A POOL FOR SCUBA diving, two swimming pools, a rock climbing facility, three air-conditioned indoor gyms, six tennis courts, and a centralized three-story library with around 80,000 books?all these and more make learning at the International School Manila (ISM) as much fun and stimulating as it is competitive.

The crescent-shaped ISM campus sprawls on 7.5 hectares in Taguig?s Fort Bonifacio Global City.

On one side of the complex are lecture halls and classrooms; on the other, shared facilities. There are tennis courts on the rooftop.

?Our school has created an environment that?s ideal for learning,? says Stephanie Hagedorn, director for communications and marketing of IS Manila.

Designed by Jose T. Mañosa and Associates Inc., in collaboration with Chicago-based Perkins & Will and Obayashi-DCMI, the new ISM campus is definitely a marked improvement on the old structure in Bel-Air Village in Makati City. ISM moved to Taguig in 2002 after its lease on the old site expired.

Hagedorn says classrooms have been custom-built as close as possible to the requirements of both students and teachers. At least 10 classrooms use ?smart boards? or interactive electronic whiteboards. All classrooms have computers, Internet access and audio visual devices.

But the elementary school proclaims the youthful exuberance of its occupants with classrooms in vibrant colors, their walls adorned with cut-and-paste visuals made by the students themselves.

Hagedorn says a normal class at ISM has 20 students at the most.

Multicultural

There are private practice rooms for piano, violin, band, etc., as well as studios for dance, music and even pottery lessons.

ISM?which consists of elementary, middle and high schools?is one of the oldest international academic institutions in the Philippines.

Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in the United States and a member of the East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools, ISM is ?certified to award both the traditional US high school and the International Baccalaureate Diplomas.?

American and British expatriates in Manila founded in 1920 what they called the American School Inc. to give their children an education and a learning atmosphere comparable to the finest private schools in the US.

?Obviously, over time, we?ve become an international school based on the enrollment and the faculty members,? Hagedorn says.

At present, ISM has 2,000 students, 24 percent of whom are Americans and 18.9 percent Filipinos. Other students are Japanese, Indian, Australian, British, Malaysian, Indonesian, Korean, and Canadian.

The ISM?s 200-strong faculty is multi-ethnic, as well.

A class is like the United Nations, Hagedorn says.

ISM rates are affordable only to expatriates and extremely well-to-do Filipinos. Scholarships, however, are offered annually to at least three Filipinos who pass the tough screening process.

Hagedorn says ISM is especially proud of its curriculum, which is ?nontraditional and based on the best worldwide practices.? In the elementary, for instance, teachers encourage students to ask questions and challenge the topics being discussed.

Learning through inquiry

ISM teachers believe learning is deepened through inquiry. Students get the chance to reflect and act on what they have learned.

The approach, called Units of Inquiry, follows a careful and coherent structure to elicit questions from students about what they know, think and feel about the topic, and lead them to find answers to their queries. Information and ideas are processed until understanding is reached. Then they explore and associate their new learning with the real world, thus, enabling them to make conclusions and take actions.

Hagedorn says ISM teachers engage students this way from first grade.

ISM superintendent David Toze says all their teachers have two fundamental skills.

?First, they differentiate and individualize so that all learners can enjoy their lessons and are stimulated and fulfilled.

?Second, they are performers and entertainers. They are able to read their ?audience? and know what lessons are working, how far they should take each topic before moving on, when to step back and let the students direct events, when to move in and take charge, when and how to use technology to add to the learning experience.?

Toze, who has has been living in the Philippines with his own family for 12 years now, has twin children enrolled at ISM.

Toze says ISM?s college entry record is ?extraordinary,? that even those in the lowest 20 percent in terms of grade point average last year ?entered really good colleges and universities around the world because our reputation travels so far and wide.?

The top 20 percent of graduates, he says, are admitted to Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Brown, and Wellesley in the United States, and other reputable colleges and universities in the world.

Like other recognized international schools, ISM offers the International Baccalaureate Program, a two-year curriculum that qualifies graduates for admission to the world?s leading universities.

Last year, ISM students got an average score of 563 in the Scholastic Aptitude Tests, much higher than the national average SAT score in the US, which was 502.