3. Admissions procedure

Applications proceed through various stages as shown below as part of the standard admissions process.

This document outlines admissions policies and procedures. All applicants must read it thoroughly before applying.

Before submitting an application for admission outside the main intake periods, please contact the KIST Admissions Office by e-mail at info@kist.ed.jp to confirm availability.

Payment is by bank transfer only. Please include your child’s name so the payment can be identified. Bank transfer fees are the responsibility of the sender.

Prepare any supporting documents required for your child’s grade to upload with your application, and arrange any documents required to be sent from your child’s current school.

Fill out and submit the Application for Admission through the online portal linked on our school website. Information must be entered by an applicant’s parents/guardians only.

Completed applications and supporting documents received by the school are screened for eligibility. This takes approximately one week (but may take longer for the April/August main intake periods).

Screening results are sent to applicants by e-mail only. Unsuccessful applicants will be unable to proceed to the next stage. The application fee will not be returned in this instance.

Applicants who pass the screening stage will receive an invitation by e-mail that indicates the date and time you are required to participate in admissions testing. Notification will be no earlier than one week in advance. Parents of applicants who demonstrate appropriate academic skills and behavior during the testing stage will subsequently be invited to participate in a parent interview.

After testing and interviews, the school admissions panel convenes to make decisions. We aim to send out results by e-mail no earlier than one week after the final component of the testing and interview stages has been completed (except for the April/August main intake periods).

Successful applicants are required to pay the non-refundable enrollment fee and other school fees by the due date in order to secure their place in the class.

Applications are valid only until the end of the school year for the proposed date of enrollment. Any applications that have not completed Stage 8 by the end of the school year will be cancelled automatically.

The main intake of students is from the start of the new school year in August. Admission is also possible from January or from April provided that places are available. The following tables indicate the schedule for admission for the main intake periods. In line with the timing of our annual Explanation Day in mid-October, applications beyond October of the forthcoming school year are not accepted until next year.

• ^*1Completed applications and all required supporting documents must be received by 5:00 p.m. JST on this day.
• ^*2Issuance of results for applicants tested remotely may take longer than regular applicants.

• ^*3The school year at KIST starts in August.
• ^*4Completed applications and all required supporting documents must be received by 5:00 p.m. JST on this day.
• ^*5On this day, results will be issued progressively throughout the day. Please refrain from contacting us regarding the time results will be sent.
• ^*6Issuance of results for applicants tested remotely may take longer than regular applicants.

• ^*Note: It is not possible for families to participate in both the November testing (for admission in January, February or March) as well as the January/February interviews (for admission in April or May, or from August).

Applications for admission at times outside the main intake periods are accepted on a rolling basis all year round. The admissions process for these applications takes approximately three to four weeks from the time of submission until final enrollment. Applicants who pass the screening stage will be invited to proceed to the testing stage. Admissions testing is held only on Thursday mornings during most weeks (excluding holidays and special school events) depending on the school schedule. Applicants are added to the next available schedule. This depends on the timing of your application and the number of other families on the schedule. Details of the test schedule are sent by e-mail no more than one week in advance of the testing date.

If applying for admission outside the main intake periods, we advise you to check availability by contacting us via e-mail at info@kist.ed.jp before submitting your application. When checking availability, please provide the following information:

• your child’s date of birth
• the nationality (at birth) of both parents
• your child’s current grade (if applicable)
• the grade you wish to apply for
• your child’s general English level

In order to maintain a balance of genders, cultural backgrounds and English abilities, we may advise you that there are no immediate places available if your child does not match our current availability criteria. In such cases, you are welcome to proceed with an application if you wish, on the understanding that your child will be added to the waiting list if you pass the initial screening and subsequent testing and interview stages.

Student nationality is based on considerations of the nationality and cultural upbringing of both parents at birth, regardless of the citizenships your child may hold. In some cases, we may request additional information regarding your individual situation in order to better determine your cultural background. In situations where a parent may have been born in the USA, for example, but spent no time growing up in that country and whose predominant language is Japanese, they would be considered as Japanese for admissions purposes.

Availability changes constantly as families come and go during the year. After confirming availability, it is possible that availability may have changed by the time your application reaches us. Furthermore, if the number of applicants is greater than the number of places available, not all applicants will gain admission, even if availability has been confirmed in advance.

It is the responsibility of applicants to ensure that all information required in the online application form has been included, all required supporting documents have been sent, and the application fee has been paid.

For all applications, the following items must be uploaded via the online application portal through the school website. We strongly recommend that you prepare these in advance prior to accessing the online portal. Please refrain from uploading any other documents not listed (e. g. general class worksheets, extracurricular activity participation certificates, class awards etc. ) as these will not be reviewed during the application screening process.

Please provide a copy of your child’s passport photo page if available. If your child does not have a passport, a copy of another document that includes your child’s full legal name and date of birth is also accepted (e. g. birth certificate, insurance certificate, My Number card, or certificate of residence [juminhyo] ).

Must meet the following requirements:

• Must be taken from the front and show the applicant’s face only, not the full body.
• Must be taken against a plain-colored background.
• Must not contain any added decorative features or embellishments.
• Must have been taken within the last six months.

