Atlanta International School
| Atlanta International School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
United States | |
| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Motto | "Making a World of Difference" |
| Established | 1984 |
| President | None |
| Head of school | Robert Brindley |
| Staff | 27 |
| Faculty | 112 |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Color(s) | Blue and White |
| Mascot | Eagle |
| Affiliation | International Baccalaureate |
| Website | http://www.aischool.org/ |
Atlanta International School is a private primary and secondary school located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The more common name for Atlanta International School is AIS. AIS is based on the International Baccalaureate Programme. The school has about 14 acres (57,000 m²) of land and has all of its 4K (pre-kindergarten) to 12th grade buildings on one campus. The school is on the former North Fulton High School campus.
History
An outline of the school's history is as follows:[1]
1985
The school opened in September in a schoolhouse rented from Sardis United Methodist Church in Buckhead with 51 students in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first grade.
1987
In July, AIS moved into facilities located on Long Island Drive, acquired from the Fulton County Board of Education. By September the roll had grown to 193 students in four-year-old kindergarten through eighth grade. Grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 were added in subsequent years, with the first graduates receiving their high school diploma in June 1992. Enrollment increased throughout, exceeding 780 students in 2000.
1995
Under a long-term agreement with the Atlanta Board of Education, AIS moved its campus to its current location, site of the former North Fulton High School. Its address is now 2890 North Fulton Dr. Atlanta, GA 30305. The campus offers a full range of modern educational facilities, including science laboratories, campus-wide fiber-optic data wiring, a large library with computer facilities, an auditorium, a performing arts center, fine arts areas and an athletic complex including a gymnasium, and a soccer and baseball field.
AIS principals
The founding headmaster of AIS was Dr. Alex Horsley. The next headmaster was Dr. David Hawley. The third, and current, headmaster, is Dr. Robert Brindley. The primary, middle, and upper schools have their own principals.
School administration
Headmaster
Dr. Robert Brindley has been the headmaster at AIS since 2005. Dr. Brindley stresses the fact that AIS should not be seen just as a "language school" but as an international school where all subjects are valued and taught with excellence. Dr. Brindley continues to work as a math teacher at AIS. Dr. Brindley’s two sons graduated from AIS.
Head of the Primary School
Currently the primary school has two heads. Dusty Fretwell is the head of lower primary school while Alan Poiraud is the head of upper primary school. - The Primary School includes 4-5 year old kindergarten and grades 1 through 5. It operates using the Primary Years Programme.
Head of the Middle School
Marcia Huitt - The Middle School contains grades 6 through 8. It teaches using the Middle Years Programme.
Head of the Upper School
Patrick Hurworth - The Upper School includes grades 9 through 12. It operates using the Middle Years Programme and the Diploma Programme.
Heads of Year
Each grade level at AIS also has a head of year. The head of year works together with other teachers of the same grade level to organize activities and events throughout the school year.
Accreditation
AIS is accredited wholly or in part by four distinct accrediting bodies. AIS is fully accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS), the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), and the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). The Primary School has also been recognized by the French Ministry of Education as having programs equivalent to those in French schools.
By the end of the fifth grade, more than 40 percent of AIS students achieve an "intermediate-high" level in French, German, or Spanish on the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency exam. This is the same level of proficiency required by most states to become a certified high school teacher of a foreign language.
The Campus
The AIS campus is located on the former North Fulton High School campus, which was designed by Phillip Trammel Shutze. The campus is located in the Garden Hills section of Buckhead, Atlanta. There are three buildings on the campus: The SAC, or Sports & Activities Center, the Primary School building, and the Secondary School building. The SAC contains the Welcome Cafe, the music department, and the P.E. department. Both gymnasiums and the locker rooms are also located in the SAC. There is also a slightly smaller building in between the Primary School Building and the Secondary School Building. This building includes the library on the top floor and the 4K kindergarten rooms on the bottom floor. Due to an unprecedented amount of growth in the number of students attending AIS, a new set of Educational Mobile Units (EMUs) have been installed behind the pavilion area adjacent to the cafeteria. Included in these mobile units is the Design Technology trailer, formerly known as the Robotics House. This is where the school's Design Technology courses are taught, and where the school's FIRST Robotics team, the International House of Technology (iHOT), has their workshop.
Since the summer of 2008 the school is currently working on a new field and a science and technology building. The building will be located next to the Secondary School building.
