ACS International Schools

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This is about a group of schools in Britain. For the school in Singapore, see Anglo-Chinese School (International).

ACS was founded in 1967 to serve both local and international communities. Approximately 2,400 students from over 70 nationalities, aged 2½ to 18 years, are currently enrolled at ACS. ACS is a non-sectarian, co-educational, day and boarding school. It was renamed from "American Community Schools" to "ACS International Schools" in 2005.

ACS International Schools comprises three campuses based in London. The campuses are located in the Greater London area: Cobham and Egham in Surrey and Hillingdon in Middlesex.

1 Curriculum
2 Facilities
3 Extracurricular Activities
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Curriculum

All ACS campuses are International Baccalaureate (IB) World Schools, offering the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP). ACS Egham is one of only three schools in the UK to offer also the IB Middle Years Programme (IBMYP), and the IB Primary Years Programme (IBPYP).

ACS students perform consistently well on the IB exams. In 2006, the three campuses achieved a combined 94% pass rate – 14 percentage points higher than the average pass rate across all students who sat the IB worldwide (80%). 13% of ACS students achieved a score of 40 points and over, equivalent to over five A grades at A-level based on the official UCAS conversion tariff. According to the International Baccalaureate Organization, just 5% of students worldwide achieve a score of 40 or above on their IB exam.

The Average IB Diploma score for students passing the full diploma at ACS Cobham decreased from 34 points in 2004-05, to 32 in 2005-06. The IB Diploma pass rate decreased from 94% in 2004-05, to 88% in 2005-06.[1] In addition the average grade per AP examination decreased from 3.32 in 2003-04, to 2.91 in 2004-05.[2]

Two members of the class of 2006 achieved a perfect score of 45 points, an accomplishment reached by fewer than 100 students out of the 23,300 who took the IB Diploma worldwide.

All ACS campuses offer an American High School Diploma, with ACS Cobham and ACS Hillingdon also teaching Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

ACS graduates consistently secure places at some of the world’s top universities including Oxford University, the London School of Economics, and Edinburgh University, as well as internationally renowned institutions, such as Harvard University, Cornell University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

ACS also provides an international language curriculum, including English as an Additional Language (EAL) and Native Language Enrichment (NLE) programmes in a wide range of languages.

[edit] Facilities

All schools have state-of-the-art facilities that support academic, athletic, and arts programmes. Each campus comprises period buildings enhanced by modern, purpose-built classrooms, libraries, cafeterias, and sports facilities. The three ACS schools have invested over £50 million into campus facilities over the past ten years.

[edit] Extracurricular Activities

ACS International Schools encourage every student to engage in a rich and diverse student life. Each school supports a range of extracurricular activities, sports, field trips, community service and visiting artist programmes for both day and boarding students from Pre-K to 12th grade.

Activities and field trips include unique trips like the Model United Nations in Beijing, social studies trips to Florence and Ypres, English and drama trips to Shakespeare’s Globe and other London theatres.

Students also participate in many local and international community activities including Habitat for Humanity and Mission Antarctica, as well as ongoing projects to India, Zambia, Kenya, and Namibia.