Developing 21st Century Skills

Part 3: Questions to ask when choosing an international school

Here is our final instalment of questions to ask when choosing an international school for your child. You can read the first instalment of this series here, and the second instalment here.

1. What is their staff turnover?

High staff turnover is a key issue for any business in any industry - including education. According to research, the average tenure of an international..

Part 2: Questions to ask when choosing an international school

Here are the next sets of important questions to ask when choosing an international school for your child. You can read the first instalment of this series here.  

1. What extra-curriculars do they offer?

Most schools offer extra-curricular activities alongside their traditional core subjects – whether they are international schools or normal schools. Extra-curricular..

Part 1: Questions to ask when choosing an international school

As a parent searching for schooling, considering an international school for your child is a good idea. With rising demand for international schooling, particularly in East and South-East Asia, according to ISC Research, forecasts suggest that international schools will host almost 7m pupils by 2023. This can make your job of picking a school difficult and you may not know..

Primary Weekly Highlights: Learning in MFL at JB

At Alice Smith, students develop their intercultural understanding as they learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs, and those of others. In our MFL lessons, we ensure that students engage with diverse cultures, creating connections and cultivating mutual respect. We believe that understanding each other’s cultures is an essential part of living with others in..

Primary Weekly Highlights:  PE & Swimming at JB ⛹🏻‍♀️🏊🏼‍♂️

Physical Education at JB

What a week of learning we have had in PE; kicking off with a brand new unit of work for our Key Stage 2 students using the game of spikeball. This game will challenge the students to deepen their understanding of some key physical education skills, concepts and strategies. Students will be learning transferable movement skills including sending and..

Secondary Weekly Highlights: Immerse-d in Education 📚🧑‍🏫

‘What is history's most significant invention?’ ‘Is stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving family a crime?’ ‘Should all vaccines for all diseases be mandatory?’

These are just a selection of the interesting questions that some of our students at EP found themselves researching and debating in their entries for the prestigious Immerse Education Essay Competition in..

Innovative British Education Foster Development of the Whole Child

Primary Weekly Highlights: Year 6 New Skill Presentation 🗣🎙

Year 6 New Skill PresentationThis week, as part of the Year 6 Challenge award, some of our Year 6 children have taken part in the New Skill Presentation event. This aspect of the Challenge asked our children to learn a new skill and evince their progress through a live presentation. With many parents watching eagerly online via a live Youtube link, the children seriously..

2021 - What a year!🎉🥂🎆

It's been a real year of 'Ups and Downs' or maybe 'Ins and Outs' would be more appropriate as we found ourselves moving backwards and forwards between physical and virtual classes. Despite the challenges the KLASS Community has lots to celebrate as we reflect on the achievements of our 75th year! #KLASSturns75

January

We didn't get the start to the year we were hoping for..

Secondary Weekly Highlights: A Festive Finale 🎉🎄

We were not able to be on campus for the final week of Term 1 last year, we are certainly making up for that this year! This week has been a joyous medley of celebration, collaboration and singing.

The language of carolsThe week began with our fabulous Year 7 MFL students showing off their ability to sing in different languages. Students of Spanish, French, Bahasa Malaysia..

Primary Weekly Highlights: Final Week of Term🥳

Final Week of Term

We have had a week full of joy and cheer this week at JB. Our students have been excitedly coming to the end of various units of learning but also engaging in a range of Christmas activities.

JB Virtual Christmas Performance

On Wednesday evening our JB Music Virtual Christmas Performance took place. There were performances involving students from Early..

What a year! Some highlights of 2020 🎉🥂🎆

In many ways 2020 will be a year we’d all rather forget but we are reminded that ‘Events are neither good or bad - it’s our evaluations that make them so’ (Ellen Langer, Professor Of Psychology at Harvard University) and at Alice Smith we have had a lot to celebrate this year! Here are some of our highlights.

January

We began the year with a shortlisted entry in the..

The Legend of Moby Dick Whittington

This week, in the run up to Christmas festivities, the Drama and English departments at EP have been showing students The Legend of Moby Dick Whittington, by UK theatre company The Sleeping Trees.

