We are pleased to feature SABIS® International School – Adma (SIS-Adma) in this issue. Established in 2005, SIS-Adma is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and it is clear that the school has quite a lot to celebrate!
Campus
The SIS-Adma campus is set on a spacious, 70,000 square meter plot of land situated in the beautiful hills of Adma. The stateof-the-art facilities include science and computer laboratories, a computer-based exam hall that can hold up to 200 students, a performance hall, extensive sports facilities including a semiOlympic-sized swimming pool, an indoor basketball/tennis court, and an Olympic soccer field surrounded by a running track.
The Kindergarten Department is an independent unit with its own heated, indoor swimming pool, a multipurpose indoor sports court, large playground, and specialized car track.
Celebrating Outstanding Academic Achievement
SABIS® International School – Adma offers a trilingual education. Although the language of instruction at the school is English, students also take French and Arabic from a very young age, achieving a level of fluency that prepares them for the official French and Lebanese Baccalaureate exams. In fact, 100% of students who took the Lebanese Baccalaureate in 2019 passed. The school also boasted a 100% pass rate on the official French Baccalaureate, which it introduced in 2016.
Alongside a challenging academic program, SIS-Adma offers students a university counselling program that guides them through the often confusing process of choosing and applying to universities. “Our university counseling program helps students match their interests to their capabilities by surveying and assessing each student,” explained Yara Abou Jaoude, University and Career Counselor at SIS-Adma. “Through advising sessions and research, a list of majors and universities is compiled and the student begins the application process with step-by-step assistance, from personal statements to school forms, from the university counselor to ensure he/she receives a number of offers.”
Graduates from SIS-Adma have gone on to study and succeed at top universities around the world. The sterling list of acceptances includes including Harvard University, University of California, and McGill in the U.S. and Canada; Imperial College London, Technical University of Munich, Université Grenoble Alpes, and KU Leuven in the U.K. and Europe; and the American University of Beirut in the Middle East.
Celebrating Student Life
The SABIS Student Life Organization® at SIS-Adma plays an essential role in the school’s success. All eight SLO® departments work together to make a huge impact on the school environment and fuel the school’s success. Here is a peek into what prefects do in each department.
In the SLO® Academics Department, prefects participate in Shadow Teaching and peer tutoring, contributing to raising the academic standards of the school. They also organize a number of activities such as Calculus Fun, Decimal Party, and International Arabic Language Day, to name a few. These activities show students that academics can be fun as well as useful.
Prefects in the Outreach and Discipline Departments are very active and contribute to the overall welcoming environment at the school. The Bullying Prevention Squad of the Discipline Department is always around on campus during break times wearing special arm bands that make them visible should any children feel that they are being bullied in any way. The Outreach Department prefects organize events that aim to spread joy and kindness throughout the school.
In the SLO® Sports and Health Department, prefects work closely with the school’s P.E. Department to boost school spirit and encourage all students to participate in the many sports and health events that take place such as Fit Bite, which promotes a healthy lifestyle, and the annual (and very popular) Ping Pong Tournament.
The Activities Department is another department that also organizes many events on campus including live art competitions, mothers’ day events, movie nights, barbeque nights, and much more!
The Social Responsibility is also a major cornerstone in the SLO® at SIS-Adma. The goal of the SLO® Social Responsibility Department is to instill and develop students’ “social responsibility,” in other words their awareness that all individuals have a responsibility to give back to their community and make the world a better place. Earth Day, Lights Out Day, Red Cross Collection, One Child One Gift, Warm a Heart, and Helping Hands Bake sale are just a few of the many initiatives that make this department so special.
Even the youngest children are actively involved. Prefects in the Lower School Department are consistently organizing events and activities for them teaching them about the importance of playing an active role in their school from a very young age. They have fun expressing their artistic skills in activities such as the Friendship Bench and coloring mermaid tails, participating in arts and crafts and board games clubs, and making costumes, all thanks to the older prefects who bring their knowledge to the lower school.
The Model United Nations (MUN) program is also extremely successful, and participating students are perennial recipients of a number of awards including Position Paper, Diplomacy, Best Delegate, and Secretary General’s awards. SIS-Adma students have also been chosen among from all of Lebanon to travel to Washington D.C. to represent their country at the Global Model United Nations Conference.
Celebrating Sports
SIS-Adma students take part in a wide range of sports including basketball, football (soccer), volleyball, athletics, and swimming thanks to the outstanding campus facilities. School teams compete in school, national, and regional competitions, bringing home various championships!
Celebrating Theater & Art
Performing Arts is one of the many ways that SIS-Adma students express their creativity. The school holds an annual, muchanticipated drama production every year. The Little Mermaid, Mama Mia, Aladdin, and Beauty & the Beast are just a few examples of these popular productions.
In 2018, one of the leading newspapers in Lebanon An Nahar, in collaboration with UNICEF, released a special issue for International Children’s Day entitled “Bokra Ahla.” The issue featured contributions from children across the country, including SIS-Adma students who submitted their beautifully-written works and art pieces focusing on the importance of education. Click here for a sample.
Celebrating Alumni
In 2008, SIS-Adma graduated its first cohort of students. To date, SIS-Adma has graduated over 400 students, all of whom belong to the exclusive, yet expanding group of individuals who have leveraged the strong foundation and talent they gained through a SABIS® education and gone on to achieve success in college and beyond. They hold high-level positions in the private and public sectors, contribute to the world of academia, make advancements in scientific research, contribute to healthcare, readily adopt worthwhile causes, and actively engage in their communities.
As SIS-Adma reaches this special milestone, the entire school community has a lot to celebrate. From outstanding academic standards to an active SLO®, exciting sports and arts programs, and successful alumni, the school has long made its mark on the lives of its students, their families, and the greater community.
To learn more about SIS-Adma, visit their website sisadma.sabis.net or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.