Diversity at AIS
AIS has always prided itself on the national and ethnic diversity represented by its faculty and staff. Approximately 50 percent of AIS students come from families with two American parents, 20 percent from families with one American parent and one international parent, and 30 percent from families with two international parents. Sixty percent of students come from families where only English is spoken at home. Students are admitted to the school without discrimination because of sex, race, ethnic background, or religion. Sixty-two countries are represented by the school's student body, with 27 countries represented by members of faculty and staff. [2]
CAS
CAS Overview
CAS stands for Creativity, Action, and Service. Each student must submit a required number of CAS hours by the end of each year, starting in Middle School, or complete the hours over the summer. If a student fails to complete his/her CAS hours, he/she will not be allowed to graduate to the next grade. Submitted CAS hours show that students have done extracurricular activities involving creativity, physical activity, and service. Students are required to complete 30 CAS hours each year in Middle School, 60 in 9th and 10th grade, and 150 hours in the IB (11th through 12th grade).
To receive CAS hours, students often join 'CAS groups', which have a common activity or goal. For example, the Food Bank CAS group earns Service hours by sorting food at the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Each CAS group has an adult leader (a teacher), or an older student leader, who organizes and runs the group, and in whose room the group meets.
Student Opinions on CAS
Though some students find meeting the CAS hour requirements difficult or tedious, few would disagree that the CAS program is an important part of the AIS curriculum. A common issue with CAS hours is that some students may have far exceeded the requirements in terms of Action hours, for example, but still find it difficult to get Service hours. In middle school, the 30 CAS hours required are divided into 10 hours for each of the three categories of CAS. In 9th and 10th grade, the required 60 hours are divided in the same way, with 20 hours required for each CAS category, and so on in the IB. Recently, however, to make CAS easier for those sudents who experience problems like having more than enough hours in one category, yet not enough in another category, a minimum of only five hours (for the Middle School), and ten hours (for the Upper School) is required per category, but 30 hours (MS) and 60 hours (US) are still required as a sum total of the number of CAS hours needed. This allows students to compensate, for example: A Middle School student with 20 hours of Action would only need 5 Creative and 5 Service hours to reach a total of 30 CAS hours, instead of still having to acquire 10 more Creative and 10 more Service hours.
I think AIS has a great environment for us students to learn in. We have great teachers and challenging classes. The CAS concept is not very popular amongst us, but none of us want to be stuck making up the hours during our summer break, so we try to do over the required amount of hours during the school year. I think we should have winter exams because then we don't have to study so much for the summer exams. All in all, I think AIS is good for improving language skills.
— AIS 8th Grader (Class of 2011)
Other Information
In fifth grade, students participate in an exchange trip. Currently, the students in the Spanish track visit Costa Rica, those in the German track go to Berlin, and students in the French track visit Martinique.
Towards the end of eleventh grade, IB Theatre, Music and Visual Arts students have the option of taking an arts-focused trip to New York. The trip comes around the halfway point of the students' IB study, and gives the students a first-hand look into each of the areas on which they are focusing. The activities that highlight the trip are tailored to the individual's area of study. For example, all the students see at least one Broadway show, with the possibility of seeing other off-Broadway pieces. However, the program is tailored in that the group later breaks off to participate in activities that pertain to them. Examples from years past include: Theatre Arts students visiting a sound designer with the Julliard theatre, Music students taking a backstage tour of the Metropolitan Opera House, and Visual Arts students visiting Vicente Wolf's interior design studio as well as touring the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Office hours are officially from 2 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on every day except for Friday. On Friday, office hours end at 4 p.m. The last Wednesday of every month is a half-day, due to faculty meetings.
Each year the school makes a directory for the convenience of parents, teachers, and staff. The Yearbook CAS group creates a yearbook which compiles photographs of students throughout the year, and the school sells the yearbooks to students and faculty.
AIS also has a robotics team which competes in the FIRST competition. The team's name is iHOT which stands for International House of Technology.
Current President and Vice President of Student Council: Allegra Porter and Adrien Pellerin
Common Abbreviations
- AIS-Atlanta International School
- CAS-Creativity, Action, Service
- DP-Diploma Programme (the IB Upper School program)
- EMU = Educational Mobile Units (These are trailers used by the school as classrooms temporarily)
- ESOL-English as a Second Language or English for Speakers of Other Languages
- FSOL-French as a Second Language or French for Speakers of Other Languages
- GSOL-German as a Second Language or German for Speakers of Other Languages
- IB-International Baccalaureate
- IBPYP-International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB Elementary School program)
- IHOT-International House of Technology (FIRST Team) (a CAS group)
- ISAL-International Students Against Landmines (a CAS group)
- LPAC-Lademacher Performing Arts Center
- MPR-Multi-Purpose Room
- MS-Middle School
- MYP-Middle Years Programme (IB Middle School Program)
- PSHE-Physical, Social, and Health Education
- PS-Primary School
- RAVA-Respect All Value All (No longer in use at the school due to phrase becoming cliche)
- SAC-Sports & Activities Center
- SAC-Student Athletics Council
- SSOL-Spanish as a Second Language or Spanish for Speakers of Other Languages
- US-Upper School
Notes
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2007) |