The show is a traditional British pantomime - with a difference! It was completely created, performed and filmed at home.

With Covid numbers rising in the UK, a live pantomime was..

It's Health Week!

Every year our secondary students organise a whole week of activities focusing on improving our physical and mental wellbeing. With our campus still closed and online lessons replacing our usual face to face activities this year they have provided us with some great facts and quizzes and supported by our catering team from Delischool who have suggested some recipes to try.

..

Lauren signs for Aston Villa Football Academy

Update September 2022: Lauren started her debut season as the new defender for Nottingham Forest WFC (Women Football Club). Read more here.

It's been a baptism of fire for Lauren Purchase as she enters the world of top tier football; having successfully trialed for well-respected Birmingham City Football Club; Lauren made a last-minute pre-season decision to sign for..

Football Mad Omar Lands a Movie Role!

UPDATE SEPT 2022: Looking for something good to watch at the cinema? Why not try 'Anak Rimau'. Way back in Summer 2020 Omar told us about his movie role and now we can finally see it. Here's the trailer - Can you spot Omar?

And here's Omar now! 

We love to hear about all the extraordinary things our Alice Smith Students get up to both in and out of school. In this blog..

FOBISIA Story Winners: Secondary

Congratulations to Soraya, from Jerudong International School, who is this year's overall winner of the Secondary category in the FOBISIA (the Federation of British International Schools in Asia) short story competition and also to our runners up Summer, from Taipei European School, and Gan from Help International, KL.

Our judge, Curtis Jobling the designer of worldwide hit..

FOBISIA Story Winners: Years 5 and 6

Congratulations to Year 5 and 6 winners of the FOBISIA (the Federation of British International Schools in Asia) short story competition Sizhe, overall winner from Dulwich College, Singapore and runners up Roselyn, from International School at Desa Park City, Kuala Lumpur and Harriet from Dover Court, Singapore.

The response this year was overwhelming! With over twenty..

FOBISIA Story Winners: Years 3 and 4

Congratulations to our Year 3 and 4 winners of the FOBISIA (the Federation of British International Schools in Asia) short story competition, Amelia, overall winner from The Alice Smith School, and runners up Sofia from The British School of Colombo and Garam at Bangkok Patana.

The theme of this year's short story competition was 'Protect'. Launched back in October the..

Animal Crossing Rugby Jerseys

Our students have been spending their time during the CMCO / MCO in a huge variety of ways - some more surprising than others. Here Year 13 student Adam English tells us about how his passion for jerseys ended up with him collaborating with @WorldRugby.

"The MCO/CMCO here in Malaysia and cancellation of exams has not been easy to deal with but it has given me some extra free..

Life of a Distance Learning Teacher in Kuala Lumpur

Alice Smith School faculty have been working hard to ensure we are providing our quality learning and teaching online. 

Innovating in our delivery methods to ensure learning continues for all our students. With the MCO extended into Term 3 it will be a little longer before we get back onto campus but learning will continue across the school.

Read on to see how distance..

Don't delay - watch today!

In last week's 'Culture in Quarantine' blog, Holly Sullivan, our Head of Creative and Expressive Arts, shared with us a whole host of online plays, musicals and operas to enjoy during the MCO. Lots of you have taken advantage of these online treats and below you will find reviews and recommendations from members of our #KLASS Community. Do remember though some of these are..

Culture in Quarantine | Live Performances in your Living Room

During this period of restricted movement, families are spending much more time together at home. When previously, we may have spent Saturday evening seeing the latest blockbuster at the cinema now we look to Netflix for our cinema fix. But what about the other art forms that previously fulfilled our creative needs and our desire to consider the world from different..

More about VL @ KLASS

"In wilderness is the preservation of the world"

While many of us remain indoors due to the Movement Control Order Dan Lawrence, our Primary School Counsellor, offers a moment to reflect on our connection with nature even if it's just through our windows today!

