Kodaikanal International School

With over a hundred years of international education in its history, KIS has high standards to match its high altitude. The peaceful Palani Hills are home to this challenging educational program that expertly merges academic ambition with a range of rich extracurricular pursuits, shaping children into well-rounded, socially active, global citizens.

Welcome to Kodaikanal International School, a unique school with an extraordinary history and tradition spanning well over a hundred years!

Our keen focus on our students, commitment to quality and dedication to continuous improvement empowers our students to navigate through the challenges of life in order to achieve their true potential. Our greatest strength lies in our commitment to community – the crafting together of a shared vision. At the same time, our inordinate focus on the individual development of each student means that a KIS graduate leaves the school adaptive, adept and comfortable in the diverse, multicultural world of the 21st century.

Our community comprises a strong management team, a supportive governing council, dedicated teachers and residential parents, hard-working support and operational staff, and, of course, a great group of students that make all our efforts supremely worthwhile. Each student enjoys the opportunity of multiple points of contact with staff and teachers. This also allows for lifelong connections that extend way beyond their life at school.

Kodaikanal International School – A school the world needs 

From our establishment in 1901 as an American residential school for the children of missionaries in South India, our many milestones include a number of ‘firsts’ – from when we became the first IB school, first international school in India (and the third in Asia) by adopting the International Baccalaureate Diploma program in 1976; to when we became the first school in India to have its own separate campus for camping and outdoor activities in 1994. At the heart of the programs is a balanced approach catering to the student’s passions, strengths and academic requirements.

According to our Principal, Corey Stixrud, “Learning happens when we learn directly about a new culture…not from a textbook but from our roommate, or a new friend. Learning grows out of our successes and our failures. It happens when we study, work, talk, play, pray, share, reflect, argue…and when we make up. Granted, it doesn’t happen all the time, but a community that is imbued with the spirit of learning finds that learning is an ongoing continuous process.”

And this philosophy has paid off- our graduates, aside from growing into rounded, creative and inquisitive citizens, consistently achieve higher results than world averages in IB and SAT examinations – and 100% of KIS students who apply gain entry to colleges and universities worldwide. The KIS High School Diploma is US accredited and also allows KIS graduates direct entry to Indian universities.