Eid Mubarek Celebration at ISR
Eid Mubarek Celebration at ISR
Tuesday, 3 May 2022
Our Muslim community celebrated the traditional festival of Eid Mubarek yesterday. Today, they did not miss the opportunity to share their wonderful tradition with our international school community. For this, the families went to great lengths to decorate a booth and distribute sweets to all the children in honor of the festival. We are very grateful that our families shared this special tradition with us and that we were able to celebrate Eid Mubarek with our entire community – our students were clearly delighted!
Another Successful Career Talk at ISR
Another Successful Career Talk at ISR
Monday, 2 May 2022
Last Friday, another successful Career Talk took place at ISR. Two employees of the international auditing company Ernst & Young, which is represented in over 150 countries, visited us. Mr. Stojanovic, former dual student of EY and current assistant, as well as Mr. Brookshaw, Senior Manager, held an exciting lecture in front of our 11th graders, during which our students got an insight into the company and its diverse fields of activity, as well as, into the daily work of an auditor and the application process. The Career Talk was very interactive as our students clearly showed their great interest and asked many varied questions.
Mr. Stojanovic and Mr. Brookshaw talked about their service lines, the difference in auditing small and large companies, and the impact of COVID-19 on EY. Furthermore, they explained the benefits that come with working in an international company, such as valuing cultural diversity. “We love to be as colorful as we could be,” Mr. Brookshaw emphasized. Another important part of EY is the individual development of its “talents”, as well as, the conscious promotion of women in management positions. Special programs are in place to help them develop their own careers. Currently, 44% of EY’s employees are female and as Mr. Brookshaw emphasized at this point “it is extremely important to hire and promote female leaders”. During the Career Talk, it quickly became clear that EY offers every one of its employees the opportunity to pursue a successful career on a level playing field. The Career Talk was a great success and the interest of our students was so great that Mr. Brookshaw and Mr. Stojanovic took the time afterwards to have individual conversations with our students and answer open questions. We are already looking forward to discussing further cooperation opportunities with EY in the future, where our students will have the opportunity to get to know the company better.
We would like to thank Mr. Brookshawn and Mr. Stojanovic for their exciting visit and their time!
ISR at the Kirschblütenfest
ISR at the Kirschblütenfest
Monday, 25 April 2022
Yesterday, the Cherry Blossom Festival took place in Meerbusch-Büderich, organized by the city of Meerbusch as well as by the Friends of the Meerbusch-Shijonawate Sister Cities Association – and it was a great success!
The festival symbolizes the close connection between the two twin cities as well as of Japan and Germany and for this reason, it was a great pleasure for us to participate in the event with our Japanese teacher, parts of the management team and some ISR families to celebrate the German-Japanese friendship. We were in addition represented by our popular ISR school bus and two of our dedicated students who offered face painting as well as children’s glitter stickers for the skin. Moreover, we took our VR glasses with us that we use in our classrooms, and the children had great fun using them.
Furthermore, one talented ISR family performed an amazing piece of music on stage and represented ISR in an excellent way. We would like to sincerely thank the Yokota family for their incredible performance, as well as our students for their involvement – the children were extremely happy and had great fun! Moreover, we would like to thank the organizers for another wonderful Cherry Blossom Festival and for the opportunity to get in touch with so many interested families.
We’re looking forward to another celebration in 2023!
International Women's Day
International Women’s Day
Tuesday, 8 March 2022
Today, we celebrate International Women’s Day!
In Germany alone, only 28.4% of women were employed in management positions in 2020. At ISR, however, we take on a different approach. 70% of our staff in leadership positions are women! Additionally, there are many inspiring women within our parent community at ISR who are self-employed or hold leadership positions.
Being inspired by such women, we asked them a few questions, which they answered specifically in honor of International Women’s Day. This video is made up of many successful women within our ISR Family and serves as motivation for our students and young women around the world who are on the path to building their careers.
In our video, one aspect in particular quickly becomes clear – women can achieve anything and lead by example!
As Ella Fitzgerald, a famous singer said, “Never give up fighting for what you want to do. You can’t go wrong with something where there is passion and inspiration.”
We wish you all an inspiring International Women’s Day!
Celebrating"Hina Matsuri" at ISR
Celebrating”Hina Matsuri” at ISR
Thursday, 3 March 2022
Today, Japan celebrates “Hina Matsuri,” also known as “Girls Day,” and our Japanese community let us be part of this wonderful festival again. This day is especially for girls and celebrates their health and happiness. Our Japanese mothers have decorated the hallway of our kindergarten with great attention to detail and everything looks gorgeous.
Some of our kindergarten children got especially dressed up for the day and wore beautiful traditional clothes. In honor of “Hina Matsuri”, some boys also wore traditional clothes – everyone looked just awesome.
We would like to thank our Japanese community for the great decorations and the joint celebration, and especially for letting us be a part of the tradition of this special day.
Visit of the U.S. Consul General Pauline Kao at ISR
Visit of the U.S. Consul General Pauline Kao at ISR
Monday, 31 January 2022
We had the honor of welcoming the new U.S. Consul General for NRW in Düsseldorf to ISR last Friday. Ms. Pauline Kao assumed her duty as Consul General in the summer of 2021.
