Founding Head Returns｜创校校长Elaine Whelen重返爱莎：见证IB在中国的生根与生长

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In the early summer of 2025, ISA International Education Group welcomed back a very special "old friend" — Ms Elaine Whelen, the founding Head of ISA Tianhe. After years away, she returned to ISA on the occasion of ISA Tianhe’s 10th anniversary, visiting the Science City, Liwan, and Wuhan campuses.

"I never thought that dream 

was going to happen this fast."

——Elaine Whelen, Founding Head of ISA Tianhe

From a refurbished factory building to multiple modern education campuses, the transformation of ISA left her amazed. Yet, more significant than the facilities is the enduring educational vision she helped initiate—one that integrates the IB philosophy, a strong Chinese curriculum, and mother tongue support. This vision, she observed, has now taken deep root in every corner of ISA schools.

Elaine Whelen

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Elaine vividly remembers the early days of ISA Tianhe: a modest campus in Guangzhou’s Redtory Art District, with just one main teaching building, a library, and a small playground. On the first day of school, there were only 12 students. By the end of the year, that number had grown to 100. Three years in, the student body exceeded 300.

“At that stage, what we had wasn’t scale, but vision.”

Now, a decade later, Elaine walked into campuses boasting Olympic-standard swimming pools, full-size basketball courts, real-grass football pitches, futuristic Fab Labs, and maker spaces. Bright, spacious classrooms—with carefully chosen furniture—demonstrate deep concern for learners' experience. Vision and scale are no longer a trade-off—they confirm one another.

"If you want to build a world-class education system, you must have world-class learning spaces."

"What impressed me most about ISA’s founders was their attention to detail—from the choice of materials to the functional layout. They always ensured that every facility met international standards, and above all, everything started with one question: How can students learn better?"

But facilities are just the beginning. “What I saw was not just buildings, but the continuation of a philosophy,” said Elaine. What delighted her even more was that within these spaces flowed a familiar spirit—the IB educational philosophy, which remains the soul of every ISA campus.

This philosophy is not merely a set of terms found in curriculum frameworks or syllabi—it is embedded in the very fabric of the campus. The walls don’t just display outcomes; they reflect students’ thinking processes and lines of inquiry. In the corridors, libraries, and shared spaces, flexible furniture arrangements, writable walls, and open learning corners are all designed to support student discussion, writing, and expression. In such an environment, learning is everywhere—every corner encourages students to ask questions, explore continuously, and inspire one another.

“我感受最深的，是爱莎从单一校园，成长为一个教育生态系统的飞跃。”

如今的爱莎，不仅拥有多校区布局，还建立了完整的学生支持体系，包括爱莎国际学苑、爱莎公益基金、升学指导中心、生涯规划中心、学术中心、科创中心等。三个大校区——爱莎科学城、爱莎荔湾、爱莎武汉都拥有完整的学段覆盖，从幼儿园到高中毕业，课程一体贯通，师资与资源共享联动。爱莎的课程体系也远比当年更加多元与包容：IB仍是主干，但也开设了中国国家课程（CNC）、A-Level、AP、国际艺术等不同体系，以适应学生的差异化选择。

“这已经不是一所学校，而是一套教育系统。” Elaine校长说，“更重要的是，他们始终坚持从孩子出发，坚持教育品质的高标准。

现在，爱莎为学生构建起了一个多维度、深层次、持续支持的成长生态。学生们在课后，会出现在学校和学苑组织的CCA课程里，练习击剑、学习编程、排练一场小型话剧；也可能跟随公益基金参与山区学校的支教项目；他们也会在生涯规划中心的支持下，参与学术研究、申请夏校，或走进企业、走近社会，尝试去理解“我未来想成为什么样的人”。

这些看似零散的活动，是构成一整个生态的枝叶。它们共同回应的问题是——教育的目的究竟是什么？在爱莎，教育不是“教什么”，而是“支持每一个生命如何成长”。

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In Elaine’s view, IB education goes far beyond a set of ideals—it is a philosophy that has been fully realised in practice at ISA. From the curriculum to service learning, from academic programmes to the campus culture, the IB approach is deeply embedded in every layer of school life. But what surprised her most was how this globally recognised system has not been simply copied and pasted. “What makes ISA different,” she said, “is that it not only adheres to the IB framework, but has found a unique way to integrate language, culture, and values.”

