What We Offer

Personalized Learning

We offer a degree of flexibility for every child’s learning path through our Personalized Learning Plans, a differentiated approach that tailors the individual and group learning routines to meet the diverse needs of our students. Together with families, we discuss the needs of individual students, set achievable goals for them, and plan out their weekly schedule in order to maximize the learning they do at school. Our friendly school atmosphere, small class sizes, and frequent discussions about student performance ensure that all teachers are familiar with the students’ academic and social growth.

Electives

Every semester, students choose from a complement of hobbies and interests they want to pursue. Interested in photography? We have a DIY darkroom under the stairs. Like cooking? Try your hand at making hummus, chocolate brownies, or ice cream (just don’t eat them at the same time!). Our electives span the whole spectrum, from physical to creative to technical. We’ve got classes that focus on creating an awesome yearbook, learning Greek or Mandarin Chinese, practicing the guitar, shaping worlds in drama class, competing in table tennis, composing digital music, and much more!

Small Classes

We believe in small class sizes, with a maximum ratio of 10 students to 1 educator in early elementary, 12 to 1 in elementary, and 14 to 1 in middle school for our core subjects. This creates a comfortable classroom atmosphere in which every student gets the appropriate attention he or she deserves. Reduced class sizes also prevent students from slipping through the cracks, and producing mediocre and uninspired work.

Homework Labs

At KAIS EMS, students do much of the heavy lifting of learning — the homework — at the end of the school day, in the presence of an instructor who assists, guides, answers questions, and motivates the students as they study. Every term, we meet with families to decide which Homework Labs would suit the needs of their child. Students choose from a variety of activities, including general Homework Labs, Math or English ‘Focus’ Labs, and English or Japanese Conversation Skills classes. These labs have the secondary effect of alleviating parents of their nightly duties, enabling families to spend quality time together doing other activities.

Project Week

We occasionally set aside the regular class schedule in favor of a more open and flexible approach to completing projects that we call Project Week. Students learn to carefully manage their time, assign roles and responsibilities, and work together productively to complete important projects and tasks. This period of intense work simulates ‘crunch’ time, periods in life where you simply have to do what it takes to complete a number of tasks within a limited time. Through this challenging process, students learn to become resilient, courageous, and confident individuals who can overcome any obstacle.

All-English Environment

KAIS EMS serves the educational needs of the international community in Tokyo. This community most often includes foreign families on temporary assignments, local bi-cultural families, and Japanese families interested in providing an English-based education for their children. In order to maximize their learning potential, our students are committed to speaking English with each other on campus, out of school, and in the digital world. We understand that many of our students are multilingual and that English is not their native language. This is precisely why we make sure to use English as the main language of instruction and communication except for in foreign language classes.

English as an Additional Language

We want all students to not only be able to access the curriculum, but also make meaningful friendships at KAIS. In order to mainstream our English language learners as quickly as possible, we offer a special English as an Additional Language Support (EALS) program to help build their academic language skills and allow them to participate in all their classes in productive and meaningful ways. The program focuses on building the students’ reading, vocabulary, phonics, writing, grammar, and conversation skills in order to increase their fluency and language accuracy.

Culture of Reading

We actively nurture a culture of reading at KAIS, supporting students to become independent, life-long readers. Our ‘Units of Study’ program provides our students with the opportunity to read high volume of high-interest, level-appropriate books of their choosing (rather than a one-size-fits-all novel), and explicitly teaches them the skills and strategies to support close and critical reading. Don’t like reading? We’ll help find you that special book that will blow your mind!

School Houses

Being such a small school, it’s important for students to interact not only with their classmates at the same grade level, but also with kids of all ages. To make this happen, students are organized into Houses and compete in daily challenges – morning workouts, reading competitions, trivia, spelling bees, and more. These points are carefully tallied and announced every Friday at our school assemblies, where we celebrate the projects the students have been working on, honor the behavior and actions that represent our school’s culture words, and showcase their hard work to the entire school.

 

More Characteristics

Do you want to…

... take some time and visit our affiliated after-school English academy?

... or maybe check out our affiliated high school?

Latest Updates

KAIS EMS Early Summer School 2023

Early Summer School sign-ups are now open! If you would like to register your child for a fun-filled week of elective-style classes, please see […]

KAIS EMS Science Fair 2023

On February 23rd, KAIS will be hosting its bi-annual Science Fair, a fantastic opportunity for our students to showcase their […]

KAIS EMS Early Summer School 2022

This year, KAIS EMS is offering a week of fun summer school activities from June 27th to July 1st. STEAM […]

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Students
91
KAIS Team
23
Countries Represented
11
Years Active
9

What our students say

“This school feels different from the other schools I attended because we’re able to have closer, more friendly relationships with the teachers.”

Elina Grade 8

“I learn new things every day and can make new friends. I love coming to school!”

Njabulo Grade 5

“At my old school we used to memorize not learn things but in this school we do. At my old school we did not have freedom of opinion and expression but in this school we have. The principal at my old school would only come once a month but in this school Justin comes everyday. At my old school kids used to bully each other but here they don’t. At my old school the teachers are very strict but in this school they aren’t.”

Sivani Grade 4

“KAIS teaches us not just about learning, but about how to get along with friends and teachers. It shows us the way to live life while handling relationship troubles.”

Erina Grade 5

“At the other school I went to, many people bullied me because I was different from other friends. Other teachers at that school didn’t care about me, but at KAIS the teachers care about me and my classmates don’t bully me.”

Fuki Grade 4

“It’s different because at my other school I didn’t have that many friends, but now I have lots of friends so I feel confident.”

Celena Grade 5

“Everyone at KAIS is kind and caring to each other, and it feels much more personal than other schools. Each teacher knows how to make classes fun and enjoyable for students. The school has a sort of familial atmosphere to it, making it not just feel like a school, but also as a sort of second home to students. KAIS excels in this aspect, and I believe this makes it a fantastic place to learn and a great place to improve one’s social skills.”

Nathan Alumni (Graduated in 2020-21)

“KAIS is different. My experience at another school was much worse. KAIS has a lot of unique features and creative things others don’t have! I love KAIS and always will.”

Erica Grade 4

WANT TO KNOW MORE? CONTACT US TO SCHEDULE A VISIT!