship was able to further develop. The BCIS team held professional development sessions for the local school staff members to foster understanding of classroom management among staff members, teacher to student interaction, and the identification of learning support needs.

The audience of counselors, specialists, learning support, administrators from all over the world, were then given the opportunity to break off, to reflect on what their experience of forming a partnership with a local school in their own host country would entail. BCIS presenters then invited participants to discuss major barriers to their own initiatives realizing success, using their BCIS experience as a guiding mechanism. This format engaged participants to consider their own circumstances practically, opening the process for group troubleshooting of potential difficulties, further aiding the implementation of this approach. The workshop came to a close with BCIS presenters opening up channels for follow-up communication for attendees to contact them once they return to their school and host country.

We are delighted to see the work of our Student Support team celebrated at a local and global level. The collaborative approach taken by BCIS' Student Support team, YERI and the local school enriches our community and learning approaches. We can't wait to see where this incredible work and fruitful relationship leads next!