The 75 years journey

The history of the School brings about 75 years of rich heritage, 75 years of development and 75 years of unforgettable memories!

1946

The school was started in 1946 by Alice FairfieldSmith at her home in Jalan Eaton, Kuala Lumpur at the end of the Second World War.

A biology graduate from Harvard University and an experienced teacher, Alice Smith only had a handful of expatriate children then, including her own daughter, Lindsey. Alice Smith’s founding ethos of wanting to provide a high quality education for expatriate families living in Kuala Lumpur is still as relevant today as it was over 70 years ago when the school first began.

1950s

When Alice Smith left for America in 1950, the school was officially named The Alice Smith School and passed into the capable hands of Anne Lilley.

The Alice Smith Schools Association was formed, placing the responsibility for the administration of the school in the hands of a Council of Governors. The school relocated to Jalan Bellamy in May 1955.

1980s

In 1982, the Primary Campus gym was named, ‘The Wilkinson Gym’. Under Mr Wilkinson’s consistently active encouragement, the school continued to flourish, and grow in numbers, exceeding 350 students during the 1980s.

In 2010, a new milestone was achieved with the opening of a RM3.2 million four storey gym. The new gym was named ‘The Smurthwaite Gym’ after John Smurthwaite, parent and governor who has a great passion for sports.

1990s

The Alice Smith School held its 50th anniversary celebrations in May 1996.

Two years later in September 1998, the school was honoured to welcome HRH The Prince Edward CVO for the official opening of a brand-new, purpose-built RM33 million Secondary Campus at Equine Park.

2000s

As the world entered a new millennium in 2000, The Alice Smith School continued to go from strength to strength. The first cohort of Sixth Form students graduated that year, a very proud moment for the school and the students themselves.

In February 2004, the new Library and Sixth Form Centre were officially opened at the Secondary Campus.

A glittering Diamond Jubilee Ball took place in 2006 in conjunction with the school’s 60th anniversary celebrations.

All this development stemmed from Alice Fairfield-Smith who started this school with a mission to educate children and today the School has become an internationally recognised educational institution. Taking you back on a historical journey of the beginning of The Alice Smith School.

1960s

In August 1960, Alice Smith visited the school and was delighted to see its growth. When she left Malaya in 1950 after running the school for four years, there were only 70 pupils and seven teachers.

Returning on a sentimental journey, she was astonished to learn that enrolment had topped 250!

1970s

Under the leadership of Patricia Lee, the Preparatory building for older students was opened in January 1971. By the end of the year, more classes were being added. Patricia Lee was Principal from 1964 to 1989.

2010s

It was a joyous celebration as four Malaysian students received their inaugural full scholarship in December 2010 amounting to more than half a million ringgit enabling them to pursue their A Level studies.

The students who received the scholarship award were bright and deserving post SPM students who later enrolled into Sixth Form at our Secondary Campus. In 2011, the school was one of the first in Asia to be fully accredited as a British School Overseas (BSO) by the Department for Education in London. In a subsequent BSO report in 2014, both campuses were judged to be ‘excellent’.

Following this successful BSO inspection, Alice Smith was awarded full membership to COBIS, the Council of British International Schools. COBIS is a membership association of British schools of quality and is a member of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) of the United Kingdom.

Thursday, 4th July 2013 was a fitting moment in time in our history, to celebrate the school’s first Founder’s Day; a day to reflect on and understand the unique story of how the school began. This day also marks the birth of our school’s founder, Alice Smith on 4th July 1905.

2016

70th Anniversary Celebrations

We were honoured to welcome founder, Alice Fairfield-Smith’s grandson, Cameron and great granddaughter, Rosie to our grand 70th Anniversary celebrations. The celebrations reflected on past accomplishments and successes and the legacies left by previous and current generations. In the same year, the Jubilee Centre was opened at the Primary Campus. It was awarded GOLD at the Malaysian Architecture Malaysia (PAM) Awards 2015.

In addition, exciting new outdoor facilities at the Secondary Campus opened in September 2016. The Sports Complex includes a world class 8-lane synthetic athletic running track which conforms to the standard of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), a natural turf football field, a 5-a-side hockey field and a versatile multi-sport playing area accommodating three futsal fields, netball and tennis courts.

We were delighted to have won the Inclusion category at the International School Awards with our initiative, ‘KLASS Student-Support Programme: empowering students to lead on in-class support’. Congratulations to our Personalised Learning Faculty for the recognition of their great work!

Additionally, our Primary Campus was shortlisted in the category for ‘A practical approach to supporting good Mental Health - a Student Wellbeing Toolkit’. These Awards recognise and celebrate the learning, teaching, community, wellbeing, leadership and strategic initiatives at international schools throughout the world.

Awarded by the Geographical Association, this prestigious Secondary Geography Quality Mark award recognises quality and progress in geography leadership, curriculum development and learning and teaching in schools. Congratulations to our Secondary Campus Geography Department!

Our Learn2Master programme in Languages was also shortlisted for an International School Award in the ‘Digital Technology in Learning Initiative’ category in 2020 recognising the schools ongoing innovation in learning and teaching. The awards launched in 2018 celebrate the success stories of schools and their students across the independent education sector in the UK and British schools overseas. The award also recognises and applauds the varied and imaginative ways in which independent schools prepare young people for their future lives.

