Welcome to ISPP – Cambodia’s leading international school

International School of Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s first and oldest international school, with a reputation for quality and independence in Southeast Asia. We are the leaders in international education in this country and our International Baccalaureate programs, diverse community and modern facilities enable children from age 3 through to Grade 12 to thrive.

Founded in 1989, we have built our school and its outstanding reputation over more than 30 years. Along the way, thousands of students from across the globe have experienced both personal growth and academic success, and ISPP graduates have gone on to attend some of the world’s best universities.

At ISPP, we are….

Culturally diverse

Cultural diversity is a cornerstone of an international education at ISPP, and we are committed to ensuring our school is enriched by the diverse nationalities, ethnicities, languages and cultural practices of our students. To further this diversity, we have a nationality policy which restricts enrolment of any single nationality to no more than 30%. As a result of our commitment, we have students of more than 50 different nationalities represented at our school. Our faculty and support staff are also multicultural, representing 30 nationalities.

Not-for-profit

ISPP is an independent, not-for-profit educational institution. Our fees and revenues are re-invested in our school and its philanthropic initiatives. We do not reward individuals or shareholders. Only our students and community benefit, by our focus on enhancing learning, attracting highly qualified, internationally experienced faculty, improving our facilities and aiming for best-practice in the management of our resources.

Global citizens

ISPP reaches beyond our campus to support the wider community, with a focus on service learning and local partnerships. Our school was founded by NGO workers, and we continue their commitment to the betterment of others through our innovative host country scholarship programme, which offers our world-class education to students from Phnom Penh’s most disadvantaged communities.

Application and entrance fees for all new students are allocated to a special fund which is devoted to philanthropic projects and support of the scholarship programme. The families of all new students are automatically and generously contributing to the improvement of the lives of others less fortunate.

Committed to our core values

Everything we do at ISPP is shaped by our commitment to our guiding statements and our core values of Learning, Environment, Community and Well-being. These values are reflected in our Strategic Plan 2020-24, where we have laid out ambitious goals to build on what we have already achieved.

Our values and goals

Learning

Learning at ISPP is guided by the framework of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Programmes and our authorisation as an IB school began in 2000. Within four years, we were fully authorised, and ISPP is one of the oldest IB World Schools in the region.

We believe that the IB programmes provide an appropriate, holistic approach to education that best suits the needs of the diverse range of students that come through our doors. An IB education is centred around building characteristics that are not only vital for learning, but also to develop young people who can help make a better world. The IB Learner Profile reflects the holistic nature of an IB education and its attributes highlight the importance of nurturing curiosity and compassion as well as developing knowledge and skills. Along with cognitive development, IB programmes are concerned with students’ social, emotional and physical well-being, and with ensuring that students learn to respect themselves, others, and the world around them.

To complement our IB programmes, ISPP’s Learning Principles define effective learning around six broad themes. These principles provide alignment for all stakeholders regarding ISPP’s expectations about learning and teaching. They ensure that we attract the highest-quality teachers with appropriate qualifications, and they enable our community to have a shared understanding of and belief in ISPP’s educational practices.

Community

Our community encompasses students, their parents, faculty, staff and our alumni. We welcome parent engagement and our Board of Trustees comprises parents with a range of skills and experience to contribute to the continuous improvement and development of our school. Our Parent Community Organisation (PCO) and Board of Trustees subcommittees invite parent participation and the school hosts regular events and workshops to help build relationships within the school community.

Environment

ISPP is an Eco School – the only one in Cambodia. Our Green Flag certification from the global Eco Schools organisation is testament to our efforts to protect the environment and educate our students and the wider community on how to participate. Our school’s extensive solar panel installation provides 60% or more of our electricity needs, we have a policy banning single use plastic on campus and our cafeteria participates in Meat-Free Mondays. These are just a few of our many environmental initiatives, many of which began as student-led concepts.

Well-being

The well-being of students is central to everything we do at ISPP. From an educational perspective, we have health and well-being embedded in our curriculum, a comprehensive learning support programme in place, and we are already working towards our strategic goals of furthering inclusivity, to provide for a more diverse range of learning needs.

Our school has three student counsellors, a school psychologist and a speech and language therapist, who together make up the most comprehensive, in-house student support team in Phnom Penh.

We also have five nurses and an ambulance on campus to ensure that students and staff are treated promptly and professionally in the case of illness or accident, as well as coordinating preventative health support and community initiatives such as blood donation drives and annual influenza vaccinations.

Covid19 and ISPP Online School

Like many schools around the world, ISPP has experienced periods of extended campus closure since the beginning of the Covid19 global pandemic. From the first day of launching ISPP Online School, our remote learning model has been developed, enhanced and continuously reviewed and improved to offer the best possible online learning experience for our students.

It is considered to be the best available in Cambodia and we have provided information and advice about our program to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and Unicef Cambodia.