International School of Beijing - Timeline

Timeline

• 1970s a small foreign school was established in Beijing, under the auspices of the United States Liaison Office in Beijing, precursor to the US Embassy. Classes were held in a hallway in a diplomatic apartment compound in Sanlitun, with 8 students and 2 certified teachers
• 1980 - US Embassy merged its school with those of the British and Australian embassies. The Canadian and New Zealand embassies joined in, and the five nations together formally founded the International School of Beijing. Located on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy, the school provided education for the children of the 5 founding embassies; eventually, as space allowed, children from other embassies were permitted to enroll. Bound by the strict requirements imposed on diplomatic schools, the founding embassies worked to meet educational needs of the growing expatriate community in Beijing.
• 1988 under new regulations, China’s Ministry of Foreign affairs officially registered ISB as a “school for diplomatic children.” The campus moved to the Lido complex of offices and housing units, and the school was permitted to accept applications from all expatriate residents of Beijing.
• 1991 ISB became the first school in Beijing to offer the full Diploma Programme of the International Baccalaureate Organization.
• 1997 ISB was accredited by WASC (in the United States),
• 2002 – January - the Beijing Municipal Education Bureau allowed ISB to be restructured as an “independent school for foreign children."
• 2002 - ISB school moved to a 33-acre, purpose-built facility in the Shunyi, a northeastern suburb of Beijing
• 2003 ISB accredited by the Chinese authority NCCT
• 2007 ISB won full accreditation from CIS (Europe), NEASC (United States), and again from NCCT (China).