About school – Physics and Mathematics

Branch «Nazarbayev Intellectual School Physics and Mathematics» of Aktobe city autonomous organization of education «Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools»

CEEB code: 706018
Main office: 8(7132)41-17-37
Website: akb.nis.edu.kz
E-mail: info@akb.nis.edu.kz
Principal’s name Umerbekova Saule Rakhimovna

Community
Official address: Astana district, Mangilik el 8, Aktobe the Republic of Kazakhstan
School’s total territory: 21361 square metres
Postal code: 030000
School Project Capacity: 1000 students
Attendance: 810 students
Dormitory capacity: 120 beds

Accreditation:
Council of International Schools fully accredited NIS Aktobe in November of 2017. The school demonstrated alignment with the standards of accreditation outlined by CIS.

Demographics:
98% Asian, 2% Caucasian
93% urban, 7% rural
Number of students for 2021-2022 academic year: 803 including 69 students living in the dormitory (Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the school cannot use the full power (capacity) of dormitory).

Average scores for international examinations
SAT: 1255 (2020)
IELTS: 6.8 (2020)

School
The Nazarbayev Intellectual School of Physics and Mathematics in Aktobe was opened in 2013, February 25, and became the tenth Intellectual School to be built on the initiative of the first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The building has 59 offices, a centre for integrating pedagogical and information technologies, offices for individual studies and psychological relief, a cafeteria with 360 seats, two sports and assembly halls, and a winter garden that serves as a botany centre. The school is equipped with the latest equipment for learning, laboratories of robotics, nano- and biotechnology, more than 259 computers, 660 laptops and 60 interactive boards. On the territory of the school, there is a modern sports complex, including a football field with an area of 5400 sqm, hockey rinks, and tennis, basketball, volleyball courts.

Leading pedagogical staffs go through a rigorous selection process and thus pay special attention to their continuous professional development. We employ both national and international teachers. Most of the pedagogical staff is teachers who have passed professional development courses at the Center for Pedagogical Excellence, and several teachers are graduates of international universities in the UK, Finland, Russia.

The development of a society in the modern era demands that a nation is in step with current trends and constantly seek new information. Teachers at the Intellectual School continuously collaborate and share knowledge with colleagues from public education schools, improving the quality of education and promoting its competitiveness. To effectively cascade the accumulated experience, the Nazarbayev Intellectual School systematically conducts seminars, training, workshops, and meetings with the heads of secondary schools of the region, both on the campus of the Intellectual School, and by onsite visits to other cities and regional school.

The Intellectual School successfully implements the social and school projects in the level of the city and region. For instance, Model United Nations, “Two weeks in the village”, “10 days on the factory”, “Take the child to work”, “Homeland appreciation”, “100 questions to the adult”, and many others. Also, there are clubs such as “Robotics”, “Aviation and auto-modelling”, “Pottery art”, “Dombra”, “Choreography”, “Chess”, “Rock climbing”, “Taekwondo and capoeira”, “Table tennis”. We participate in a number of national and international competitions in and outside of Kazakhstan.

Mission
Facilitating and cultivating the acquisition and exploration of the intellectual potential of the school community through the application of national and international research and methodology in education and science.

Curriculum
In order to ensure successful integration into the world educational space and students’ access to information in Kazakh, Russian, English languages, three-language teaching was introduced at the Nazarbayev Intellectual School. The educational curriculum called NIS Programme is relative to the GCE A-Level standard. NIS Programme was developed in collaboration with Cambridge International Examinations, the strategic partner of AEO “Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools” is focused on the implementation of Science and Mathematics education.
The NIS Grade 12 Certificate is awarded subject to completion of the NIS Programme, a two-year integrated upper secondary mathematics-and-science program developed and assessed in collaboration with Cambridge Assessment International Examinations. The NIS Programme intends to prepare its students for undergraduate study in key national and international universities whereby students are taught and assessed in English, Russian and Kazakh. The first cohort of students with the NIS Aktobe Grade 12 Certificate graduated in 2015. In December 2017, UK NARIC fulfilled an independent benchmarking study focused on the NIS Grade 12 Certificate in the context of the UK education system.