A huge thank you to our fabulous Sixth Form team and everyone who contributed to the success of our #KLASSof2020 Twitter feeds, without which we would not have won the Best Use of Twitter #SchoolStories Awards.

Our award winning customised prospectus secured Bronze in the InspirED School Marketers Brilliance Awards ‘Out of the Box Concepts’ category. Our userfriendly personalised prospectus allows prospective families to explore our range of academic subjects, learning environment and campus life - instant, online and delivered to their inbox!

We bid farewell to Primary Principal Tom Verity and Secondary Principal Dr. Sarah Howling as they returned to the UK. The school was honoured to welcome Alan McCarthy as the new Primary Principal and congratulate Dr. Maria Osowiecki on her promotion to Secondary Principal.

2021 - 2022

Despite the unforeseen global outbreak in early 2020, our KLASS Community continues to celebrate as we reflect on the achievements of our 75th year!

Themed #OurHeritage#OurFuture, the 75th anniversary year-long celebration kick started on 1st November 2021 with a virtual birthday bash. We hosted our first ever virtual party with special birthday messages from the British High Commissioner to Malaysia, H.E. Charles Hay and many others from our community; near and far.

Together with three distinguished speakers from the Kechara Soup Kitchen Society, Gibbon Conservative Society and Free Tree Society, we also held a panel discussion with our students sharing their vision of a sustainable future - marking the launch of the Alice Smith School Foundation’s 75th Birthday Giving campaign.

A total of 2,895 birthday gifts worth over RM 70,000 were purchased in just over a month supporting the various funds of the Foundation.

2018 - 2019

Exciting developments continue on both campuses, demonstrating not only creativity and innovation, but also our commitment to providing world class facilities.

The opening of our new facilities at the Secondary Campus involving over 6,000 square metres of extensions in addition to refurbishment to the Humanities, Library & Sixth Form and Indoor Sports blocks further reflect our aspirations as a learning community, raising our ambitions for quality and excellence as a regional and world leader for education.

In support of the wider community, The Alice Smith School Foundation was launched on 1st November 2018. The Foundation supports philanthropic work focusing on five areas of funding: Community; Scholarships and Bursaries; Special Educational Projects; Buildings & Facilities and Endowment. Themed ‘Investing In the Future’, the launch of the Foundation coincided with the opening of extensions and refurbishments to the Humanities, Library, Sixth Form and Indoor Sports blocks at the Secondary Campus, Equine Park by Her Excellency Vicki Treadell CMG MVO, the former British High Commissioner to Malaysia.

We were immensely proud to win the Pastoral Initiative category at the International School Awards 2019. The initiative involved developing Year 6 leadership opportunities which empowered students to help transform playtimes.

Alice Smith also received an outstanding Council of British International Schools’ Patron’s Accreditation and Compliance Report in 2019.

choices once they graduate from Alice Smith School - an essential skill for students to have for life!

Sian May has been appointed as our new Head of School commencing in summer 2022. She succeeds Roger Schultz who has contributed significantly to the development of the School for the past 12 years since 2010. Sian is a passionate British educator with a strong track record of strategic success in developing exciting education provision across a range of international schools including teaching and leadership positions in the UK, Hong Kong and Switzerland. We look forward to welcoming her soon!

At The Alice Smith School, we are passionate about the difference we make; continuing to innovate throughout our history, innovating in our learning spaces and innovating in our teaching, but most importantly innovating for our students’ success.

The excitement of the 75th anniversary culminated in the Anniversary Diamond Gala Ball on 18th June 2022, attended by 468 guests.

2020

Brought new beginnings and even more student success!

Zhi Yan Lee, KLASS of 2020, became the first proud recipient of the Alice Smith School Foundation Tertiary Study Grant allowing him to pursue a degree in Chemical Engineering at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, a real milestone for our Foundation.

Alice Smith was selected as a Finalist in The International Independent Schools of the Year Category for two years running. Being placed in the Top Four International Schools Globally is a wonderful achievement of which we are exceptionally proud.

In the same academic year, we were recognised as a fully registered International Award Centre (IAC) running The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award for participating students from Years 10 - 13. The Award is a non-formal education and learning framework operating in more than 130 countries and territories around the world, through which young people’s achievements outside of academia are recognised and celebrated.

The Award encourages young people to learn new skills, get physically active, volunteer within their communities and discover a sense of adventure outside the classroom.

More recently, our Higher Education team was nominated as one of the finalists for the Pathways to Continued and University Education award at the International School Awards 2022!

With the Future Pathways initiative, students are encouraged to develop higher self-awareness of their own skills, interests, abilities and decision-making skills to help them make fulfilling higher education and career As quoted in the COBIS Patron’s Accreditation March 2019 report:

“The school is an innovative role model and leader for promoting high quality, educational practice as shown by obtaining the UCL IoE gold standard quality mark for professional development. The school promotes a holistic approach where teaching and learning is continually enhanced and is highly personalised for each and every student.”