MOIS History and Achievements
MOIS History
Madinat Al-Oloum International School is a K-12 international educational institution that reflects the diverse cultural and demographic community of the city of Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The students and the teaching and administrative staff are a mixture of more than 10 nationalities from all over the world.
Madinat Al-Oloum is an Arabic term which means “The Science City”. The name of the school was conceived in a vision of creating an educational institution that promotes science and technology in the modern world guided by the teachings of the Islamic religion.
The school is located along King Abdullah Road near King Abdullah Palace. It was founded in 2009 with an initial enrollment of 313 students and with a total of 43 teachers and administrative staff. By now, the enrollment has increased to more than a thousand (1110 as of the academic school year 2016-2017), and as a result, the total number of teachers and administrative staff has also increased to more than two hundred (219 as of the academic year 2016-2017). This change in the number of enrollees made the school to establish another branch to house nursery, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 3 classes. At present, the school has three buildings, two are in Marwa Street along King Abdullah Road where the grades 4 to 12 girls’ and boys’ sections are located, and the other is in Jareer Street where KG and grades 1 to 3 for both boys and girls are located.
To achieve the school beliefs and aims, and to meet the school expectations and the need for modern education in the changing times, the school was established with programs that follow an American curriculum and that is based on the Common Core State Standards.
On September 30, 2010, the school received its first recognition and accreditation from the North-West Accreditation Commission which later on became a part of the AdvancED Accreditation Commission in April of 2012.
Aiming to meet the school vision and mission, the school did its best to increase the school’s strength every year. Throughout its history, Madinat Al-Oloum Intenational School has maintained a commitment to providing the highest caliber of artistic, scientific, religious, cultural, and educational experience to all students including the skilled, the talented or the gifted students, and the academically struggling students as well.
Madinat Al-Oloum International School (MOIS) offers kindergarten to high school programs (K-12) that are based on the Common Core State Standards followed by American international schools. MOIS focuses on integrating programs based on American curricula and educational practices that enrich the Arab heritage and reflect the Islamic culture.
Upon its founding, the school board aims to establish MOIS as an American international school where students are well-educated with high morals and good manners with special emphasis on Islamic values.
MOIS prepares students for American standardized tests like the SAT and Subject SAT which would qualify them to get the American Diploma that will enable them to join most Arab and international universities according to their GPA and scores. Moreover, the school also offers IELTS course sessions specifically to grade 12 students because of the fact that most international universities require this standardized test in admitting students whose first language is not English.
MOIS also prepares students to respond to the future challenges of their college education; hence, the school requires students to prepare projects as final requirements for graduation. The computer department for instance required all graduating students to submit projects using vb.net or visual basic application for programming. Among these projects are (1) SAT Tansik Calculator, (2) A program that provides profiles for each member of the school including the students and the staff, and (3) Developing Windows application to help senior students choose a university.
As future leaders, the students are also required to join community services. Such services include hygiene and sanitation, helping the poor in the streets of Riyadh, and assisting and serving the entire community of the school such as the school library, the school laboratory, and the school staff rooms among others.
To meet the school aims and to strengthen all the aspects of the school, the administration created various committees headed by competent staff members. These committees are for curriculum development, integration, skills development, technology development, Islamic awareness, maintenance and hygiene, communication, policies and assessment, and feedback and performance diagnostics among others. The school collaborates these school aims and efforts to stakeholders by establishing the Parents’ Council and the Students’ Council to make all school stakeholders be aware of all these recent developments, and to make parents and students one of the main contributors of the school’s development.
As one of the finest international schools of the city of Riyadh, the school always finds ways to inculcate among students the school vision – “Learn Today, Lead Tomorrow”. This vision is reflective of the school mission in creating well-prepared individuals cognitively and behaviorally while focusing on developing their psychomotor skills. Guided by the school’s vision and mission, the teachers and the staff in collaboration with the parents and the community, all work hand-in-hand to make sure that all students become successful not only in the school, but in their lives as a whole.
