Kinder garten

Rand International School was founded in 2006 in the city of Qatif. In its first two years, the school had functioned as simply kindergarten in small building. It started with 75 kids and jumped quickly to nearly 140 kids in the second year with reaching its maximum capacity and continued to do so in the third year. The growing demand for English teaching curriculum offered incentive to the owner to seize an opportunity of renting a huge building in the city of Saihat which is approximately 5 miles away from the first school building. This action was considered by many as a courageous decision to rent a failed commercial mall that was abandoned for 10 years and to transfer it into a complex of schools. A great effort and large investment were needed to transform the place into a school complex. Constructions and renovations and maintenance continued throughout the years to reshape the current school buildings. Kids in the first school building were transferred to the new school complex after one year of its start.

Today the school complex consisted of Kindergarten, International grade school and Saudi curriculum school which has other separate license granted by the Ministry of Education. Currently, the number in the school complex run over 1100 students, of which about 780 students are in kindergarten and primary international school.

The schools have developed rapidly over the years in terms of education quality as started to attract many parents from Qatif district and surrounding Dammam district. In the initial two years, the International Primary school functioned as mixed-gender school and was dominated by non-Saudis since there was restriction on Saudis to get into International grade schools. In contrast, Kindergarten has been dominated from the start by Saudis since there was flexibility for Saudi to get enrolled without government restrictions.

In 2011, our international grade school had become predominantly Saudis as we have obtained the official permit from the Ministry of Education to accept direct Saudi enrollment because of meeting their requirements. This has resulted in large Saudi enrollments especially in Grade One. The cancellation of grade four to seven for boys led to loss of large number of students, but this is being compensated by larger number with Saudis inflow. Saudis in Grades have been transformed over the years from a small minority into a very large majority.

The rise of Rand schools over a short period of time within the region has not come from vacuum. We were aware from the start that upgrading learning environment and promoting self-learning are not easy tasks but it can't not be achieved without effective utilization and development of resources. Much of our current leadership has risen up from school manpower based on their skills and commitment to professionalism. The school policy has always given an opportunity to distinguished school teachers and staff to move up within the management which reflected the space for upward mobility.

Various curriculums were reviewed, revised and critiqued over the years by the school committees to select books that fit our objectives. Our staff, teachers and management have shown responses to parents and students concerns and needs. The internal and external stakeholders showed important level of cooperation that served progress of students. The vast majority of our staff has demonstrated serious professionalism to meet schools goals.

School Program

Our School is committed to being a quality school in all areas. That's why we always search for ways of improvement for the learning environment and educational standards. A big leap towards improvement is having the academic accreditation from the American organization the AdvancED.

This non-profit organization has helped our school improve in all aspects with respect to purpose and direction, governance and leadership, teaching and assessing, resources and support systems and using results for continuous improvement. The AdvanceEd Accreditation Process is providing us with the comprehensive framework for continually improving student learning and school effectiveness.

Based on the advanced accreditation we started following the Common Core Standards (CCS) used in the United States. It provides a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With these standards our students will be fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy.

Building on the excellent foundation of standards states have laid, the Common Core State Standards are the first step in providing our young people with a high-quality education. It should be clear to every student, parent, and teacher what the standards of success are in every school.

Teachers, parents and community leaders have all weighed in to help create the Common Core State Standards. The standards clearly communicate what is expected of students at each grade level. This will allow our teachers to be better equipped to know exactly what they need to help students learn and establish individualized benchmarks for them. The Common Core State Standards focus on core conceptual understandings and procedures starting in the early grades, thus enabling teachers to take the time needed to teach core concepts and procedures well—and to give students the opportunity to master them.

With students, parents and teachers all on the same page and working together for shared goals, we can ensure that students make progress each year and graduate from school prepared to succeed in college and in a modern workforce. Using the common core curriculum evens the educational field for all students in and outside the country. This cohesive curriculum would also ensure that our students are taught all necessary skills to get into universities and colleges of their choice inside and outside of the Kingdom, Europe, American, Middle East, Asia and other countries where American diplomas are accepted.

Rand international school has a K-6 program, which uses American books except for subjects mandatory from the Ministry Of Education. Our system is divided up as follows:

  1. Early Learners Department (Pre-K to KG2)

 2. Elementary Department (1st to 6th grade)

In the Early Learners Department:

- We use several different core standard curriculums to adapt to the needs of our students. Throughout the years, from Pre-K to KG2, Early Learners are introduced to skills that prepare them for discovering the world and to be socially aware. Students often work with letters of the alphabet to build their vocabulary, helping them begin to understand reading as a process of discerning meaning from print.

- Early Learners are involved in everyday life learning skills to help them become independent thinkers and to instill in them a sense of belonging to the school setting and community. They will be immersed in a print-rich, technical-rich, role-play rich environment that will help them develop an awareness and understanding of life-long learning.

In primary school:

we will be preparing and training the students to be participatory, collaborative learners who self-discover and critically think in order to integrate the knowledge and skills they learn into their everyday life.

Students will study from American English content-based books that are align with the Common Core Standards. Throughout the years students will strive for academic excellence by using previous knowledge to actively engage in their own learning process.

Students will learn to formulate questions, investigate subjects, and look at various ways available to proceed in finding answers, while building connections from one grade to the other.

- The teachers will create an environment that is safe and conducive to encourage students to want to learn, discover and not be afraid to ask questions.

- In the primary years students will be continuously assessed through various means, such as quizzes, assignments, homework, class participation and social maturity. The grades they receive will be calculated according to the continuous assessments done throughout the year.