Brussels
International
Catholic School
About
Our School
Welcome and study at BICS
Headmaster's Welcome
"Happy children achieve more"
Dear Parents,
May I warmly welcome you to the BICS community! Our school strives to maintain a caring and enthusiastic environment where we challenge everyone to achieve their academic and personal potential. We do so in the context of our Christian values. We strongly believe that ‘Happy children achieve more’. We place the child at the centre of all our efforts. It is important that the learning experience is both sufficiently structured and enjoyable so that pupils are motivated to achieve their best.
Our vision is to work with families in the task of educating your children in a climate of mutual trust and cooperation between leadership, teachers, pupils and parents. Our excellent staff enable us to offer academic programmes of high standards in English and French.
At the beginning of the new year we shall organise a series of meetings, where you will be able to meet your class teachers and I also look forward to seeing you then. In the meantime, I wish you a very pleasant summer holiday.
Canon William Hudson, MA (Cantab)
Headmaster
Canon Hudson is a priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.
Before his seminary studies near to Florence, Italy, he read history at Magdalene College, Cambridge.
He has been Headmaster for the past twelve years.
Our Mission
To share with parents in the spiritual, moral and intellectual formation of their children, in a Christian community with which their families may be joined in friendship for the rest of their lives.
To educate the young in the tradition and sacramental life of the Church and to encourage each towards a joyful, free and self-disciplined life of faith and virtue.
To work for excellence in all our endeavours, academic, sporting and cultural. We ask each student to give of their best. We ask much of the gifted and we encourage the weak. Each is taught to appreciate the value of learning and the pursuit of the truth.
To help our boys and girls grow up mature and honourable, inspired by high ideals and capable of leadership, so that they may serve others generously, be strong in friendship, and loving and loyal towards their families.
Our Vision
"We encourage all to value learning
and the pursuit of truth"
In an academic institution like BICS, academic rigour is the first essential. We ask of each pupil that he or she give the best that they can give. We ask much of their gifts, and support them in their difficulties. Academically a comprehensive range of subjects, highly professional teaching, and first class facilities for learning create that challenge. The majority of our pupils are fluent in English and French, although we can integrate pupils who are not. An interview and academic evaluation is a requirement for admission. We have small class sizes and well qualified teachers who give of their best to get the best from students-inspiring and challenging them.
A pupil’s first two years in the School are the years in which he or she lays solid academic foundations. Every pupil studies English, French and Mathematics. They also study the three principal branches of science-Biology, Chemistry and Physics. History, Geography, and Latin are also obligatory. We believe that all of our pupils in their first two years should follow more or less the same broad curriculum, and that it is wrong to ask a pupil to choose between subjects before the requisite maturity and experience.
A Christian education is rooted in the conviction that, as God’s creation is good, the young deserve access to all the great scientific, literary and artistic achievements of our civilisation. We strive to give to all our students a sense of the value of learning for its own sake. We hold that the search for truth begun early is the foundation of a full adult life.
A full range of extra-curricular activities is provided within school hours, including sport, art, drama and music. Regular visits are made to cultural and artistic events. Once a year a class trip lasting a week is organised to a foreign country. We encourage our pupils to be become fully rounded individuals, ready to serve others generously, be strong in friendships and loyal towards their families.
The school is an accredited test centre of the University of Cambridge Exams. Our students follow this internationally recognised curriculum, taking International IGCSEs at the age of 16. The school opened the Sixth Form in September 2014 offering the International ‘A’ level curriculum.
Our Values
-
Culture
-
Respect & Order
-
Modernity
-
Support
-
Achievement
Bilingualism
BICS is an accredited Cambridge University Examinations test centre
No one can doubt that the possession of several languages is a great advantage, giving a head start for the future. Based in the capital of Europe, our school has opted for English and French. All of our teachers are qualified native English and French speakers.
In the Primary department the approach is the following:
firstly a choice is made regarding the language in which a child will learn to read and write. Normally this will be French, given that this language is phonetic, and its interior logic helps to structure the child’s mind. During the first year of Primary school, the child will therefore continue to learn English orally.
A child who has followed our Primary school curriculum will be fully fluent by the end of his sixth year and should have a working knowledge after only one year. Specialist teachers in English (EFL) and French (FLE) offer necessary support to those children arriving without French or English. In the Secondary school we have slightly different approach. This department is more English based. The school is an accredited Cambridge University Examinations test centre, and as such offers the Cambridge International GCSE and A level curriculum. These qualifications are recognised internationally offering access to Higher Education in Belgium and throughout the world.
We are often asked how this works out in practice.
In the Pre-primary department the week is divided between two teachers, one English-speaking and the other French-speaking. At this level, communication and learning are mainly oral, and the children naturally come to associate the teacher with the language spoken. The week is divided into two parts, English on Mondays and Tuesdays, French on Thursdays and Fridays, with Wednesdays divided into both. In this way, the child benefits from a full immersion into both languages. In the Primary department, students are taught in English and French on alternate days. This enables a 50-50% immersion in both languages.
The curriculum followed in the Primary department is based upon a Belgian programme for the French speaking part and the Cambridge Primary Programme the English speaking part. At the end of their six years of Primary school, pupils can take the Belgian ‘Examen Cantonal’, which is exterior to the school and obtains a diploma giving access to all Belgian and European Secondary schools (CEB – Certificat d’Etude de Base). Children who follow our curriculum have no difficulty integrating into other English-speaking, French and international schools. We understand the importance of this, as parents may, for professional reasons, need to move after three or four years.
