A Year that Defined AMADEUS International School Vienna

Letter from Dr Wilson Goh
11th of January 2021

Dear AMADEUS Community,

What a privilege it has been to have been part of this extraordinary year that, in my opinion, had defined us, AMADEUS International School Vienna!

DISTINCTION – excellence that sets someone or something apart from others.

Many events that happened this year required the community to put in place several unprecedented actions. All these, with the fundamental purpose of safety of the community, as well as our uninterrupted deliverance of education.

Allow me to recount some of these events, and how AMADEUS has submitted our scorecards, with nothing short of Distinction:

• In February 2020, we instituted daily temperature checking for everyone in the community, as well as every visitor.
• We launched Online Education, not as an interim measure, but with a long-term view that Online Education will be an integral part of education.
• During lockdown times, teachers of AMADEUS teach from school. This means the provision of education in an environment that has been specifically set up to be the most conducive for conducting education.
• After every break, we ensure that every member of the community has been tested on-site to ensure their safety to return to campus.

Though this is certainly not time to be complacent, I am happy to report that the AMADEUS community has maintained a clean record as far as COVID-19 is concerned.  This includes the antigen test that was conducted for all faculty and all present IB Diploma students as recently as today!

In November, I had the opportunity to speak to some boarding students and observed their daily lives in AMADEUS. They were able to continue with their on-campus education without interruptions, but with much better attention from teachers on-site, as well as good support from the boarding academic tutors. Being the only on-campus boarding international school in Vienna, I understood that this is a feature of DISTINCTION of AMADEUS; that during lockdown and stay-home situations, our boarding students are indeed HOME, yet at School.

Our Grade 12 students will be going for the last lap in their pursuit of IB Excellence. We will make provisions for those who would like to take full advantage of being a boarding student at AMADEUS. For students in Grade 10 and 11, I would also encourage consideration of becoming a boarding student, especially during times when disruptive lockdowns have somewhat become the norm in the education journey.

Finally, I would like to share with you an article I have enjoyed reading that explores the advantages of social learning vs personalised learning.

The achievement of DISTINCTION does not happen simply through a mutation process, but through a deliberate, purpose-driven ‘genetic engineering’ which incorporates DISTINCTION (figuratively) into our DNA. I am glad to say that this is now a defining character of the AMADEUS Community. This was only possible because every single member of the community has embraced DISTINCTION, in whatever we set out to achieve.

Looking forward to all that 2021 will bring and to facing the new year together, in the spirit of DISTINCTION.

Dr Goh Wilson
Chair of Board of Trustees
AMADEUS International School Vienna