AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL SINGAPORE (AIS)

By CLAIRE ETTINGER

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By Claire Ettinger
Communications Manager

Although some of its students are just three years old, Australian International School (AIS) is the most experienced provider of Australian education in the Singapore market, having celebrated its 20th birthday this year in 2013.

Dr Nick Miller, Principal of AIS since January 2012 (former Principal of YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College), says the school has been a phenomenal success since it opened its first campus in February 1993.

“AIS started in 1993 with 32 students and seven teachers, and finished the year with more than 200 students. AIS has since experienced rapid growth and moved campuses a further two times, before finding a permanent home on Lorong Chuan, where we now cater for over 2,600 students from over 50 nationalities.

The community is at the heart of everything teachers and staff do at AIS. “We believe that when a student feels safe and their emotional needs recognised and met, they are in the best place to access the opportunities for learning and personal growth. As such, we invest considerable resources in student welfare programs and work in partnership with our parent community to enhance their child’s education. ”

AIS has a strong tradition in the Arts, a representative sports program competing in more than 13 sports in local, regional and international competitions and a community service program which feeds into the School’s mission of enabling its students to make a difference for good.

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The AIS Curriculum and teaching philosophy

AIS is the only southern-hemisphere school in Singapore that offers an Australian curriculum-based global education for students from the age of three to 18 years. This truly international education begins in with the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program from Preschool to Year 5, a recently developed school-specific curriculum framework for Years 6 to 8, Cambridge IGCSE in Years 9 and 10, and the Higher School Certificate or International Baccalaureate Diploma Program for Years 11 and 12. The Australian Curriculum (AC) underpins the entire curriculum at AIS from Prep through to Year 8.

Dr Miller explains,

“By benchmarking to the AC content and standards, we can ease the transition between Singapore and the home country of the majority of our students, and also enable parent to understand more clearly how their children are performing relative to the national cohort.

Unsurprisingly, AIS students are academically in the high-ability range and experience superior average growth compared to the best performing Australian state or territory – the ACT. This combined with daily Mandarin lessons from Prep to Year 5, a 1:1 Apple iPad / MacBook program from Prep to Year 12 and a dedicated professional learning centre to develop teachers of the highest calibre, ensures AIS students are in the best environment to exceed our expectations, and their own.”

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