Organisation
The Özel Bilkent Schools are part of the Ihsan Dogramaci foundation managed through a Board of Trustees. The Schools Board consists of Members of Bilkent University, the administrators of the schools, and parent representatives. The Board meets on a number of occasions throughout the school year.
The three schools have a Joint Schools Committee consisting of the Director, Principals, Vice Principals, and Head of Human Resources which meets every month to coordinate activities across the three schools and to discuss other issues related to the effective running of the curriculum, staffing, finances, and other areas of concern for the three schools.
Within each school, primary, middle and high, there is a management committee made up of the director, principal, vice-principals, heads of department, which meets regularly and which takes decisions related to the general running of the school, academic matters, budget submissions, projects, calendar, and so on. Some of these decisions such as the finalised budget submission or academic calendar are then sent to the Board for ratification. Some decisions may need to be then forwarded to the Ministry of Education if they go outside the general guidelines of the Ministry. For example, the schools generally start the academic year a week earlier than state schools, which requires special permission.
Each department has regular meetings and issues of import to the schools as a whole may be carried to the school management committee for school-wide discussion.
The principal is required to meet with all teachers in a special teachers meeting at the beginning and end of each semester. This is an official meeting which is formal in character.
All meetings have minutes taken for distribution to members and others in the school community. Minutes are required to be kept and are inspected during official inspections.
In addition to more formal meetings there are many other school activities which are regulated by committees formed at the general teacher meeting at the beginning of the year, such as, amongst others, the discipline committee, honour committee, counselling advisory committee, safety committee. Different members of staff are elected to work on these committees.
Students have a student council, one for each school, which is elected each year by all students in a secret ballot. There are class representatives from Grade 1 onwards and they are actively engaged in the life of the school and its decision-making.
Staff
Both the high, middle and primary schools together have roughly 190 staff made up of academic, administrative, and support staff. There are 24 international staff in the schools, who therefore make up well over 10% of the teaching staff.
For international staff there is the opportunity to work alongside local staff and get close to Turkish culture and feel part of the local community, its traditions and customs. An opportunity is available to learn Turkish and practice in the school. Free lessons are available on campus for international staff. Meetings are often in Turkish and, where international staff cannot follow in Turkish, translation is provided by colleagues. However, many staff speak English, including the senior administration, and enjoy the opportunity to talk in English with international colleagues. Staff meetings in the English department are always in English, as are many PYP and IB seminars and discussion.