KAIS International School

[EduCativ]

KAIS International School is one of Japan’s most innovative and academically distinguished international schools. Conveniently located in central Tokyo, we have been serving the international community since 2006. At KAIS, our students learn in small classes in a family-like atmosphere, where they develop their connectedness to others while exploring who they are as individuals. We believe self-awareness, curiosity, and empathy are vital in the development of the adults who will shape the future, and everything we do aims to support this.
Small class sizes allow more opportunities for our students to engage in hands-on projects, receive individual attention from instructors, present their work to their peers, and participate in discussions. Our dedicated team of teachers is focused on engaging our students in the optimal high school experience both in and out of the classroom. While most of our students go on to study at top universities in the United States, we present our curriculum to our diverse student body from a global perspective. We invite you to come to see our unique and vibrant school for yourself.
KAIS International School was founded in 2006 by Jonathan Yaffe and Charles Knudsen. The school started in a small house in Jiyugaoka and moved to Meguro in 2009. While we’ve grown in size over the years, we have never aspired to become a large school – we wanted to create the school we wished we went to, a place where students love learning. We believe smaller classes, hands-on learning, and balance between disciplines is a key component in our student's growth and development. The mission of KAIS has always been to provide students with a holistic education – one that emphasizes the academic, the creative, and the physical.
We aim to serve Tokyo’s international community by providing an academically challenging, creatively stimulating, and caring atmosphere for learning. Our school is small by design. We firmly believe that students are not numbers, but unique individuals with varying needs and learning styles. Our students, a diverse mix of foreign students living in Tokyo and bicultural students, represent many countries and backgrounds from around the world and help to create a truly international community.
Our open and creative atmosphere inspires students to discover and pursue their passions. In a spirit of celebration, our faculty and staff share their interests with the students, helping to instill in our students a love of learning that will last a lifetime. Here at KAIS, a thirst for learning and zeal for life are cultural norms. Facing challenges together with this cooperative energy allows our students to fulfill their potential as well as to explore new interests.
We aim to make learning more effective and enjoyable by engaging our students’ curiosity through hands-on learning. Naturally, we encourage our students to ask questions, but we also strive to instill in our students a passion for finding answers on their own. Vigorous research, critical analysis, and the testing and retesting of hypotheses are at the heart of our learning approach. This combined with an atmosphere of creative expression endows our students with a strong desire to learn and the skills and fortitude required to make informed decisions and meaningful discoveries.
KAIS has a robust Advanced Placement (AP) program that spans various departments, meeting the needs of students who thirst for greater challenges. AP courses are available to students who demonstrate the ability and desire to work at a university level. Students enrolled in AP classes sit for examinations in May that each last between two and three hours. Students who successfully pass these exams are eligible to receive credit at most US colleges and universities. We currently offer the following AP courses: Biology, Calculus AB, Chemistry, US History, Physics, and Statistics.
Using the state-of-the-art VEX robotics system, our students design, build, and program their robots, which they then enter into robotics competitions with other international schools. A key component of our STEM program, our robotics program teaches students to work as a team towards a common goal, using both individual skills and group support to tackle advanced technical challenges. We are happy to say that our students have achieved great success together, placing or winning at numerous robotics competitions in places such as Taiwan, Los Angeles, as well as here in Japan.
Our mascot is the Llama. Strong, loyal, and steadfast, this unique choice for a mascot perfectly represents our unconventional school. We have boys and girls teams in volleyball, basketball, and futsal. KAIS students also participate in ISTAA’s annual cross-country meet. Athletics are a key component in teaching leadership, cooperation, self-discipline, and commitment, and we encourage any student who is interested in playing to join a team. KAIS is a member of the International Schools of Tokyo Athletics Association (ISTAA).
While all of our courses are taught in English, all students at KAIS take four hours of Japanese per week. Our Japanese program accommodates a wide range of levels, from basic survival Japanese to the study of native-level Japanese literature. Here at KAIS, we believe it is vital for our students to cultivate an understanding and respect for our host country’s culture, which is why KAIS students also learn about Japanese customs and traditions through our Japanese language program.
The time we spend together is purposeful, which is why we choose to punctuate each school year with a unique travel experience rather than an exam and locker cleaning. Celebrating our year together in a fun and meaningful way exemplifies the essence of KAIS International School: school can and should be an enjoyable experience. After working hard for an entire year, students and teachers are rewarded with an upbeat and memorable last day wherein we travel to a secret location and spend the day engaging in exhilarating activities while reflecting on the year we had together!

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