In wilderness is the preservation of the world - Henry D Thoreau

Henry Thoreau, the poet-philosopher and environmental scientist author of “Walden”, knew a..

Virtual Learning is Keeping Learning On Track

Learning through digital media is nothing new at Alice Smith, just as in many modern schools, our teachers and students regularly interact using email, collaborative documents and a host of educational apps forming a rich, varied and innovative academic experience. 

Moving to a fully digital programme is a challenge fraught with compromise and logistical pitfalls which can..

Some useful resources

"Like it or not, we live in interesting times." Robert F. Kennedy, 1966

Our school campuses are now both closed until the Easter term break commencing on Friday 3 April. Our staff are working hard to deliver teaching to our students through distance learning and online resources but none of us are used to this situation.

To help us through this potentially difficult time, Dan..

Our Les Misérables performance may be postponed but we'd still like to celebrate the student team behind it!

Update May 12th: The 'Les Misérables in Concert' team have been working hard to beat the challenge of the MCO and we're pleased to be able to bring you the first of several 'Virtual' performances the team have recorded. Enjoy 'At the End of the Day' here.

"For this week's blog post we had spoken to students Falk and Shuewen about what was to be our forthcoming student-led..

What makes an Alice Smith student truly exceptional?

The Alice Smith School is often regarded as one of the best (if not the best!) International schools in Malaysia and indeed Asia. But what makes it so special? Excellent (I)GCSE and A Level grades are an indicator of one aspect of a school's quality, but what about all those activities, initiatives and achievements that do not end with a formal assessment? Think of all the..

So what is a 'Wider Learning Day'?

Our Secondary campus holds Wider Learning Days (WLDs) three times a year and on these days, the timetable is collapsed and students participate in learning beyond the syllabus. This often takes the form of working in teams, learning about our place in the world or applying skills in an unusual aspect of life. Have a read below to find out more about our most recent WLD.

Year..

A Splendid residency!

We were delighted to welcome Kerry Frampton, Artistic Director of Splendid Productions, the award-winning UK theatre company, back to Alice Smith School to deliver a theatre-making residency to our KS4 and KS5 Drama students in the mid term break.

Splendid Productions are the UK’s foremost education theatre company. Led by Artistic Director, Kerry Frampton, they tour sell-out..

Thinking of applying to Cambridge?

We were very fortunate to welcome Claire Canning, the Deputy Student Recruitment Manager (International) from the University of Cambridge to Alice Smith this week to talk to our students and parents about applying to, and studying at, this prestigious institution.

What’s so special about Cambridge?

The University of Cambridge is one of the world's leading universities,..

Fantastic results for our EPQ students

Results day is in August right? Mostly, but not for our Year 13 EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) students who have been patiently waiting for their grades since their presentations last June. It was worth the wait though - an amazing 10 students were awarded an A* and overall 82% of students achieved A*-B. Huge congratulations to all the students on their achievements.

The..

Learn to Think, Think to Learn

‘IDK’, if you didn’t know, is a feature of text-speak that has now planted itself firmly into modern parlance as a rapid, shorthand response to a difficult question - ‘I don’t know’.

When we ask Year 7 students what they think is happening when a raw egg appears to ‘cook’ in the presence of a mysterious chemical at room temperature there is no expectation that they will..

You're invited to dinner!

Join us for a special night, as we celebrate the Foundation Charity Dinner's 10th year anniversary and experience an evening of ‘high KLASS’ food and entertainment, organised and run entirely by our secondary students, staff and parents at the fabulous Grand Hyatt Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on 28th February 2020. The evening includes a wide range of outstanding song and dance..

Eight ways to help your child revise

Why Play is Important?

Play: It’s the way young children learn. A special supplement to the Children’s Advocate, stated, “Play is the main way children learn and develop ideas about the world. It helps them build the skills necessary for critical thinking and leadership. It’s how they learn to solve problems and to feel good about their ability to learn. Children learn the most from play when they..

Mastery Learning

Learning is at the heart of everything we do and in this article Nicola Howard, our Associate Vice Principal and Head of Science and Design Technology, focuses on Mastery Learning and how we are developing this at Alice Smith Secondary School.

