NURTURING GLOBAL CITIZENS

Today Kinabalu International School has over 470 students from overย 33 nationalities and follows the National Curriculum Programme of Study for England and Wales. It is the oldest international school in Sabah with a well-deserved reputation for delivering a high quality education programme for over 40 years.

The school was originally established in the 1970โ€™s to provide a British type education for children of expatriates living and working in Sabah. Initially, premises were rented from the St Johnโ€™s Ambulance Association in Kota Kinabalu and the first teachers were parents of the students attending the school. However, the school quickly introduced its current policy of recruiting only the best qualified teachers from around the world and began to receive recognition of its commitment to high standards from local, regional and global educational organisations.

PARTNERING WITH BRITISH-STYLE SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT ASIA

In 1988, KIS became a founder member of the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA), a prestigious organisation of British-style schools formed to support shared goals and expectations and promote educational excellence in its member schools. Even today, KIS continues to play a central role in the Federation with our staff attending and leading FOBISIA committees, workshops and conferences, spreading good practice throughout South East Asia.

PURPOSE BUILT CAMPUS IN AN EASILY ACCESSIBLE LOCATION

The rapid success of the school inspired the parent body to build its own buildings at Bukit Padang and after a tremendous amount of work and fund-raising the current school buildings were opened in 1995. To this day, KIS can proudly claim to be one of the few International schools in Malaysia that owns its school freehold without any loans at all โ€“ a wonderful testament to the commitment and support the school has traditionally enjoyed from the parent population throughout its history.

INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED QUALIFICATIONS

In 2000, KIS was one of the first schools in Malaysia to introduce the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) for students in Year 10 and Year 11, starting a period of sustained academic success which has continued through to the present time with results comparable to the best British Schools around the world. The IGCSE programme was quickly resourced by the building of a dedicated secondary department block of classrooms, complete with science laboratories in 2001. The year 2001 also witnessed the creation of an ICT Laboratory to ensure that students have every opportunity to develop high levels of computer literacy.

CONTINUED EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT OF FACILITIES

At the 2004 Annual General Meeting, the Parent Body passed a motion to build a multi-purpose hall which was completed shortly thereafter. As the school continued to expand, another major building project was undertaken in 2009 with the creation of a new four storey building housing classrooms, a new school library and a staffroom. The schoolโ€™s commitment to new technology was further reinforced at this time with the instalation of interactive whiteboards in every classroom. The school was also one of the first schools in the region to see the value of I-Pads to support the delivery of the curriculum and these are now successfully used by students and staff throughout the school.

2010 also saw the opening of the new KIS playgroup, ‘First Steps @ KIS‘ offering what has quickly become a hugely popular pre-school programme for children aged between 18 months and three years.

FULLY ACCREDITED BY THE COUNCIL OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

The 2009-2010 academic year began with the school being granted membership of the global โ€˜Council of International Schoolsโ€™ as well as embarking on an 18 month self-study process as part of its quest to achieve full accreditation status with this much-respected organisation. A formal visit by a CIS Visiting Team of educators and a subsequent detailed report published in May 2011 confirmed the school as achieving full accreditation status โ€“ one of only four schools in Malaysia to achieve this honour and one of less than 350 schools around the world to have been fully accredited against a set of exacting educational standards. Since then the school has submitted it’s one year follow-up report and successfully completed the Five Year Visit in 2016, whichย has ensured that the school maintains its accredited status.

EXTENDING EDUCATION AT KIS TO A LEVELS

Kinabalu International School is still owned and managed by the parent body and as such there remains an on-going commitment to be innovative and sensitive to the changing needs of the whole school community. Accordingly, with an ever-increasing demand from parents for a post-16 education option at the school, the Board of Governors took the historic decision to begin a new A Level programme in September 2012. This exciting new initiative heralded a new era of academic success at the school and our graduates have progressed to university courses around the world.