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Alice Smith School
Location
Map
Malaysia
Coordinates3°07′41″N 101°42′01″E / 3.1281°N 101.7003°E / 3.1281; 101.7003
Information
TypeMixed, Day British International School
MottoSic Itur Ad Astra ("In This Way You Shall Go To The Stars")
Established1946
FoundersAlice Fairfield Smith
OfstedReports
DirectorValerie Thomas-Peter(Director)
GenderCo-educational
Age3 to 18
EnrollmentApproximately 1,600 students
HousesMuir (yellow), Fleming (red), Fairfield (blue), Scott (green)
Colour(s)White and Dark Green
AccreditationsFOBISSEA, COBIS, CIS
Websitehttp://www.alice-smith.edu.my

The Alice Smith School, established since 1946 in Kuala Lumpur is one of the oldest British international schools in Asia. The school is a not-for-profit educational foundation. The Alice Smith School follows the English National Curriculum with a strong international flavour. In 2011, the school was one of the first in Asia to be fully accredited as a British School Overseas by the Department for Education in London. [citation needed]

Its three-year rolling average for A Level A*-B results is 70% and the school's value-add score puts it in the top 6% of schools worldwide. At GCSE level, the three-year rolling average of A*-A is 60% [1]

The school's admissions policy is broadly non-selective. Priority for admissions is given to students of the founding trustee nations - British, Australian, New Zealand, and Irish students. These nationalities make up slightly under half of the student population. The school has around one-third Malaysians and 30 other nationalities represented.

History

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The Alice Smith School started in 1946 as a stop-gap home school in Kuala Lumpur. At that stage, the expatriate schools in the cooler highlands that had been operating in Malaya before the Second World War had not yet re-opened. Here is an official account of the history of the Alice Smith School written in 1975 by Mrs Patricia Lee, who was the headmistress from 1964 to 1989.[2][3][4]

"People's ideas about living in the tropics began to change as the war had shown them that they had more resistance to the heat than they had imagined and they began to feel it was no longer imperative to send children back to temperate climates at a very early age. One person who held this view was Alice Fairfield Smith, whose husband Hugh was the Statistician at the Rubber Research Institute. In 1946, she decided to keep her daughter Lindsay with her and to teach the child herself. When three months later, there were enough children for two classes, Mrs Smith realised that this was not going to be the temporary project she imagined, and the Eaton Road School was registered with the Department of Education.

The school was located in Mrs. Smith's home in Eaton Road. A contemporary of that time R.L. Leach tells us that when the classrooms encroached on the dining room, Hugh Smith decided to take over a larger house and surrendered the entire ground floor to the school. Even this space proved insufficient and by 1949 the school had moved to the Masonic Hall in Damansara Road, an event recorded by the Straits Times in its series entitled "The Passing Scene." [5] Numbers grew to 70 and fees were $60 a term. Classes were taught by qualified teachers and these ladies were ably supported by a group of volunteer mothers who tried to help in every way possible. Mrs. Smith never allowed herself a salary and her staff were not paid for school holidays. It is recorded that she said, "We do not want to make a profit," and though other things have changed, this principle is as true today as it was then.

In 1949, Mrs. Smith informed a saddened group of parents that she would be leaving Malaya the following year and she put forward a suggestion that some suitable arrangements should be worked out by parents so that the school could continue. Parents were anxious to take over the responsibility for the administration of the school and at this point it was decided to form an Association and to place the responsibility for the administration of the school in the hands of a Council of Governors. The school was renamed the Alice Smith School and the news headmistress was Mrs Anne Lilley, who had founded her own school in Penang.

The early months of 1950 saw the departure of Mrs. Smith and when in 1960 she returned for a visit, the Malay Mail described her [6] as a "highly impressed but slightly bewildered visitor" who, with undisguised astonishment, surveyed the school she had started with two pupils, a blackboard and a box of chalk. Mrs Smith was of course being shown the school in its new setting on Bellamy Road, for about two years after she left it was decided to build a permanent premise which consisted of the hall and two wings, known today as the North and West wings. At the time of Mrs. Smith's visit, the roll had reached 250 pupils and the founder could hardly associate the busy establishment of 1960 with what she described as "the itinerant caravan of 10 years ago."

Mrs. Lilley was succeeded by Mrs. Doris Muir who was followed by Mrs. G Whitmore and Miss Denise Fleming. In this time span, two more blocks were added to the original school and, the building which houses the present kindergarten and the East Wing. Following this expansion, the Nursery was brought back from St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Hall where it had been located, but was subsequently disbanded when there was pressure for places for school age children.

In 1964, when I took over from Denise Fleming, things seemed settled. But within a year, we were erecting the South Wing, consisting of six classrooms, and within a further short space of time the library and the practical maths room were added. The upper age limit for children slowly crept up to 11 years and for a long time there was talk of adding classes for children of twelve and thirteen years. About the year 1968, interest revived and the Council of Governors, ever responsive to the needs of the children, decided to go ahead with the opening of the school for this older group and in January 1971, the Preparatory Building was occupied. This step was taken with a certain amount of apprehension but with the knowledge that if the project failed, we could use the classrooms to expand at a lower age level. However, by the end of the year, we were adding four more classes to the Department.

