January 27, 2017

Dear TASIS Parents,

Please find the 1 December 2016 Ofsted inspection report for our School. Although we’ve made considerable progress since the last report, you will see that we still have much work to do to meet national standards in the areas of safeguarding and residential (boarding) provisions. Please note that no deficiencies were found in our academic programs and outcomes, teaching quality, and classroom management.

On the basis of this report, we have drafted a comprehensive action plan to address each of the issues cited by the Ofsted inspectors. This plan will be reviewed and approved by our board at its 1 February 2017 meeting and submitted to the Department for Education. We are now seeking a project manager to help us with the articulation and implementation of our plan. When the project manager is on board, copies will be made available to families upon request and shared with the TPA.

On 25 January 2017, I introduced to the faculty our new Head of Boarding, Mrs. Katie Peacock. Katie’s background in English boarding schools, her knowledge of TASIS and of Ofsted’s expectations, and her ability and willingness to help us design and implement a boarding plan that melds the TASIS DNA with Ofsted requirements make her an ideal person for this role. We are grateful to have her undertake this role and pledge our full support for her in what will be a challenging task.

At the same meeting, Katie described the School’s new boarding plan. This plan will give TASIS much more the look and feel of an English house system with Heads of House, Deputy Heads of House, and House Tutors. Conceptually, this is a more decentralized model for the care of students than the current one and very substantially increases the time that teachers will have to spend with our boarding students and to become part of their lives. To accommodate these new arrangements, Heads of House and their Deputies will remain on the teaching faculty, but with reduced course loads.

We are determined to meet and wherever possible exceed national standards in these areas, and we will not rest until we have done so. We know that some parents have expressed concern that our adherence to standards should not interfere with the School’s friendly, open, and informal character. We are also sensitive to this concern, and working with our TPA to ensure that TASIS meets these standards in a manner consistent with the historic mission and ethos of Mrs. Fleming’s wonderful school.

Respectfully,

David V. Hicks
Acting Head of School