MOIS Achievements
(For 2016-2017 till February 2017)
From: MOIS Administration
To: All Stakeholders
Based on the previous students’ results diagnostics, stakeholders’ survey results analysis, and assessment of different school activities and practices, MOIS has created an improvement plan to improve the school’s performance in different aspects. Though the improvement plan is still ongoing, it is important to communicate our school’s achievements with all of the school’s stakeholders, as partners in the education process.
Based on what are mentioned above, we have listed below the school achievements since the establishment of the school till February of 2017, focusing on the major achievements that would lead to noticeable changes and development. We are hoping that they meet your expectations.
General Achievements
1- Opening a new branch of the school in Jareer Street for grade levels K to 3. The new building is suitable for the learning needs of these grade levels.
2- Providing a suitable learning environment for students such as suitable classrooms based on modern standards and conditions, and by not utilizing 90% of the 3rd floor.
3- Developing the school building facilities including the schools plumbing cycle, and the playground’s floor cover; fixing, updating, and developing the Science lab, the computer lab, the multimedia room, and the library ; changing the school’s roof cover by adding a protection to the ceiling to prevent rain leak problems; changing the whiteboards, and many others.
4- Establishing the school’s electronic system or E2SKOOL. The electronic system will facilitate communication with parents on different levels. The system is dynamic to make it easy for parents to communicate with the school at any time for the purpose of getting information about his children in their academic progress and behavior reports; getting informed about the school’s financial requirements; asking for excuses and permissions; and communicating problems. Some aspects of the system are still currently working on static a mode, and it is on an ongoing development process to reach the mentioned target.
5- Submitting the weekly plans through the school’s electronic website, and the school’s Facebook page.
6- Applying modern technology applications, like smart boards for grade levels 7 to 12, and computer devices for grade levels 4 to 12.
7- Applying a number of surveys that covers all stakeholders. The survey’s results were successfully analyzed. The analyzed data are to be used to update the school plans to reach stakeholders’ expectations.
8- Choosing highly qualified teachers according to the regulations and conditions of the Ministry of Education.
9- Activating successfully the Students’ Council. The council board was chosen based on internal school elections. The council is a basic link between the school’s administration and students in all grade levels.
10- Activating a number of school committees including :
- Skills Development Committee that focuses on developing the skills of teachers, students and parents which help in achieving the school vision and mission.
- Integration Committee that focuses on integrating learning between all subjects for students and for teachers as well, to meet the school vision and mission.
- Technology Committee that focuses on developing technology applications in the school, which is required to reach the school’s purpose.
- And other committees such as, Islamic Awareness Committee, Stakeholders Feedback Diagnostic Committee, Students’ Performance Diagnostic Committee, Curriculum Development Committee, Executive Summary Committee, and Improvement Plan Committee among others.)
11- Meeting the members of the Parents’ Council to discuss basic concerns of stakeholders. An effective parent’s council had three meetings during the current year, and valuable suggestions were presented by the members to solve the noted problems. Positive discussions between the council and the governing body were so helpful to develop MOIS plans.
12- Training on the Crisis Plan was successfully conducted. The school personnel and students were successfully trained on the crisis plan, especially the evacuation process. The students were trained on both methods of instructions theoretically and practically.
13- Disseminating school-wide hygiene awareness. Different activities were applied by the school clinic to spread hygiene awareness, to follow up students’ health, and to support students who need medical care.
Academic Achievements
1- Reaching a qualified degree of systematic communication and documentation processes.
2- Having better and effective means of communication with parents, through different channels like – parents’ meetings , teacher-parent individual meeting , Facebook page, the school website, letters, and memos.
3- Unifying the vision of the whole school, allowing departments to have noticeable integration.
4- Encouraging and supporting the application of new approaches that serve the educational process.
5- Developing the Parent/Student Handbook for the KG section. The handbook includes all the required information that a parent or a student needs to know about the school.
6- Conducting meaningful successful events as well as involving students in community service such as “Helping the Needy Day”and “Volunteering” among other community services.
7- Assessing the effectiveness of many programs and the tools that are needed to build attainable and sustainable future plans, such as students’ diagnostic test, teachers’ evaluation tool, activity weeks, morning broadcast, and many others.
8- Allowing teachers to be a part of the evaluation process.
