ACS International - 61 Jln Hitam Manis

We are very happy the way ACS International is grooming our son. Academic rigour is on point and IB curriculum is being followed very well. The teachers are very sincere and dedicated.

After my child has been in this school for 3 years, I realized that the school environment is toxic. The students, being from well to do families, tries very hard to flex. For example they take pictures of their latest phones, bags etc. and posting them on their social media. There is a need to shout out in order to blend in. This is the kind of upbringing which I frown upon but its very much alive in this school. Teachers- as with most schools, most of them are excellent, some are terrible. The buildings and facilities are excellent, and this is where most people fall for it. When visiting the school for a couple of hours, the well kept facilities are all you see. Appearance is not reality after you experienced how the school is managed. Reading through the various reviews here and on Facebook, I have to agree with other reviewers that the formal complaint process is biased. Decisions are made to favor to school and there is a lack of oversight on the leadership team. Looking through the recent IB results that was released in January, this school has the lowest average IB score among the 3 International schools. I am glad that my child is no longer at ACS International.

ACS International offers an incredible educational experience! The teachers are hard working, committed and caring. Would definitely recommend it to any student who wants to learn in a healthy school environment and develop both their character and crucial skills eg. leadership, communication and critical thinking.

This school prioritizes profit over the student's welfare. After the "O" level results was released this year, our son was informed that he has to change class because the current teacher, whom has been teaching him for the past 3 weeks will be setting up a new class for year 5. This is done to drive profit for the school due to unexpected demand even though the students have gotten used to the teacher. ACS (International) is a privately funded school and its operations are not entirely under the control of Ministry of Education (MOE). Therefore, complains to MOE has no effect. The leadership team of this school makes decisions that benefit themselves without much thought for the students.

I go to this school and it has great international culture and mindedness. The teachers here are friendly and well trained. School campus is decently sized with comfortable air conditioned classrooms. Sports facilities are widely available including a sports hall, basketball court, tennis court and a huge astro turf. Highly recommend this school.

While most parents are anxious about getting their child into a school after PSLE, I went a little future in my research and I will like to share some of my findings here. As parents, we attended university at least 20 years ago and right now I realized that the admission criteria have changed. Many university courses now require Chemistry as a prerequisite. And as far as I am aware, ACS international allows the students to take any science subject. The parents/ students may not know that they will be disadvantaged until its too late. This is especially true for their existing students. Another area of concern is moving from Year 4 to Year 5. This school does not publish data on the number of existing students being promoted from Year 4 to Year 5, which is a huge concern. I believed that there is a significant number of students who did not make the grade and are asked to go every year. Enrolling in this school does not guarantee that your child will be promoted to Year 5 or graduating with an IB. Please do your own research, comparing with other schools before enrolling.

Getting your child admitted to this school should be the last resort. Do it only if your child’s results do not allow him or her to go somewhere else. This school is poorly run. Hopefully the new principal can make it better. The yearly IB results are poor when compared to other competing schools.

As a concerned parent, I am compelled to write and share the journey my daughter and I took when she started the first year of her IB program at ACS (I) and the final decision to leave after the second year. This decision was a consequence of an inept, arbitrary execution of decisions and the persistent reluctance to account truthfully to enquiries and investigations carried out by my wife and I. Before I proceed with the details, let me preface this by saying that the teaching staff at the school were excellent and a huge source of regret that my daughter was not able to fully enjoy their care and concern for more than her two years there. Bouquets for their dedication and care are due insofar as they are concerned. I wish I could say the same for the staff in charge of dealing with non-academic matters. In this regard, I have no hesitation in citing Dr Kris Achter Vice Principal for Year 1 and 2. Dr Achter has displayed a reluctance to provide information when requested and in instances when basic requests like the school’s Standard Operating Procedures was requested, there was no courtesy of a reply. There was also an instance where concerned parents were communicating amongst themselves in the interest of getting clarity over oftentimes, common student teacher differences. Instead of embracing the effort in the interest of fostering better teacher parent relationships, we are accused of trying to build a case against the teacher. This may well be in the West , but here respect for the teacher is still paramount . A crucial value sadly not grasped by the VP. Unfortunately I had first-hand experience on this. Dr. Achter arbitrarily imposed a punishment on my daughter in the absence of a full and fair investigation over an incident which absolved my daughter and another. The guilty party was then forced to be punished, when confronted with irrefutable evidence of this travesty of justice. As if to cover up for his ineptitude in handling this incident, he petulantly sent us a Code of Conduct For Parents and Guardians implying we had rudely bridged the boundaries benchmarked by the school. It was a blatant action to show he was well shielded by the school policies and how little we, the incensed parents , could do. However the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was the incident relating to my daughter’s departure from the school. Dr Achter informed us in no certain terms that in my daughter’s best interest, she should consider leaving the school. To affirm his suggestion, he then pronounced that the decision was arrived at upon consultation with all the teachers. How much would it shock you to know that this senior staff member of ACS(I) would commit untruths of this nature. It was a good but not happy thing that I decided to get to the bottom of this. After thorough investigation, not only was I able to document emails that showed it was the exact opposite of what Dr Achter had claimed. Such extraordinary lengths to cover what originally was a lie is totally unbecoming of the Vice Principal of this leading educational institution. In the light of this incident the fact that he is the headmaster for Year 1 and Year 2 is hardly inspiring of confidence not only for the school but for the way we expect the educational values and principles of moral values to be taught to our children. To seek to control the teachers in ensuing that his lie be upheld is especially galling and made worse by the fact that he can do so with such impunity given the lack of coverage of the Ministry of Education’s rules and regulations - ACS (I) being a Privately Funded School. I write this not so much as to discourage you from sending your children to ACS(I) seeing as there are many other schools to choose from. But for those who believe that their children could benefit from this unique environment that is ACS(I), it would certainly not be a bad thing to be aware that even in an environment as special as this, there are sadly, elements below par that may tarnish somewhat the allure of this school.