IST Admissions: Q&A with IST’s Lead Admissions Officer

You discovered you’re moving to Tanzania, researched schools in the area your children will thrive at, found the International School of Tanganyika (IST) and seen the many reasons to attend this facility. 

Now you’re on the final step: applying to IST. 

This step is exciting, but also daunting in that you’ll have many questions. To help you have more clarity, we sat down with Mwamy Sykes, the Lead IST Admissions Officer to tap into her years of expertise and insight into IST admissions. 

1. What are the application requirements at IST? 

Application requirements are outlined in the Required Documentation Checklist. 

School reports are one of the most important items we look at. We focus on two years' worth of data: the current school year that a student is attending as well as the last school year. 

In addition, we ask schools to complete a Confidential School Report. This report is completed by the current school and emailed directly to IST and/or placed in a sealed envelope for parents to submit to us. 

We also ask parents to provide us with copies of Educational Psychological Reports or special education evaluations/records, as applicable.

Currently, testing is required in English and Mathematics for students applying to the Secondary School. We are considering removing this requirement for students who, as part of the application package, submit recent MAP Testing results (Measures of Academic Progress).

2. How exactly do parents enroll their children at IST? 

 Usually, at this point, parents would have either emailed us and/or visited campus inquiring about space at the school. They would then apply online and attach the required documents.  

3. What happens once the application is sent? 

Once we have received all the required documents and the parents have paid the application fees, there is testing for Secondary students - there isn’t testing for Elementary students unless there is a need for additional information. For our Secondary School students, the placement testing is done at their current schools (if applying from outside Dar es Salaam). In such instances, we ask parents to provide us contact information for a staff member at the school willing to assist (teacher, administrator or counselor) and we send the tests directly to the school.

When the process is completed, the file is reviewed by the IST Admissions Team and the parents are notified of the admission decision soon thereafter.

4. Are the steps to apply different when it's in person? If so, how?

The steps are the same irrespective of whether you are applying in person or from overseas. The only difference would be if you are in Dar es Salaam, the placement tests will be done in the IST Admissions Office.

5. What happens next? Do they receive a confirmation email and an estimated time of response? 

As soon as parents submit the online application form, they receive a confirmation email explaining the next steps and providing them with links for the confidential school report as well as bank information for payment of the application fees. They are also notified of the requirement to test for Secondary students. 

See an example of the auto-response highlighted in italics below:

 

Thank you for your application to IST. Please keep this copy for your records.

In order to complete your application, we require:

• The Confidential Reference Form to be completed by and sent to IST from your child's current school:
  • Elementary Admissions
  • Secondary Admissions
• Payment of the USD $500 application fee (payment can be made from local accounts or overseas accounts). Confirmation of the payment should be emailed to admissions@istafrica.com.
• For applicants to the Secondary Campus, completion of the online and written assessments in English and Math

Thank you again for your application. We are looking forward to learning more about your child.

Kind regards,
The International School of Tanganyika

 

Once the IST Admissions Office receives the online applications, we print the applications and all attachments. We then write to parents acknowledging receipt and notifying them of what is missing, the next steps, etc. This would normally be the same day we receive the application or the following day (if it’s not a weekend).

6. How long does it take to make a decision? 

The time it takes to make an admission decision depends on when the file is completed. Once the file is completed it takes approximately three days for parents to receive an admission decision. All completed files are first reviewed by the counselors. 

In the case of students requiring Support Services, the counselors would send the files to the Head of Student Support Services. If the file does not require this, then it goes directly to the Principal for final review and admission decision, according to our Admission Categories. 

The file is then returned to the Admissions Office and we then communicate the decision to the parents.

7. What's the most common reason for not getting in?

Admission to IST is open to all students - who, in the school’s judgment, can benefit from our programs and services and whose needs we can meet - when space is available. We accept students with moderate as well as mild learning support needs. 

One of the reasons for denied admission to IST would be our inability to provide suitable resources and support. We ask parents who have children receiving special services outside the regular classroom to contact the school to discuss the situation before making a decision to come to Tanzania. This information is included in the Director's Welcome.

The other reason for not getting in would be if we have reached capacity for Learning Support (LS) /English Language Acquisition (ELA) /English as an Additional Language (EAL) in classes. The Board Policy binds us to maintain a percentage of students requiring LS/ELA/EAL per class/grade level.

While we can admit students new to the English language at lower grades, for Middle School we require students to have some working knowledge of English, both written and spoken. Students with low academic English will struggle to be successful in Grades 9 and 10 - and above - because of the level of academic expectations. 

We ask parents to contact us at an early stage so that we can assist in judging whether IST is a suitable setting for their child.

8. If they don't get in, when can they apply next? 

In the case of students denied admission due to a cap in LS/EAL/ELA, we welcome them to re-apply the following school year.  

9. If they do get in, what happens next? Are they connected with someone? 

They would be assigned classes with the Student Support Services as required. All new students meet regularly with the school counselors to see how they are adjusting to IST and if there are any areas of concern. The counselors also meet with homeroom teachers as well as team leaders to address student concerns.  

We are committed to making the transition of new students – and their families – as smooth as possible. IST students are very welcoming to the new members of our school as they themselves were new not long ago and so they go out of their way to ensure the new students feel welcome and included. This is one of the greatest strengths of our community.

10. Anything thoughts you want to pass along to families?

IST is an amazing school and we are proud of our programmes and the opportunities we provide to our students!

Find out more about IST Admissions.