After a warm welcome from our management team, members of the ISR Advisory Board, and some kindergarteners, the Consul General was given an extensive school tour. The tour was led by our two ISR Upper School students Philipp and Marc, who will both be studying in America next year. The tour was also joined by Head of Kindergarten – Ms. Alex Vrem-Ydstie, as well as the Academic Head Gr. 10 & 11 – Ms. Samantha McGee, who are both native US citizens.
The school tour was followed by an interesting keynote speech by the Consul General, in which she shared her personal and professional experiences with the students and invited guests. Besides about 30 students present, some former students joined the lecture via Zoom. In addition, we were pleased that some interested parents also attended the lecture.
During her talk, the U.S. Consul General emphasized that she particularly enjoys working with young people in schools, and so she took a lot of time afterwards to answer various questions from the students. Among the topics addressed were her professional career, climate change, and the protection of democracy.
At the end of the exchange, one student asked her what the profession of a diplomat was all about and what requirements one had to meet in order to be successful in this career field. In her inspiring answer, Consul General Kao highlighted three essential requirements for her: backbone, empathy, and, above all, the ability and willingness to truly listen to one’s counterpart.
Our students as well as staff members and participants of the visit were impressed by her confidence as well as her warm demeanor and her inspiring answers.
We would like to thank Consul General Kao for her visit to ISR and the time she took to share with our students. A motivating and very open lecture, which will remain among the best memories for all participants for a long time.
Ded Moroz Celebration at ISR
Ded Moroz Celebration at ISR
Monday, 10 January 2022
Before the winter break, our Russian community surprised us with a wonderful video on the story of Ded Moroz (Father Frost).
With great attention to detail, the parents recorded a video to share with the whole ISR Family afterwards. Not only was the video an absolute highlight at the end of the year, but also the accompanying surprise – all students received a small bag of Russian sweets – matching the story of “Father Frost.”
We thank our Russian community for their time, their commitment and especially for this great surprise. See it for yourself here:
ISR Season´s Greetings
ISR Season’s Greetings
Tuesday, 21 December 2021
Today marks the end of another very special year for us, with the last day of school for this year. We look back on a very eventful year in which we were able to reunite at events on campus and also to physically see each other again in class – and we are very grateful for that. Our entire ISR Team sends our heartfelt Season’s Greetings to you and your family.
We wish to sincerely thank you for your support, loyalty, and trust, and wish you a wonderful festive season and a Happy New Year 2022 ahead!
ISR Season's Greetings Kindergarten Düsseldorf
ISR Season's Greetings Kindergarten Meerbusch
Minister Prof. Dr. Pinkwart Visits ISR
Minister Prof. Dr. Pinkwart Visits ISR
Wednesday, 1 December 2021
We had the honor of welcoming Minister Prof. Dr. Pinkwart, the NRW Minister for Economy, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy to ISR today.
The Minister was welcomed by our ISR Management Team, members of the ISR Advisory Board, the Head of the ISR Parent Network, parents, alumni as well as our kindergarten children, who made a poster for the Minister for the visit.
We were very pleased to welcome Ms. Troles – MdL, Dr. Geerlings – MdL of the CDU Neuss and Mrs. Caninenberg – Speaker of the ministry, to the meeting as well.
After a warm welcome from Mr. Soliman – ISR School Proprietor, our guests were given an insight into how innovation and digitalization are practiced in our classrooms at ISR.
For some years now, VR glasses have been used at ISR to supplement regular lessons in order to skillfully visualize learning content and thus make it tangible for our students. Mr. Killian O’Brien – Head of the Science Department at ISR, explained the technologies that are used in the classroom and referred to the solar cells which, in addition to generating green energy for ISR, can also be used for teaching purposes and experiments.
Minister Prof. Dr. Pinkwart then took the time to provide a selected groups of our Upper School Students as well as our other guests with exciting insights into the topic of artificial intelligence. In a subsequent round of talks, the participants were allowed to address their questions to the Minister, who gave the students important advice, also with regard to their future career choices. The Minister emphasized that international schools have a special value in the region and also for the economy and encouraged our students to always be curious and to always have the willingness to learn new things throughout their lives.
With this visit, the Minister followed up on a visit a few years ago and we are particularly pleased that he took the time today to engage in an exchange with our guests, students, our team, parents and alumni at ISR.
Furthermore, we wish to thank all of our guests for their time and are happy that we have been able to provide our students with this inspiring lecture by Minister Prof. Dr. Pinkwart.
Newspaper article by the NGZ: 
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ISR supports the association Interkulturelle Projekthelden with the Rotay Club of Neuss
ISR supports the association Interkulturelle Projekthelden with the Rotay Club of Neuss
Monday, 29 November 2021
We were particularly pleased to be able to carry out a project together with the Rotary Club of Neuss for the benefit of the association Interkulturelle Projekthelden.
After a visit by the Rotarians to the children and youth welfare facility, it was clear that there was a shortage of books for the children.
As a result, our team – Ms. Breuers and Mr. Urban – went in search of suitable books and were able to hand over several boxes which can now be used to build up a small library.
We wish to sincerely thank Mr. Ali Öksüz, the 1st chairman of the association, as well as the Rotary Club Neuss for this successful joint project!
