Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

Australian International School Singapore

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Religious affiliation(s)
  
Multi

Founder
  
Coral Dixon

Phone
  
+65 6883 5155

Mascot
  
AIS Sharks

Founded
  
1993

Principal
  
Andre Casson

School district
  
Singapore

School type
  
Private International School

Faculty
  
200 academic; 72 teaching support; 50 admin (2012)

Address
  
1 Lor Chuan, Singapore 556818

Accreditations
  
International Baccalaureate, Board of Studies

Similar
  
Stamford American Internatio, Chatsworth Internatio, St Gabriel's Primary School, St Joseph's Institution Internatio, EtonHouse

Profiles

Australian international school singapore aiss tv advert


The Australian International School (AIS), in Singapore is a co-educational international school in Singapore. The school is owned by Cognita. AIS is made up of two sub-schools; an Elementary School and a Secondary School. The Elementary School includes Preschool, Junior School (P-Y2) and Primary School (Y3-Y5), each of these has its own Head of School that reports in to an overall Head of Elementary. The Secondary School includes Year 6 to Year 12 and operates under the Head of Secondary School.

Contents

In 2007 the school adopted the International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP) and in 2009 the IB Middle Years Program (MYP) for Years 6 – 9. The IB curriculum is taught in conjunction with New South Wales Board of Studies syllabuses. Final year students take the New South Wales Board of Studies Higher School Certificate examinations. From 2013 AIS will implement the IGCSE curriculum and examinations for Years 9 and 10.

History

The Australian International School opened on 3 February 1993 at its first campus on Mount Sophie, an area behind Plaza Singapura and the Cathay Building reconstruction. The School started under the leadership of Miss Coral Dickson with 32 students and 7 teachers, with no air-conditioning, uniform or facilities that are now taken for granted. By the end of 1993 there were over 200 students.

The School experienced rapid growth and by the end of July 1994, with numbers just over 500, the students moved to Emerald Hill, directly behind Orchard Road. Although the School was bigger and could accommodate more students it still did not have a full–sized gym, pool, theatre and other much needed facilities.

As the School continued to expand it was clear that space was running out at Emerald Hill and by the end of 1997, AIS had moved to Ulu Pandan, near Clementi, the site of the old Singapore American School, which had recently moved to a new site at Woodlands.

The School enjoyed just over 5 years at Ulu Pandan during which time it finally secured land to construct a purpose built school at Lorong Chuan, with first class facilities. In February 2002, Mr Peter Bond began as Principal of AIS. The School moved from Ulu Pandan to its final "home" at Lorong Chuan over the holidays in July 2003, with 1100 students enrolled. The school was officially opened by then Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, John Anderson and Singapore's then Acting Minister for Education, Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

In October 2007, the School was purchased by the for profit Cognita Group of Schools and in July 2008, a Junior School and Preschool wing were built to house children from Preschool to Year 2 at a purpose-built facility. The campus is a bright, airy and semi-modern building with large pod spaces for group work. In 2011, a new Senior building was opened to accommodate Year 10, 11 and 12 students. This wing incorporates private study spaces, nearly 40 classrooms and a new Science, Art, Music and Technology area.

In January 2012, Dr Nick Miller took over as Principal of AIS, and the School moved to a new school structure with two sub-schools: Elementary School (Preschool, Junior School and Primary School) and Secondary School.

In March 2014, Dr Nick Miller announced his resignation as the Principal of AIS. At the end of 2014, Andre Casson took over as Principal of AIS.

Currently there are roughly 2600 students enrolled and the School employs over 220 members of teaching staff.

Student body and teaching staff

Today the student body is made of over 50 different nationalities, with 66% coming from Australia and New Zealand. Very few Singaporean students attend the school as the Singaporean government's regulations prevent most of its citizens from attending international schools within the country. The average stay of a student is approximately 2–4 years and the average stay of a teacher is approximately 5–6 years.

Ownership

AIS is has been privately owned by Cognita since 2007. Cognita is a for profit international independent schools group. Founded in 2004, the Cognita family of schools now incorporates over 51 schools world-wide, with schools in the UK, Spain, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam, covering the age range of 3 – 18 years.

References

Australian International School Singapore Wikipedia