I have written at some length about the buildings, but of course while these things are important, it is the people who matter most. Since 1950, the school has been administered by a Council of Governors made up of parents and friends of the school and we are greatly indebted to the ladies and gentlemen who, over the years, have been responsible for the increasingly complex management of our affairs. This has always been voluntary work and I have never ceased to be impressed by and extremely grateful for the consistent interest, support and valuable guidance we have received."

Although there was much discussion about opening classes all the way up to Advanced Level (university entrance) examinations at 18 years old at the Alice Smith School, there was not enough space on site to do this. A new greenfield site was eventually located, south of the city on the multimedia development corridor to Putrajaya. Funds were raised and on the 11th of September 1997, the secondary campus opened at Equine Park. Prince Edward, the youngest son of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the campus on Friday 12 September 1998 by unveiling a plaque in the school assembly hall.

The Principals of the Alice Smith School, Jalan Bellamy have been:[7] Alice Smith 1946-1949 Anne Lilley 1949-1951 Doris Muir 1951-1959 Mrs E Whitmore 1959-1961 Mrs D Fleming 1961-1964 Mrs Patricia Lee 1964-1989 Mr Joe Eales 1989-1992 Mrs Sue de Bohun 1992-1997 Mr Antony Richards 1997-1999 Mr Steve Caulfield 1999-2011. Ms Kate Fuller 2011-

The Principals of the Alice Smith School, Equine Park Secondary Campus have been:[7] Mr Andrew Homden 1996-2000 Mr Stephen Murray 2000-2003 Mr Nikolas Bishop 2003-2007 Mr Richard Dyer 2007-2009 Mr Roger Schultz 2010-

The current Director of School for both campuses is Valerie Thomas-Peter 2008-

The first chairman of the Alice Smith Schools Association Council of Governors was Mr G.G.C. Wilson.[8] The current Chair is Ms. Lorien Holland.[9]

Campuses

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The school operates at two sites: the Primary Campus is in a wooded area adjacent to the old Istana Negara (Royal Palace) on Jalan Bellamy. This is close to the centre of Kuala Lumpur. The facilities at the Primary Campus include interactive whiteboards throughout, a virtual learning platform (Frog) three libraries, a hall, a double-storey gym, swimming pool, three computer suites (PC & Mac), a performing arts centre, a sports field, two sets of adventure play equipment and three play grounds.[10]

The Secondary Campus at Equine Park is approximately 40 minutes south of Kuala Lumpur. It opened in 1997 and the development of facilities has followed and the site includes a swimming pool, indoor sports hall, half a dozen rugby and football pitches, an outdoor basketball court and four tennis courts. The school uses the virtual learning platform (Frog), further amplified through the universal use of interactive whiteboards. The performing arts centre includes two theater halls, six practice rooms and a recording studio. The expanded art space has been the site of exhibitions, recently expanded to allow exploration of other artistic mediums such as Digital Photography. The school boasts Business, Media & Technology as well as Science centres.[11]

Fees

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The school is in the top tier of educational establishments in Kuala Lumpur, The fees shown below are Tuition Fees per term (RM), excluding the building fee and parental deposit.

  • Pre-school 9,100
  • Reception 12,800
  • Year 1 13,450
  • Year 2 13,450
  • Year 3 13,825
  • Year 4 13,825
  • Year 5 13,825
  • Year 6 13,825
  • Year 7 17,285
  • Year 8 17,285
  • Year 9 17,285
  • Year 10 19,970
  • Year 11 19,970
  • Year 12 20,740
  • Year 13 20,740 [11]

Motto

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The school motto is Sic Itur Ad Astra (Latin: "In this way, you shall go to the stars").

School affiliations

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The school is a member of the Federation of British International Schools in South East Asia (FOBISSEA), South East Asia Student Activity Conference (SEASAC), and the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the Council of British International Schools (COBIS).

Notes

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  1. ^ Reaching The Stars 2011-2012
  2. ^ Report of the Council of Governors at the 25th Annual General Meeting of the Alice Smith Schools Association, 31 March 1975
  3. ^ The Alice Smith Schools Association Circular to Parents, February 1951
  4. ^ The Alice Smith Schools Association List of Parent Members 14 November 1950
  5. ^ Straits Times newspaper "The Passing Scene" 1949
  6. ^ Malay Mail newspaper, August 12, 1960
  7. ^ a b Alice Smith Schools Association AGM documentation
  8. ^ Alice Smith School Association Annual General Meeting November 1951
  9. ^ Malaysian Companies Registrar
  10. ^ [1]
  11. ^ a b [2] Cite error: The named reference "Alice Smith School" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).

References

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Category:Education in Kuala Lumpur Category:Educational institutions established in 1946 Category:International schools in Malaysia Category:Schools in Kuala Lumpur Category:British international schools Category:1946 establishments in British Malaya

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