Admissions

General Issues

The school admits those prospective students who will benefit most from the school’s programme. The school takes this issue very seriously and observes potential students carefully before and after the admission in order to maintain a successful educational environment. GIS makes every effort to ensure that there is alignment between a student’s needs/abilities and the programmes offered.

This policy is against any discrimination in terms of gender, race, nationality, religion or language.

The state of the candidates’ health is considered when being enrolled. The following medical contra-indications are hindrances to enrolment:

declination in the psychological development of the child;
- diseases connected with abnormalities of the nervous system,
- various chronic diseases or physical disabilities which may cause difficulties in mastering the material and the handling of an increased learning load;
- contagious diseases.

It is essential that the student’s educational needs can be met by the school at all times so, if the above mentioned hindrances are determined, both at admission and while enrolled, the school reserves the right to refuse enrolment to the child.

Admissions Process

The Admissions Process consists of five stages:

Contacting the school and obtaining information: At this stage, candidates or their parents/carers contact GIS officially or unofficially by means of emails, telephone or school visits to inquire about the school. The admissions officer, or one of the administrative staff provides general information about the school such as school programmes, admissions process, school daily hours, tuition fees, number of vacancies in the class, etc.

Admissions examination: Registered candidates take an admissions examination as specified by the School. If a candidate cannot sit the admissions examination due to a number of reasons, alternate internationally recognised examination results can be taken into account.

Admissions Committee: The School Director forms a Committee as laid out in this Policy. The Committee considers the candidates’ examination results, age, candidate priority status, previous school records, class vacancies and other criteria when making decisions on granting or rejecting enrolment to the School. The decision is then announced to the public.

Admissions Documents: After the minimum amount of the tuition fee that was initially decided by the School and announced to the parents/carers is paid, candidates submit all the admissions documents in a way as specified by the School.

Order: The School issues an order on candidate’s enrolment to the School. The candidate is officially deemed as enrolled by this order.

Suggested Age Range

Suggested age range is given in the table below.

Grade	Month range	Year range
0	68 – 80	5 – 6
1	81 – 92	6 – 7
2	93 – 104	7 – 8
3	105 – 116	8 – 9
4	117 – 128	9 – 10
5	129 – 140	10 – 11
6	141 – 152	11 – 12
7	153 – 164	12 – 13
8	165 – 176	13 – 14
9	177 – 188	14 – 15
10	189 – 200	15 – 16
11	201 – 212	16 – 17
12	above 212	17 – 18

The following formula is very useful in order to simplify the table above:

Grade = Year – Birth Year – 5

Where “Birth Year” is the year the candidate was born in, “Year” is the beginning year (August or September falls in) of the academic year when the candidate starts studying, and “Grade” is the grade which the candidate enrols into.

For example, a candidate wishing to apply to the 9^th Grade in 2018-2019 academic year is supposed to be born in 2018 – 9 – 5 = 2004 according to the formula above. In this case, the month in which the candidate was born in 2004 is not essential.

Admissions Examination

The nature of the admissions examination may differ among grade levels. The main focus is the English proficiency. The admissions examination might be paper-based and/or computer-based. The passing grades for the admissions are set by the Admissions Committee.

Candidates seeking admissions need to register for the admissions examination at the school. During the registration the school administration informs the candidates about the type, venue, date and time of the admissions examination.

A specific fee may be requested from the candidates for the admissions examination. The admissions examination may be conducted at multiple venues and dates as pre-determined by the school administration.

If a candidate fails to attend the examination or arrives later than 15 minutes after the examination has started, he/she may be denied from the examination. The admissions examination fee is non-refundable. In case of a resit of the admissions examination, a candidate is required to re-register for the next admissions examination and repay the admissions examination fee.

Along with the admissions examination offered by the school, candidates may present recognised evidence of any alternate types of certification of English language fluency. The list of these recognized language examinations is given in the Attachment: External Examinations Scale for Admission. The information regarding the scores and types of exams in this list may be amended and/or updated by the school at any time. The school reserves the right to make these amendments at any stage without prior notification of the general public.

The candidates who have studied for at least three years in schools with English as a primary language of instruction but not possessing the evidence of the above mentioned external examination results or unable to sit the school’s admissions examination at the date specified by the school may present the official evidence of their academic achievement to be reviewed by the Admissions Committee for enrolment.

Admission Committee reserves the right to require a candidate to sit for an additional examination or evaluation whenever it deems necessary.

Admissions Committee

The Admissions Committee is formed annually by the Director. The main members of the Committee are the Director and Principals. In order for the Committee to make a decision, the presence of three main members is required e.g. Director and two Principals or three Principals.

If required, additional members such as educational psychologist, subject and/or homeroom teachers, etc. can be invited to attend the Committee.

It is suggested that the Committee take into consideration the following points:

Vacant slots in the classes
Candidate age
Candidates’ examination results
Previous school records
Grade level the candidate is studying/has completed
Dates of beginning and end of academic terms of the school/country the candidate is coming from
Prioritized Candidates for Admission

The Committee, if needed, may require an additional evaluation from the candidate.

The Committee shall take a decision within one of the following three categories:

Accepted: ‘Candidate is allowed admission’
Rejected: ‘Candidate is rejected admission’
Waiting list: ‘Candidate is placed in the waiting list’

The Committee shall announce its decision to the public within five workdays since the date of the admissions examination. The candidate or his/her parents/carers assume responsibility for making enquiries about the results. The school cannot be deemed responsible for any deprivation of rights in cases resulted from candidate negligence and/or late enquiries.

Admitted candidates should submit the necessary admissions documents to the school before the deadline.

Rejected candidates can apply for enrolment at another session whenever they feel ready.

If a vacant slot arises or any admitted candidate fails to submit the admissions documents on time or fails to deposit the minimum amount of the tuition fee, the candidates in the waiting list will be called for enrolment. The candidates in the waiting list are not required to sit the admissions examination again in the same academic year. That is to say, the waiting list is valid until the end of the academic year.

The parents/carers of the candidates can appeal to the Admissions Committee in written form within the three workdays after the Committee has announced its decision regarding the admissions. In this case, the Committee will revise the candidate’s results and may at its discretion request additional evaluation or documentation. The Committee’s decision after the appeal is final and, therefore, is not subject to further appeals.

Prioritized Candidates for Admission

Admissions Committee may prioritize for enrolment in GIS whenever there are available slots if:

The students are from other institutions affiliated with Bilim Orda International Social Foundation and Bilim Innovation International Social Foundation,
The children have siblings who are already studying in the school,
The children’s parents are the staff of GIS.

GIS reserves the right not to admit a student who has violated disciplinary rules in a serious nature in the previous school(s), although he/she has one of the priorities mentioned above.

Admissions Documents

As soon as the Admissions Committee announces its decision regarding the enrolment, admitted students should submit the documents specified in the Attachment: Admissions Documents within the period of two weeks.

After signing the school contract, parents shall get an invoice from the school accountant and deposit the school fee into the bank account of the school. Although candidates do not have to present a bank receipt to the school since the school accountant can be informed online, we strongly recommend that parents keep the bank receipts in case a conflict arises in the future.

When all the documents are submitted in full and the minimum required amount of the school fee is paid, principal signs the admissions order which declares the candidate as a student of the school.

Prolongation of the existing enrolment

In case of prolongation of the enrolment, parents/carers renew the parent contracts for the new academic year and fill in Attachment: Student Information Form B. These arrangements must be completed before the deadline specified by the school. Otherwise, the school does not guarantee the reservation of a place in the respective class.