Kuala Lumpur · History
How one Harvard graduate's dilemma built Malaysia's oldest British school
Alice Fairfield-Smith founded the school in her own home in 1946 because she could not find a suitable education for her daughter in Kuala Lumpur. Eighty years on, it enrolls 1,600 pupils across two campuses.
In 1946, Alice Fairfield-Smith faced a practical problem. A biology graduate from Harvard University and an experienced teacher, she had moved to Kuala Lumpur and could not find a school fit for her daughter, Lindsey. Her solution was direct: she opened one herself, in her home on Jalan Eaton, with a handful of expatriate children as her first pupils.
That act of pragmatism produced the first British international school in Malaysia. The school now known as Alice Smith School has operated continuously ever since, making it one of the oldest international schools in Southeast Asia.
From a family home to a formal institution
When Alice Fairfield-Smith and her family left Malaysia in 1950, the school did not close. A group of supporters incorporated the Alice Smith Schools Association (ASSA), a not-for-profit educational foundation registered in Malaysia, and placed governance in the hands of a Council of Governors. That structure has not changed. ASSA still owns the school today, and all surpluses are reinvested directly into it rather than distributed to shareholders.
In the years between Alice Smith's departure and formal incorporation, the school rented the Masonic Hall on Damansara Road and later used St Andrew's Church from 1951 to 1963 for its preschool. In May 1955, the primary school relocated to its permanent site behind the old National Palace on Jalan Bellamy, where it remains. A purpose-built primary campus opened there the same year and has expanded significantly in the decades since.
The school's motto, Sic Itur Ad Astra, Latin for 'In this way we shall reach the stars', was adopted early and has remained unchanged.
A second campus and a royal opening
By the 1980s, enrolment had surpassed 350 pupils, and the school was outgrowing its single site. The answer was a separate secondary campus. According to the school's Wikipedia entry, sourced to contemporaneous records, the 25-acre secondary campus in Equine Park, Seri Kembangan, Selangor was opened by Prince Edward in September 1998. It sits roughly 20 minutes from the Jalan Bellamy primary site and now serves Year 7 through Year 13.
The primary campus also gained a major new facility in the mid-2010s. The Jubilee Centre, opened by Prince Andrew, Duke of York, won a Gold award at the Malaysian Architectural Awards run by Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia (PAM).
Curriculum and accreditation
The school has followed the English National Curriculum since its earliest years. At secondary level the programme moves through the National Curriculum into Cambridge IGCSE at Years 10 and 11, then A Levels across 25 subjects in the Sixth Form. The 2025 A Level cohort achieved 46.8 percent A* to A grades and 70.5 percent A* to B, both above UK national averages.
In 2011, Alice Smith was among the first schools in Asia to receive full British School Overseas (BSO) accreditation from the UK Department for Education. A subsequent BSO inspection in 2014 rated both campuses excellent, after which the school was awarded full membership of COBIS, the Council of British International Schools. A further COBIS Patron's Accreditation visit in 2019 described the school as an innovative role model for high-quality educational practice, citing a UCL Institute of Education gold standard quality mark for professional development.
Alice Smith holds a broader portfolio of memberships: it is a founding member of FOBISIA, the Federation of British International Schools in Asia, and a member of the Council of International Schools (CIS), the Independent Schools Council (ISC), and the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS). It was also the first school in Malaysia accepted by the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS), and only the fifth in Asia to meet its entry standards. In June 2024, COBIS awarded the school two Beacon Status Awards, for Ethos and Values and for Student Leadership.
Present day
The school enrolls around 1,600 pupils from preschool to Year 13, drawn from approximately 50 nationalities. The primary campus on Jalan Bellamy covers Early Years through Year 6; the secondary campus on Jalan Equine in Seri Kembangan covers Years 7 to 13. Head of School is Sian May, supported by Alan McCarthy as Primary Principal and James Worland as Secondary Principal.
The alumni association, KLASSics, was established in 1999 and maintains a global network of former pupils and staff. The KLASS Foundation runs a tertiary study grant programme; its inaugural recipient, in 2021, went on to read Chemical Engineering at Pembroke College, Cambridge. The founder's birthday, 4 July 1905, is marked each year as Founder's Day, a tradition begun in 2013.