9- Applying earnestly the modern methodology of teaching and learning this year – the task-based learning methodology.
10- Employing the controlled/free activities as a major part of all stages of a lesson – the lead-in, the pre-teaching stage, making prediction stage, introducing the TL/the receptive skill stage, and the final productive skill stage.
11- Applying the cross-curricular projects this year as a means to build connection with life-time education as well as with different subjects. For example, a project allowed high school students to research, present, and assess materials related to historic figures who contributed to the progress of humanity. Another project allowed students to form group seminars in which they discussed and assessed free reading materials. In some other grade levels, math projects that integrate Art, Science, and Social studies with Math were applied. Other cross subject projects were applied as well.
12- Helping high school students develop their presentation skills. Even those who found difficulty expressing themselves orally were encouraged to overcome this obstacle. Peer assessment motivated students to work as critics and not only as audience or recipients.
13- Utilizing some technology applications to grade levels 4 to 12 concerning Virtual Laboratory. Qur’an and English departments are using simple phonics lab.
14- Applying several competitions including:
- The schools 7th Science Fair competition that focuses on the steps of the scientific methods, and helping students to develop cooperation skills and leadership skills, as well as developing their science information and interest.
- Applying Qur’an memorization and reading competitions for both students and parents.
- Applying writing competition for grades 7 to 12.
15- Designing programs for low-achieving students in all subjects, and another program for gifted students.
16- Applying a full plan of (Subject Activity Week) that focuses on teaching students based on different types of activities that meet students’ different types of learning. Creating a link between the student and the subject by applying varieties of activities that match their interests, skills, backgrounds, and needs.
17- Providing new resources for the redesigned SAT which helps our high school students to get a good SAT score.
18- Presenting a successful SAT parents’ conference to high school parents. The conference was the 4th parent SAT conference, and it included a detailed discussion about the redesigned SAT, Subject SAT, and how the school prepares students for both. The conference successfully answers parents’ questions and the most frequently asked questions that are related to this topic.
19- Training workshops were presented to all of the school’s personnel, including teachers and administrators. MOIS started to apply a plan that covers 24 training hours for all of them. The training topics covers different school requirements including Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Classroom Management, Lesson Planning, Teaching Strategies , Computer Skills, Data Analysis, Reporting, and other topics.
20- Conducting a standardized diagnostic test to grades 3, 5, 7, and 9. A diagnostic test called MAP test was applied to grade levels 3 (as an indicator for early elementary stage), grade 5 (as an indicator for the elementary stage), grades 7 and 9 (as an indicator for the intermediate stage). SAT trial test is applied at the end of every year for grade 10, and SAT results are to be analyzed for grades 11 and 12.
The purpose of the diagnostic test as mentioned in the sent letter is to decide students’ academic level based on an international test.
21- Analyzing summative assessments through a concept-based method. Students summative assessment results were concept-based analyzed to determine the concept weakness in each grade level which helps in the school’s annual curricula design.
22- Applying an intensive course for low-achieving students in grades 1 – 3 in both English and Math subjects. The course includes the basics of each of the subjects to help students reach the required background knowledge for his grade level educational expectations.
23- Communicating successfully the student’s level of performance to parents by more than one method such as report cards, evaluation follow up sheets, and progress reports.
24- Applying a multiple intelligence test for grade levels (1 – 3). The test gives an indication about the most popular types of intelligence for each student. Results were used to redesign the lesson strategies according to the type of learning.
25- Applying a survey to students who graduated from MOIS to gather information about how much our program is convenient to different university requirements. The results admit that the school program is strong and effective for our graduates.
26- Supporting and enriching the school’s Arabic and Islamic Studies curricula by incorporating additional standards from the Ministry of Education to guarantee full advantage of studying the said subjects.
27- Encouraging students to read is one of the school's basic interests. Different activities were prepared for a long term reading festival. The festival includes reading and discussing books in all grade levels starting from K to 12; providing a Book Fair in the school; and facilitating different parents' involvement activities.
28- Preparing the Teacher's Handbook for each department to guarantee that all teachers are applying a unified school strategy. The handbook includes all of the required instructions that help meet the school purpose.