Who Owns St. John's International School?

St. John's International School was founded in 1965 in Waterloo, a municipality in the province of Walloon Brabant in Belgium, located approximately 20 kilometers south of Brussels. The school was established to serve the growing international community in the Brussels region, which had expanded significantly following Belgium's emergence as the de facto capital of the European Economic Community (now the European Union) and the establishment of NATO's headquarters in Brussels.

Brussels has been one of Europe's most important centers for international diplomacy, politics, and business since the 1950s and 1960s, when the European Economic Community established its headquarters in the city. The presence of the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, NATO, and numerous other international organizations and multinational corporations has created one of the world's largest and most diverse international communities in a single city. Brussels and its surrounding region, including Waterloo, are home to tens of thousands of international civil servants, diplomats, military personnel, and business professionals from across Europe and around the world.

This large and diverse international community creates substantial demand for high-quality international school education. Families posted to Brussels for periods of two to five years by EU institutions, NATO, national governments, or multinational corporations require schools that offer internationally recognized curricula and qualifications that will be accepted by universities and schools in their home countries when they return.

St. John's International School was founded to meet this demand, offering an internationally recognized curriculum in a multilingual, multicultural environment. The school's location in Waterloo, a residential area popular with international families working in Brussels, positioned it well to serve this community.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is an internationally recognized educational framework developed in Geneva, Switzerland, in the 1960s, originally designed to provide a consistent, internationally recognized curriculum for the children of internationally mobile families. The IB offers four programs: the Primary Years Programme (PYP) for students aged 3-12, the Middle Years Programme (MYP) for students aged 11-16, the Diploma Programme (DP) for students aged 16-19, and the Career-related Programme (CP). St. John's offers the PYP, MYP, and DP, providing a continuous IB education from early childhood through secondary school.

The IB Diploma Programme is particularly valued for its international recognition, with IB diplomas accepted by universities in more than 75 countries. For internationally mobile families who may not know which country they will be living in when their children are ready for university, the IB Diploma's broad international recognition makes it an attractive choice compared to national curricula that may be less well recognized outside their home country.

Over the six decades since its founding in 1965, St. John's International School has developed a strong reputation for academic excellence, comprehensive IB curriculum offerings, and commitment to fostering global citizenship among its diverse student body. The school has served generations of international families in the Brussels region, building a strong alumni community of graduates who have gone on to universities and careers around the world.

St. John's International School became part of Inspired Education Group as part of Inspired's strategy to build a global portfolio of premium international schools. Inspired's European school portfolio includes schools in Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom, providing a network of premium international schools across the continent.

Under Inspired's ownership, St. John's benefits from Inspired's global educational resources, curriculum development expertise, teacher professional development programs, and best practices from Inspired's network of more than 125 schools across more than 30 countries.