St. Michael's International School (SMIS)

St. Michael's International School (SMIS), founded in 1946 in the heart of Kobe, is a long-established and highly respected private, not-for-profit, co-educational day school. Known for its small, family-friendly culture and rooted in the Anglican tradition, SMIS specializes exclusively in Early Years (from age 3) through Primary education (up to Year 6/Age 11). The school holds strong international accreditation from both the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the Council of British International Schools (COBIS). Academically, SMIS combines the rigour of the British National Curriculum in England (used for Mathematics and English) with the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), for which it is the first accredited school in Japan. This IPC-driven approach links subjects like Science, Art, and History into thematic units, promoting deeper understanding and connectivity in learning. The faculty, primarily from the UK, are highly experienced and supported by full-time teaching assistants. SMIS is notably inclusive, offering a comprehensive Learning Enrichment Service (LES) with three tiers of individualized support, and provides the ELL (English Language Learner) programme free of charge and integrated into the mainstream curriculum. While detailed campus facilities are not fully published, the central Kobe location provides dedicated primary school amenities, including facilities for Physical Education, with tuition covering swimming lessons, and the school sponsors a wide range of extracurricular activities, including annual residential trips for older students.