As I look for quality IB schools in Shanghai, I have come across WISS. They've been open for 6 years and no-one has been upset enough to post a comment about them on ISR, which I guess could be seen as a positive in itself, but does anyone have any more info about this place? Good, bad or ugly?
Cheers,
Inman
Western International School Shanghai (WISS)
Comment
They are still relativley new, and are an attempt to export the WAB experience to southern China. They arent WAB, how close they are is up to debate. They dont have the cred and rep that WAB has, so they are near the top of tier 2 or bottom of tier 1. There are just better schools (SAS, etc) that have really carved out the top. That said they are doing well, and while no one has anything great to say about them, their isnt anything bad to say either. New schools tend to have a hard time breaking into established markets and regions. The school has a very generic european feel to it. Compensation package is on par with what youd expect fro a school at this tier (but theres nothing exceptional about it), they do seem to be dumping a lot of money into PD, so if thats important to you, its a plus. The admins arent bad people, but you can tell they have some stress and pressure on their shoulders. They have a mandate to improve, and theyre getting to a point in their growth where they really need to "innovate" something big if they are going to move up into the top tier schools. Its not enough to just keep doing the right thing, and ina couple years if they dont they are going to stagnate where they are.