Overview of the NIS Programme
The programme was designed following a value-oriented, activity-based, integrated and communicative approach.
The NIS-Programme propagates such values as respect, cooperation, open-mindness, patriotism and civic responsibility, work and creativity, and lifelong learning.
These values are instilled through the subject content of curricula, classroom and extracurricular activities.
The aim of the NIS-Programme is to create an educational space favorable for the harmonious development of a highly educated individual that would be able to apply knowledge in creative ways, think critically, do research, use information and communication technologies (ICT) and communication methods, work in a group and individually, solve problems and make decisions.

Structure and Content
The NIS-Programme covers the following levels of education: primary education (Grades 1-5); secondary education (Grades 6-10); high education (Grades 11-12).
The NIS Programme (High School) consists of two years of study (Grade 11 and 12), and entry is based on successful completion of secondary school at Grade 10. Admission to NIS secondary school is through a selective entrance examination. The selection of applicants is carried out on a competitive basis by determining the level of their academic training in subjects and the ability to learn in the Intellectual Schools. Competition for students applying to study in Grade 7 consists of two comprehensive tests: assessment of the ability to study subjects of natural and mathematical directions, and language tests.

The test for assessing the ability to study subjects of the natural and mathematical direction consists of two sections:

Mathematics – 40 tasks
Quantitative characteristics – 60 tasks (identifying skills operating with numbers and the ability to see their relationship)
Memorization tasks –
Tasks on spatial thinking –

The language test consists of the following subjects:

Kazakh language – 20 tasks
Russian – 20 tasks
English – 20 tasks

The NIS Programme (High School) consists of eight compulsory subjects and a range of elective subjects (including two at advanced level, typically one at standard level, further elective courses, and club activities). Students also typically undertake an IELTS at the end of Grade 11 or at the beginning of Grade 12.
The NIS Grade 12 Certificate is based on external assessment only. Students will also receive a State Atestat detailing all subjects studied and their grades based on a combination of external assessment and internal, school-based assessment.

Trilingual Education
Trilingual education is an integral part of the NIS-Programme aimed at forming a multilingual personality who speaks three languages, knows the subject areas in these languages, is able to successfully conduct a dialogue, values the culture of his or her people, understands and respects the culture of other nations.

Trilingual education is implemented through:

A multilevel study of the Kazakh, Russian and English languages as individual subjects
A study of individual subjects in the second (Kazakh/Russian) and third languages (English) regardless of the language of instruction: World Understanding, History of Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan in the modern world), Geography, and Fundamentals of law in Kazakh; World History and ICT in Russian; Science, Economics, and Global Perspectives and Project Work in English
Extracurricular activities in three languages.

Languages are taught based on a communicative approach by developing four speaking skills.

Non-linguistic subjects are delivered in the second and third languages using the Content and Language Integrated Learning” (CLIL) approach.

Assessment, Grading and Certification
Subjects assessed externally include English, Mathematics, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Kazakhstan in the Modern World, Geography, Computer Science, Kazakh/Russian Language and Literature (L1). As with the GCE AS and A-Level, assessment is primarily via written examination on completion of the program, except for NIS Global Perspectives and Project Work, assessed via an independent research report and portfolio.

Key advantages
The NIS and the GCE A-level have three shared central aims/principles, namely to (i) develop the general and subject-specific knowledge and skills needed to successfully transition to post- secondary and undergraduate study and (ii) to provide a robust and internationally comparable ‘summative measure of the knowledge, skills and understanding that a learner has acquired’ which can (iii) ‘be of use in the selection processes for Further Education, Higher Education or employment’. A comparative review of NIS examination papers with those set for GCE AS and A-Level was undertaken to ascertain and compare the level and volume of assessment. This found that across all subjects reviewed in this study, the standard of assessment is pitched at GCE AS or A-Level standard (depending on the subject) although for some subjects, the volume of study and assessment may be less. A review of the quality assurance and control processes and procedures found these to be sufficient for the purposes of benchmarking the NIS Grade 12 Certificate to UK qualification standards. Many of these processes have been developed in collaboration with Cambridge Assessment International Education and it is noted that the Grade 12 Certificate is currently jointly certified. Overall, UK NARIC has concluded that the NIS Grade 12 Certificate is comparable to the overall GCE A-Level standard, with Mathematics and the student’s two Advanced level electives comparable to GCE A-Level on a subject-for-subject basis.

