Suva, Fiji-International School Suva: 2023-2024 Fact Sheet

The International School Suva is a coeducational day school, which offers an educational program from early childhood (ECH) through year 12 for students of all nationalities. The school currently has a diverse student body with 55 nationalities. The school year, which comprises of four terms, starts in late January and finishes in early December. International School Suva follows a southern hemisphere calendar with the school year aligned with the calendar year rather than a September-to-June calendar. There are four terms with two-week breaks between Terms one & two, as well as three & four, in addition to a three-week break in June/July.

Organization: The school is governed by a 14-member school board, a minimum of six members of whom must be elected from the parent body. All serve terms of three years. There are two staff representatives appointed annually and the Head of School is an ex-officio member of the board. Since its inception in 1972, the school has been owned and operated by the International Schools Association, a not-for-profit legal entity. All parents at the school are automatically members of the International Schools Association upon enrollment of their child.

Curriculum: The school offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years (PYP), Middle Years (MYP), and Diploma Programs (DP), and the ACT (Australian) curriculum. The curriculum also draws on instructional materials from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. French, Spanish and Chinese are offered as world languages in the secondary school, and in the primary section all students study either Fijian or Hindi studies. Over 90 percent of the 2018 graduates went on to college or university both in Fiji and overseas. The school is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), and the Fiji Ministry of Education. The school day starts at 7:45 am and lasts until 2:30 pm Monday to Friday, except early childhood I for which the school day ends at 1:00 pm. There are a number of lunchtime clubs and after-school activities.

Faculty: In the 2023-2024 school year, ISS has 221 total staff including 81 teachers, 3 of whom are U.S. citizens, 84 host-country nationals, and 23 third-country nationals. Our faculty and staff represent 14 nationalities (including; South Africa, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Poland, Nigeria, and Ukraine.) All teaching staff must have bachelor’s degrees or higher, be qualified teachers under their home country’s standards, and be registered by the Fiji Ministry of Education.

Enrollment: In the 202r3-2024 school year enrollment stood at 552. Of the total, 35 were U.S. citizens, 191 host-country nationals, and 326 third-country nationals.

Facilities:  The school has been undertaking significant building and remodeling effort over the past 10 years to upgrade the campus, and the first phase included a new library, administration space, an amphitheater, and a cafeteria. This was followed by the remodeling of an existing space to form a dedicated middle school block of nine classrooms for students in years 6-8. More recently, the middle school building was expanded to accommodate enrolment increases. A purpose-built primary 18-classroom building was opened for the 2017-2018 school year, a new auditorium and classroom building was opened in 2021. and a new early childhood facility is in construction now to open in 2024. The campus is wirelessly linked, and laptops are available throughout the school for student use. Years 8-12 students must have a personal laptop that they own (BYOD). The school has dedicated music, visual arts, and drama spaces an auditorium, and a large multipurpose hall and gym. The school has a growing learning support facility and is able to accommodate students with a variety of learning needs.

Finances: ISS has two-tier tuition rates with local and expat fees. For the 2023 school year expat tuition fees are as follows: early childhood I: US$8,418, early childhood II: US$10,942, reception-year 5: US$13,676 years 6-8: US$15,092, years 9-10: US$17,841, and years 11-12: US$18,661.

Special Needs: Review the Special Needs Profile for this school to learn more about their capability to support students with exceptionalities.

This Fact Sheet is intended to provide general information. Prospective users of the schools may wish to inquire further of A/OPR/OS or contact the school directly for more specific and up-to-the-minute information. Information and statistics are current as of September 2023 and are provided by the school.