Vienna International School (VIS) is a profit international school in Vienna, Austria. The school was built to accommodate the children of United Nations (UN) employees and diplomats when the UN decided to locate one of its offices in Vienna (at the Vienna International Centre), and it remains affiliated to the UN. About 50% of students are children of UN employees and receive education grants, while much of the remaining students are children mainly of embassy staff and company staff. The school has an enrollment of 1400 students, from pre-primary to twelfth grade.

History

International Community School

The first English language medium school in Vienna was set up in August 1955 as the International Community School. These include a 220-seat theatre, seven music rooms, three art studios, three design laboratories, seven science laboratories, a food technology centre, two product design studios, and four experimental learning spaces known as Garden Classrooms. The school's Primary and Secondary Library holds 55,000 items.

Outdoor and sports facilities include five gymnasia, a playing field and running track, three playgrounds, an outdoor theatre arena, and an outdoor ecology learning centre. The campus also includes the Panther Sports Dome, which contains a cycling and running trail, workout station, table tennis, and an arboretum.

Academics

VIS offers all three programs of the International Baccalaureate (IB) - International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP), International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IBMYP) and the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP). The school has offered the IB Diploma programme since 1984.

  • Economics HL & SL
  • Geography HL & SL
  • History HL & SL
  • Psychology HL & SL
  • Environmental Systems and Societies SL

Group 4: Experimental Sciences

  • Biology HL & SL
  • Chemistry HL & SL
  • Physics HL & SL
  • Design Technology HL & SL
  • Computer Science HL & SL
  • Environmental Systems and Societies SL (transdisciplinary course)

Group 5: Mathematics

  • Mathematics AA HL & SL
  • Mathematical AI HL & SL

Group 6: The Arts

  • Music HL & SL
  • Theatre HL & SL
  • Visual Arts HL & SL
  • Film HL & SL

Rather than taking an arts course, students may opt to take another subject from Groups 1 to 5 as their 6th subject

School magazine

Vienna International School includes student publications among its extracurricular activities.

Athletics

Sports

VIS offers the following teams during the year, in addition to other sports:

  • Season 1: Soccer, High School Volleyball, Cross Country Running, Rugby
  • Season 2: Basketball, Alpine Skiing
  • Season 3: Golf, Track & Field, Middle School Volleyball, Rugby

Conferences

VIS participates in the following athletics conferences:

  • Danube Valley Athletics Conference (DVAC)
  • Sports Council of International Schools (SCIS)
  • Central and Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA)
  • International Schools Athletic Association (ISAA)

In addition to this, VIS traditionally organizes the annual Hauser Kaibling Race in Haus Im Ennstal between international schools in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Charity

Community service forms part of both the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP) at Vienna International School, and requires students to take an active part in the communities in which they live. The school states that the programme emphasises developing community awareness and acquiring the skills needed to make an effective contribution to society.

Maher

Vienna International School identifies Maher as its main charity and states that it has supported the organisation since 2005.

Project Centipede

The school states that each year primary school students collect food, clothing, shoes, toys, school supplies, and toiletries for donation to Project Centipede, which distributes the gifts to children and caregivers in Romania, India, Hungary, Ukraine, and Austria before the December holidays.

2004 Tsunami disaster response

According to the school, following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the VIS community helped to rebuild a school in Indonesia that had been severely affected by the disaster.

Fairtrade

The school also has a Fairtrade group that promotes the purchase of products intended to provide better returns and living conditions for farmers in less economically developed countries.

Notable alumni

  • Tobias Ellwood, British politician
  • Salam Pax, Iraqi blogger

Scouting

Vienna International School is the home of Vienna International Scout Group 88 (). The Scout group is affiliated to Boy Scouts and Girl Guides of Austria.

They also offer The Duke of Edinburgh program.

References

  • History of Vienna International School
  • Scouting Group Site
  • International Schools in Vienna