BECOME A MEMBER! Sign up for TIE services now and start your international school career

ONLINE ARTICLES

American International School of Jeddah Celebrates 60th Anniversary, Plans Yearlong Commemoration

By Catherine Thomas
30-Nov-12


The American International School of Jeddah (AISJ) is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its founding in 1952. It has been serving expatriates in Jeddah for 60 years and has steadfastly pursued its goals of excellence in education.
AISJ has produced graduates in a variety of specialties and occupations, who have served not only locally but also throughout the world to enhance our global community. AISJ takes pride in being the oldest established accredited International school in Jeddah.
AISJ is an international school that offers an American curriculum from PK3 to Grade 12. Students currently comprise 45 different nationalities.
AISJ’s current configuration is a culmination of three eras: the Parent Cooperative School (PCS) from 1952 to 1979 (with an annex in Taif from 1973-1977), Saudi Arabian International School (SAIS) from 1979 to 2004, and the American International School of Jeddah (AISJ) from 2004 to the present.
In historical terms, the school is also honored to have played a unique role in the development and expansion of the American community in Jeddah. In 1945, King Abdul Aziz bin Saud, the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, received the gift of a DC-3 aircraft from U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This event later led to the Kingdom’s development of civil aviation and the birth of Saudi Arabian Airlines, or Saudia, in September 1946. Trans World Airlines (TWA) was contracted to manage the set-up and operation of the fledgling airline.
In 1952 the population of Jeddah was about 200,000, but expanding rapidly due to the new airport project and new national airline, Saudia. Jobs attracted people to the city, many whom were specialized overseas workers who brought their families with them. This created a need for a formal American education for TWA employee children and other expatriates arriving in the Kingdom.
Although the official name came later, the Parents Cooperative School (PCS) was founded in 1952. Initially, students met in homes; classes were organized using materials from the Calvert System, which was based on a home school curriculum. Parents volunteered to do the teaching.
During this time, the expatriate community in Jeddah expanded and the school grew rapidly. A new facility was built in 1968, and again in 1975, when the oil boom ignited rapid development in the Kingdom and further enrollment growth at PCS campus. North Campus (NCS) was built in 1976, to accommodate the anticipated growth in enrollment.
In the fall of 1980, enrollment peaked at 1,700 students. The school had become one of the largest international schools in the Middle East. In 1985, the school took a new name, Saudia-Saudi Arabian International School, and in 2000-2001 had its first Grade 12 graduation. It was the first international school in Jeddah to feature a Diploma Program.
In the fall of 2003, Saudia announced that it would not continue its sponsorship of the school, due to its upcoming privatization. On 28 August 2004, the American International School of Jeddah opened its doors.
In August 2007, Dr. Mark English assumed leadership of AISJ as its new Superintendent, and with him came a new administrative team. Jeddah has since gone through another expansion phase, and the school is already at maximum capacity; AISJ is now in the planning stages of a new facility, to open within the next three to five years, which will accommodate anticipated future growth.
AISJ has come a long way from its start of 40 students, to over 1,100 students in 2012; from a staff of three certified teachers to about 200 professionals today; and from one teaching principal to an administrative staff of a superintendent and three whole school divisions.
To mark the milestone, AISJ is planning a yearlong series of programs and activities, beginning with the inauguration this month of a new Middle School and High School building, and the official launch of the AISJ Alumni Association.
AISJ alumni: join us in celebrating our Diamond Anniversary! Please contact us at [email protected] for alumni information and a calendar of events.




Please fill out the form below if you would like to post a comment on this article:








Comments

01/28/2015 - Peg
In addition, PCS from 1968 and into the 80's was the only fully accredited American school outside of the US. It was fully accredited by the Middle States School Association. Quite an accomplishment!

01/18/2013 - Axel P Henry
To Whom It May Concern,

impressed with your website Ad that I'm seeing now for the first time and am impressed with. I've been in the EFL/ESL field for over 18 years globally and had worked in Saudi Arabia at Kind Abdulaziz University Jeddah Branch initially from 2009 to 2010. Jeddah is one of my favorite parts of Saudi Arabia and would welcome a chance to visit Jeddah again, via some other options I've been looking into in Jubail, Saudi Arabia to meet up with Catherine Thomas and start seeing and connecting more with the American International School in Jeddah. Also, I would be interested in a potential chance there as well in the future for the first time doing a variety of things there as well. Finally, I'm a US Citizen of Jamaican decent, a great Native English speaker with a great speaking/Easy Listening singing voice as well. At any rate, I still think well of your school in Jeddah that I'm now seeing for the first time and impressed with and looking forward to when we can visit Jeddah again, while I'm working in Jubail at the college there and we can meet up and start out connections via a first time option there in the near future. Cheers and Happy New Year 2013 to you all. Kind Regards, Axel P Henry.