This integration begins with curriculum design. At ISA, Chinese is not a supplementary subject but a core part of the academic programme—equally important as English. It emphasises literature and critical thinking, and helps students build both strong native language skills and a deep sense of cultural identity. At the same time, ISA ensures space for mother tongue education for families of different cultural backgrounds, creating an environment where multilingualism flourishes.

At a deeper level, the integration is also reflected in how the IB concept of “service learning” echoes traditional Chinese values of social responsibility and collective well-being. “It’s not just charity,” Elaine said. “It’s an attitudinal shift—something rooted in empathy, a sense of duty, and a genuine desire to improve the communities we live in.”

This, in essence, is the Chinese path ISA is pioneering—one that merges the essence of Chinese culture with the IB framework to create a truly East-meets-West model of education.

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“In the beginning, it felt like we were forging a path through untouched land.”

Building a leadership team, transforming the campus spaces, designing the curriculum framework, recruiting both Chinese and international faculty, enrolling the first cohort of students, and establishing trust with parents—“It was a process that started entirely from scratch,” Elaine recalled. The earliest families were the boldest believers. They placed their faith in a school that hadn’t yet opened its doors, in Elaine and her team’s promise of what ISA could become.

“Looking back over these ten years, I would use three words to describe ISA’s evolution: commitment, unwavering, and visionary. These qualities are what brought ISA to where it is today.”

On this return visit, Elaine reunited with many of her former colleagues. Many of ISA’s founding staff are still with the schools, now leading the next generation—some have grown from young educators into division heads and department directors, others from key teachers into school principals. A decade of tireless dedication has long surpassed the definition of a “job”—it has become a steadfast belief in an educational ideal. “What I saw was a continuation of culture,” Elaine said. “Not a repetition of the past, but a faithful and evolving expression of the school’s founding beliefs in a changing world.”

To her, ISA’s success today is inseparable from the long-term dedication and perseverance of its founding team. “Without them, ISA would not be what it is today.” She still vividly remembers the days when construction was underway on muddy ground, the images of the first cohort of teachers decorating their classrooms, and the early ISA students running across the school lawns. It all feels as if it just happened—and yet it has already become a timeless chapter in an educational legacy, witnessed by time.

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One of the most moving moments during Elaine's recent visit was hearing Helen speak at the ceremony. As ISA’s very first officially enrolled student, Helen is now a confident and composed young woman. Standing on stage, she spoke fluently about what she has gained at ISA. “I remember when she was just a little girl and we watched her grow,” Elaine recalled. “I loved hearing her speak recently — I’m so proud of her.”

Elaine also reunited with many other students who had joined ISA in its early days — Jinyao, Sofia, Laurence… Today, these students are stepping into wider worlds. Jinyao graduated this year and was admitted to Pomona College, one of the top liberal arts colleges in the U.S., along with offers from UCLA, the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, and other prestigious institutions. Sofia and Laurence, now middle school students at ISA Liwan, have received numerous awards across international competitions in mathematics, STEM, Model United Nations, debate, and writing. They are not just names on a university list — they are living examples of what IB education looks like in action.

As of June 6, 2025, ISA’s three cohorts of graduates — a total of 240 students — have received 1,928 offers from top global universities, along with USD 15.17 million in scholarships. Among them, a student from the second graduating class, was admitted to the University of Cambridge. Their offers span prestigious institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, UC Berkeley, Imperial College London, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and the University of Hong Kong, as well as top-tier universities and leading art schools across the United States, United Kingdom, China's mainland and Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, Canada, Australia, and more.

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Elaine校长想对爱莎学子们说：“珍惜你们在爱莎接受的教育。这种教育是独一无二的，是与众不同的。它不仅教你知识，更在你生命中植入了价值观。这些价值观会陪伴你走过成年，帮助你做决定、面对世界。多年以后，当你回望自己的求学生涯时，你会为自己曾是爱莎的一员而感到骄傲。”

“我最大的期许，是爱莎能始终保有初心，在未来不断进化、不断适应这个快速变化的世界。” 她希望爱莎继续坚持“中西融合”的教育理念，也希望有一天，爱莎能走出中国，走向世界。

“想象一下，如果每个孩子都能接受像爱莎这样的教育，世界会变得多么不一样。”

十年，是回望的节点，更是向前的起点。Elaine校长的归来，不只是一次探访，更是一种见证——她见证了一种教育理念的生根发芽，也见证了时间如何将一颗种子，长成了一片森林。而这片森林，还在向光生长。

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