Secondary
SCHOOL
Head of Secondary’s Welcome:
Welcome to Uplands Secondary
As the Head of Secondary at The International School of Penang (Uplands), I am delighted to welcome you to a dynamic and inclusive school community. Our secondary school provides an environment where academic rigor is balanced with personal growth, creativity, and global citizenship.
At Uplands, we offer a broad and engaging curriculum that prepares students for the future, with a focus on inquiry-based learning, critical thinking, and developing skills that are essential for success in a rapidly changing world. Our secondary students benefit from a diverse range of subjects, from the Middle Years Programme (MYP) in Years 7-9 to the Cambridge IGCSE and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma in Years 10-13.
We pride ourselves on our supportive community, where every student is encouraged to challenge themselves, explore their interests, and contribute to society. Our commitment to wellbeing is at the heart of our approach, ensuring students feel safe, supported, and inspired to reach their full potential. Through extracurricular activities, leadership opportunities, and service projects, students grow not only academically but as responsible, globally minded citizens.
I invite you to explore our website and learn more about the exciting opportunities that await you at Uplands Secondary. Whether you are a new or returning member of our community, we look forward to an academic year full of growth, achievement, and new experiences!
Emily Vallance
Head of Secondary
Learning and Teaching
High-quality learning and teaching is at the heart of the work of any school. At Uplands we draw on modern research and best practice to inform our definition of high-quality learning and teaching and therefore our instructional practice in the classroom. Based on the International Baccalaureate Organisation’s “Approaches to Teaching”, our learning and teaching essential agreements are:
Student
Experience
A day in the life of a student at Uplands will vary hugely depending on their year group and therefore their programme of study. You can find our more about specific programmes in the other sections of this site. However, there are some commonalities that exist across the secondary school that support the continuity of a students journey through the school aside from the approaches to learning and teaching in the classroom that are articulated above. Throughout the school, we believe that respectful relationships sit at the heart of a successful classroom. At Uplands, students should be at the centre of the learning experience in an inquiry-based classroom. They should be active participates as they learn and in all areas of school life.
Student Voice
Student advocacy (voice) takes many different forms at Uplands but at its heart is the notion that young people should play a role in making the decisions that affect them as stated in The United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child: “to assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child” (UN General Assembly, 1989). Uplands’ school culture is founded upon mutual respect and the sharing and celebration of our diversity of experiences. We pride ourselves on building and maintaining an inclusive and dynamic community and depend on the voice of our students to achieve this. Student agency is built into our curriculum and learning opportunities and student advocacy exists in our communication structures and pathways.
Student Leadership
In order to support us to provide a student-centred learning experience, student leadership is one of the cornerstones of Upands. We provide a wide variety of outlets for our students to develop their leadership skills to ensure an inclusive approach. In terms of formal leadership roles, students throughout the school can nominate themselves for leadership positions in their year group and are elected into position. These include:
- Student Council Representatives: Every form group elects a student council representative who sits on either the Middle or High School Student Council.
- Student House Representatives: Every form group elects a House representative who collaboratives to organise and participate in interhouse and community building events.
- Senior Prefects: are selected from the Year 12 cohort and take responsibility for different leadership portfolios across the school. They support the student council and house representatives and their work in the rest of the school.
Students also have the opportunity to engage in other forms of more informal leadership that does not require nominations and elections. Many members of our community choose to be involved in these initiatives and some examples are:
- Student-led Co-curricular Activities (CCA): students participate in and run a variety of clubs including the Green club, the Do Something Society, the Uplands Social Committee.
- Peer Mediators: volunteer students are trained to mediate conflicts between students
- New student buddies and mentors: support students who are new to the school and help them adjust to life as an Uplander.
- Senior School Interns: facilitate the organisation of social and university events for students in the senior school.
Ultimately, in whatever form students are engaging in leadership, we encourage students to understand the skills required to be a successful leader and team member. We also use this opportunities to help education our students about democratic processes and civic responsibilities associated with being a positive global citizen. By actively engaging in these activities in a structured school environment, we hope that our students develop the skills and knowledge required to engage proactively in democracy and advocacy as an adult.
Student support
Student support starts in every classroom where teachers build relationships with students and use their prior knowledge and student data to develop learning experiences that allow each student to access the lesson and have an opportunity to learn and grow. Beyond this, Uplands has a Student Support Unit (SSU) whose primary role is to support students who may need additional support with their learning to be successful. The SSU comprises both English as an Additional Language teachers and a Learning support teacher who work with individual students, small groups of students and teachers to facilitate more effective teaching and learning for all Uplanders. The final member of this team is our school counselor who provides social, emotional and behavioural support for our community as we work together to navigate the journey through secondary school. Our counselor is available to meet with individual students, mediate conflicts, support and guide parents as well as teachers so that together we can best support our students.
What Are Our
Students Up To?
