Admissions FAQ

In line with the needs of families to move globally and locally at all time of the year, we accept applications all year round.

As well as the application form, we require a physical health check form, medical history form, passport or birth certificate, student recommendation and two years of school reports and/or transcripts. Where there are good reasons why not all of these documents can be provided, we are willing to be flexible.

The International Baccalaureate is a Geneva-based non-profit educational foundation that runs four educational programmes for students aged 3 to 19, with the aim of helping develop the intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world. Founded in 1968, the IB currently works with 3,462 schools in 143 countries to develop and offer its four programmes to over 1,049,000 students aged 3 to 19 years. Hiroshima International School is authorised to run the IB’s Primary Year Program (PYP) to students ages 3 to 11 and the Diploma Program (IBDP) to students in Grades 11 and 12. The IBDP is considered to be the most rigorous university preparatory course in the world. We are awaiting the result of our application for candidacy for the Middle Years Program (MYP).

The admission process generally consists of the following stages:

Pre-admission contact, inquiries and school visit (desirable if possible),
Application documentation – see Enrolment Procedures document,
Interview with Principal, and
Admission assessments (primarily for placement purposes and assessment of English language skills).

The interview is designed to find out from the student what they enjoy about school and what they are expecting at HIS: it is also designed to find out from parents why they wish their child to receive an international education. It is also a final opportunity for parent or student questions to be answered.

HIS is a selective school and we have a duty to ensure that we only admit students whose needs we can meet and who will contribute to our community. The admission assessments have two main purposes:

Assessment of the students previous learning and understanding, if appropriate, and
Identification of any learning and/or language support needs the student might have.

All assessments are age-appropriate and are designed to be straightforward and non-stressful: we want the students to be able to show what they are capable of. For younger students the assessments are primarily observational or one-on-one with a teacher, whilst for older students there will also be short written assessments of numeracy and literacy.

HIS encourages families to visit the school, tour the campus and observe classes; this enables you to have a much clearer idea of what learning at the school looks like.

Over the past nine years HIS has established a 93% success record in the IB Diploma; and every one of our students who has been entered for this prestigious academic award has been successful in some way or another, and this has opened up access to university programs worldwide and in Japan. Our students have been accepted to Ritsumeiken, Waseda, Doshisha, Waseda SILS and Sophia Universities in Japan and to a range of universities throughout the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Korea.

HIS subscribes to the International Baccalaureate’s definition of international education:

Developing citizens of the world in relation to culture, language and learning to live together
Building and reinforcing students’ sense of identity and cultural awareness
Fostering students’ recognition and development of universal human values
Stimulating curiosity and inquiry in order to foster a spirit of discovery and enjoyment of learning
Equipping students with the skills to learn and acquire knowledge, individually or collaboratively, and to apply these skills and knowledge accordingly across a broad range of areas
Providing international content while responding to local requirements and interests.

Currently there is no after-school provision beyond the two days of after-school activities.

HIS accepts new students all year round and, recognising that the new school year in Japanese schools starts in April, the school is very happy to accept students in April. They will join the class appropriate to their age, meaning that they will spend the first three months in the grade that they have completed in March in their old school and then advance to the new grade in August. This ‘repeating’ of 3 months, due to our calendar being different to Japanese schools, allows them time to settle with their new classmates and in the new learning situation without there being a loss of learning: our experience is that this is very helpful for the students.

While it is helpful for both the student and at least one parent to speak some English this is not essential; HIS has a specialist English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher who works closely with children to accelerate their learning of English. Many people in the school – teachers and office staff – speak Japanese and it is always possible to assist those parents who do not speak English. In addition, the school runs an English Language Program which we would encourage parents to enrol in so that their English improves also: this is a great model for your children too!

Approximately 35% of students at HIS have two Japanese parents, another 35% have one Japanese and one non-Japanese parent and the remaining 30% are expatriate, coming from some 10 nationalities. The teaching staff comes from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the USA, Japan, Canada and Australia.

Yes, we currently run three bus routes from the city and each year the bus routes are designed according to need.

In our Early Childhood classes, we normally have no more than 16 children with two adults, in the Primary classes student numbers are usually in the region of 15-20 with a maximum of 24 and in the Secondary school class sizes will vary depending on the subject and grade level with a maximum of 24.