Grading and Ranking

NIS Grading System	Minimum Point Requirements*	Kazakhstan General School Grading System (min = 2, max = 5)
A* – Outstanding	54/60	5
A – Excellent	48/60	5
B – Above average	42/60	4
C – Average	36/60	4
D – Below Average	30/60	3
E – Poor	24/60	3
U – Fail	Less than 24	2

*- Points are comprised of internal formative assessment throughout the term (max = 18) and summative assessment by the end of the term (max = 42)

The school does not conduct ranking of the students

Grade Point Average (GPA) Calculation
GPA is computed using the above quality points. All subjects are included in the computation. By the end of the school year, an arithmetic average for points (middle column) of all terms of each subject is calculated to produce a final grade for the subject. GPA for all subjects is established by calculating an arithmetic average for Kazakhstan General School Grading System (right column) grades and rounded to one decimal place (Example, 4.8 out of 5).

Graduates
Grade 2015 – 135 alumni
Grade 2016 –183 alumni
Grade 2018 – 175 alumni
Grade 2019 – 76 alumni
Grade 2020 – 88 alumni
Grade 2021 – 113 alumni
Grade 2022* – 158 alumni
*- On September 2021

Recognition of NIS-Programme Certificate by the universities and educational organisations
In 2017, a comparative study of the NIS-Program for compliance with the internationally recognized UK qualifications GCE A-Level was carried out by the National Information Center for the Recognition of UK Educational Certificates UK NARIC. The study results showed that the educational program of the AEO “Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools” NIS-Program is comparable to the internationally recognized qualification GCE A-Level.
The NIS-Program and the Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Graduate Certificate were included in the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) list, a centralized application system for admission to higher education institutions in the UK.
The Council at the Central Office for Education Abroad of the Permanent Conference of Ministers of Education and Culture of the Federal Lands of Germany has recognized the Grade 12 Certificate for admitting graduates of the Intellectual Schools to German universities to 1st-year undergraduate programs, bypassing the Foundation. NIS-Program qualification information is included in the centralized ANABIN system.
The Netherlands Agency for Internationalization in Education Nuffic has recognized the NIS-Program and the Grade 12 Graduate Certificate with a VWO diploma (NLQF 4 + / EQF 4). The VWO diploma qualification allows direct admission to bachelor’s programs at research universities in the Netherlands.
The Swiss Education Group, the largest provider of higher education in the field of hospitality and hotel management in Switzerland, has recognized the Grade 12 Graduate Certificate of the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools as a criterion for admission to 1-year undergraduate programs at SEG Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland, César Ritz Colleges Switzerland, Hotel Institute Montreux, IHTTI School of Hotel Management and Swiss Hotel Management School based on learning outcomes at Intellectual Schools.
The University of Cambridge recognizes the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to the university’s undergraduate programs from 2018.
Pusan National University (South Korea) recognizes the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to university undergraduate programs from 2018.
The City University of Hong Kong recognizes the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to university undergraduate programs from 2019.
Hong Kong Polytechnic University recognizes Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to university undergraduate programs from 2019.
Bournemouth University (UK) recognizes the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to university undergraduate programs from 2019.
Monash University (Australia) recognizes the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to university undergraduate programs from 2019.
Yonsei University (Republic of Korea) recognizes the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to university undergraduate programs from 2019.
Glasgow Caledonian University (UK) recognizes the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to the second year of university undergraduate programs from 2019.
Loughborough University (UK) recognizes the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to the first year of university undergraduate programs from 2019.
Tokyo International University (Japan) recognizes the Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools Grade 12 Certificate for admission to the first year of university undergraduate programs from 2021 and provides special grants.
Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy provides five special grants for graduates of the Intellectual Schools.

International Universities Enrolled by Nazarbayev Intellectual School Graduates

Duke Kunshan University
Carnegie Mellon University Qatar
UNIST, South Korea
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
London School of business and finance
Hong Kong PolyU
Hong Kong CityU
Education University of Hong Kong
Pusan National University
Solbridge Business School, South Korea
Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary
Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
Kocaeli University, Turkey
Lomonosov MSU, Russia
Saint-Petersburg State University, Russia
Innopolis University, Russia, and many others

Contact Information
Azat Zhaulbayev
School Counsellor
Zhaulbaev_a@akb.nis.edu.kz
+7(7132) 704780