Mastery Learning or, as it was initially called ‘learning for mastery’ can be traditionally defined as an educational philosophy in..

Innovation in Art

Art at Alice Smith School, or KLASS, welcomes those to a place where ideas are king and curiosity reigns……

At KLASS the Visual Arts and Photography experience provides students with an excellent opportunity to enhance creative thinking and develop a personal portfolio. The visual experience provides a student with transferable skills in problem-solving, risk-taking,..

Family Dinner Table Conversation - how’s it going?

Adapted from an article by Tamsin Kelly

Community and connecting are frequently talking and learning points for us in school. This week’s feature article is from Mr David Slade, our Vice Principal for Achievement and Progression, and looks at different ways to connect with our children at home in their teenage (and other!) years.

Teenagers are more likely to get five good..

School sport and its significance for an international school education

It has long been acknowledged that school sport plays a significant role in a child’s education and overall well being. Participation in school sports supports the healthy growth of the heart, lungs and muscles, as well as increasing agility, balance and coordination. Aside from the obvious physical benefits, sport also has a highly positive effect on a child’s psychological..

Absolute Magic- Ross Welford Visiting Author

Earlier this term we had the pleasure of hosting award winning author Ross Welford  at our Primary Campus and he was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S! Not only did he delight with his amazing piano skills, but his magic tricks during his Year 6 and Year 4 assemblies were real WOW moments. Ross entertained the students whilst discussing how he became a writer and how he engaged with books as a..

Enrichment Activities & ECAs

Enrichment activities or ECAs (Extra Curricular Activities) are an integral part of our school’s mission and vision in delivering the enriching, holistic education our students experience beyond the classroom. They are a great way for students to be involved within the school community, learn new skills, make new friends and have a great time.

We believe these activities are..

The Tempest is coming!

As the clock ticks down to this year's Shakespeare's Double Bill we caught up with our two lead actors, Electra (year 7) and Hunayn (year 8), from The Tempest Company.

Electra is enjoying her role of Ariel a spirit, "I really love my role because I feel that Ariel has so many sides to her. Sometimes she’s a cheeky nymph, but other times she’s a raging harpy seeking revenge,..

Not one but two! A Shakespeare Double Bill

The Shakespeare Double Bill of The Tempest and Macbeth, takes place on December 10th and 11th at the Secondary Campus, with KS3 students performing The Tempest and KS4 and KS5 in Macbeth.

Across twelve weeks of rehearsals, over 70 students have come together to challenge themselves to explore the complex language of the text, master their performance and..

British High Commissioner visits Alice Smith School

The Alice Smith School were recently honoured to host HE Charles Hay, the British High Commissioner to Malaysia. On hand to welcome the High Commissioner was Head of School, Roger Schultz who expressed his appreciation to him for taking the time to visit and tour the Secondary Campus. HE Charles began his visit by spending some time engaging with the school’s four Head..

Be prepared to laugh, cry and be terrified at Macbeth

The 2019 Drama production is a Shakespeare Double Bill of The Tempest, performed by our younger students years seven to nine, and Macbeth by our older students in years 10 to 13.

Taking one of the lead roles is India Kolb. India is the current recipient of our Talent Bursary in Creative and Expressive Arts and has recently received the 'Top in Country' award from Cambridge..

Selangor Princess Tengku Zatashah Visits Alice Smith Primary Campus

In line with our Giving theme, KLASSics met with member of the Alice Smith School Foundation Board and featured alumna, YAM Tengku Datin Paduka Setia Zatashah binti Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.

We were waiting in anticipation as Tengku Zatashah had earlier posted on Instagram how excited she was about coming back to school after all these years. Walking in to our Primary..

How to Choose an International School in Kuala Lumpur

Choosing an international school can be daunting. You are looking for the perfect balance of high academic standards, engaging, attentive teachers, and fun extracurriculars. 

In short, you want your child to thrive in their new expat school. It's a tall order, especially if it's your first trip to Malaysia.