At our IH Directors Conference online last month, we celebrated our International House school members who celebrated significant anniversaries of affiliation in 2020 and 2021.
The anniversaries ranged from 20 years of affiliation, to 60 years! We celebrated with an online balloon race, visiting all the cities to congratulate them virtually on their special milestones.
In this article, some of our anniversary IH schools tell us a bit more about what it meant to them to join IH then and how they have found being part of the International House network for so long!
Dave Cleary, IH Brno – celebrating 20 years of affiliation in 2020!
"All of us at ILC IH Brno are very pleased and proud to have been part of International House for over two decades now; the values and approach of IHWO have driven us for the last 20 years, and will continue to do so. These values have been especially important over the last 18 months when the pandemic has changed other things in our world in so many ways. We are delighted to be part of a network that has supported and encouraged each and every school, student, teacher and staff member to be the best version of themselves. The sharing and cooperation we have been involved in just reinforces what a wonderful network we have, and will have for a long time to come."
Janet Sinclair, IH Braga – celebrating 35 years of affiliation in 2021!
"IH Braga is proud to be celebrating 35 years of affiliation to IHWO. Since 1985 IH Braga has grown from a 2 teacher/director school with 180 students, to today’s school with over 700 students and 15 teaching staff. Many things have changed over the years and being part of IHWO has enabled us to continue to improve and develop as a school to ensure that we are providing an excellent service to our students. What makes our school special is the warm, friendly learning environment and the sense of community, which is also what makes IHWO a very special organisation. These last 15 months have once again brought home to us the value of the support (not just moral, but practical too) provided by the larger IHWO network and of course our local IH Portugal colleagues. We couldn’t imagine life as a school without our IH identity!"
Monica Green, IH Torres Vedras – celebrating 30 years of affiliation in 2020!
"Diana and I met through IH Lisbon when she was training to be a teacher trainer and I was a newbie on the CTEFLA course. We worked together there for 3 years or so and then fell in love with a ruined house in the countryside near the town of Torres Vedras. So, of course, with no sensible business plan, we opened a school! There was never any doubt that it would be International House! We persuaded Colin McMillan (then director of IH Lisbon) to come in as a partner and IH Torres Vedras was born in July 1990. I think we would both agree that the first few years we were on a very steep learning curve as we realised that running a successful business does not just rely on excellence in the classroom. The support we had from our sister IH schools – in Portugal and beyond – as well as from IH Central Department (as it was then) helped us to make our school what it is now. We have grown and moved and continued to learn and we are proud to be an established and much loved part of our local community, with the children and grandchildren of some of our first students studying with us today. As for the contribution of the IH network? Guidance, support, rigour, great teachers, a committed staff and, best of all, real friendships with other IH-ers all over the world!"
Silvia, IH Rome Accademia Britannica – celebrating 60 years of affiliation in 2020!
"I was a student at this school and was so happy here that I never left!
"The school was already part of IH when I started attending courses. From my memory I recall that Prof. Zappa, our founder, met Brita and John Haycraft in London, and when he opened his school he immediately decided to affiliate it to IH. IH is in the DNA of this school, I couldn’t imagine it in a different way.
"What does the IH brand mean to me? When I was a student and then a secretary here, even though the focus of the school was on the name Accademia Britannica, we were all aware of being IH and belonging to a worldwide organisation. Our Director, then Susie, teachers, staff members were all proud of this. I fondly remember our inspections, the work exchange (it was common back then), the study abroad experiences, the gadgets that Susie would bring back from the Directors’ Conference. I always liked to see that our boundaries were beyond Rome, they were international.
"When I then had the chance to meet many of the IH Directors at conferences, I felt immediately at home and at ease. Even though the first time (in Prague) I was worried about the fact that I didn’t know anyone. With many Directors I have a strong bond and very high esteem, I’ve always valued the moments we spend together both on a professional and personal level."
Congratulations to all IH schools celebrating significant anniversaries!
- IH Brno (celebrating 20 years of affiliation in 2020)
- IH Veracruz (celebrating 20 years of affiliation in 2021)
- IH Dhahran (celebrating 20 years of affiliation in 2021)
- IH Hanoi (celebrating 20 years of affiliation in 2021)
- IH Intuition (celebrating 25 years of affiliation in 2021)
- IH Torres Vedras (celebrating 30 years of affiliation in 2020)
- IH Porto (celebrating 35 years of affiliation in 2020)
- IH Braga (celebrating 35 years of affiliation in 2021)
- IH Madrid (celebrating 40 years of affiliation in 2021)
- IH Buenos Aires (celebrating 45 years of affiliation in 2020)
- IH Rome Accademia Britannica (celebrating 60 years of affiliation in 2020)