Photos taken from a distance, photos of the applicant’s full body, photos where the applicant is partially facing away from the camera, etc. are not accepted.

Any recently taken photograph, formal or informal, that shows the members of the applicant’s family is acceptable.

Applicants for Grades 3 and above: Official copies of school reports for the past three years, including the latest, stamped with the school’s seal or otherwise designated by the school as official. These must be sent to the KIST Admissions Office directly from the applicant’s school/s by one of the following methods:

• Sent by e-mail in PDF format from an official school account.
• Submitted by the applicant in a sealed and stamped envelope from the school.
• Post.

Full reports containing teachers’ comments are preferred. All school reports must be in English. Translations must be provided where necessary. These may be arranged by families.

Photocopies or scans of any reports available. They do not have to be official copies. These should be uploaded through the online application portal.

Available from the school website. This should be handed to the applicant’s current school in advance for completion. It is a confidential statement that should be sent by the school directly to the KIST Admissions Office by post or e-mail from an official school account in PDF format only.

Available from the school website. This must be handwritten by applicants themselves in English, and the completed statement signed and dated before being uploaded through the online application portal.

Key: ✓ = Required / X = Not required / △ = If available

Additional documents (to be sent directly to the KIST Admissions Office if relevant):

• No items submitted as part of an application will be returned.
• All applications must be submitted in English only. Any miscommunications due to input errors or unclear contact details are the responsibility of the applicant. Information must be entered by an applicant’s parents/guardians only. Applying students, other family members and other associates/representatives are not permitted to access the application form.
• Please ensure that you provide all information available about your child’s previous education as well as full details of any special learning issues. Recognized issues not disclosed at the time of application may result in your child’s enrollment being reviewed and possibly cancelled.
• Please ensure that you use your child’s official name (as shown on their passport or birth certificate) on your application form and in all verbal and written communications with our office. Other names used on a daily basis as preferred names or nicknames should not be used. Furthermore, for families able to provide their child's name in katakana, the characters used should represent the pronunciation of the child's legal name in English. For children whose legal name uses Chinese characters, please provide katakana based on the English pronunciation only, not the Japanese reading.
• **Important message to non-English speakers:
  The online application form should be viewed in English only. Please do not use automatic web browser translation software to translate the form to other languages as this may cause some sections of the form to malfunction or to not appear on the screen correctly.**

The Application for Admission and most of the required supporting documents must be submitted through our online application portal accessible via the school website (https://www.kist.ed.jp). Additional documents required to be sent from an applicant’s current or previous schools may be sent by e-mail from an official school account or by post as indicated below.The Application for Admission and most of the required supporting documents must be submitted through our online application portal accessible via the school website (https://www.kist.ed.jp). Additional documents required to be sent from an applicant’s current or previous schools may be sent by e-mail from an official school account or by post as indicated below.The Application for Admission and most of the required supporting documents must be submitted through our online application portal accessible via the school website (https://www.kist.ed.jp). Additional documents required to be sent from an applicant’s current or previous schools may be sent by e-mail from an official school account or by post as indicated below.

info@kist.ed.jp

K. International School Tokyo
Admissions Office
1-5-15 Shirakawa
Koto-ku, Tokyo
Japan 135-0021

The application fee should be paid by bank transfer only to the account shown below. All bank transfers must include the applicant’s name. Furthermore, all transfer fees incurred are the responsibility of the sender and must be covered at the time of payment.

If paying by bank transfer from overseas, please ensure the currency is in Japanese yen and amounts to exactly ¥30,000 after handling fees are deducted. All transfer fees incurred for both the sending as well as the receiving bank are the responsibility of the applicant and must be covered at the time of payment. Please consult your bank at the time of transfer to determine the amount you need to pay to cover all fees. Where the amount received by KIST is less than the required fee, you will be asked to pay the difference.

Bank: Mizuho Bank (Bank number: 0001)
Branch: Honjo (Branch number: 050)
Address: 4-31-11 Ryogoku, Sumida-ku, Tokyo 130-0026
Tel: 03-3631-2121 / +81-3-3631-2121
Account type: Regular savings (Futsuu)
Account number: 1937746
Swift code: MHCBJPJT
Account name: K. International School

A payment slip indicating the date and amount paid as well as your child’s name must be uploaded as part of your online application submission.

As we receive many applications each year for limited places, it is not possible for every child to be admitted. In order to determine the suitability of applicants for our school, all applications are screened. During the screening process, from the documentation provided, we look for various types of evidence as indicated below:

• Whether the views expressed by the parents/guardians through the application form are aligned with the philosophy and aims of the school.
• Whether the applicant has a background in English (e. g. lived in an English-speaking country) (K2 and above).
• Whether the applicant has attended a fully English school where they received instruction in various academic subjects in English. (Grades 2 and above)
• Whether the applicant’s school reports indicate continuous excellence in all academic subjects across multiple years. (Grades 2 and above)
• Whether comments in documents received from other schools (e. g. school reports, references), where available, are positive and indicate that the child is motivated and focused, well-behaved, caring and cooperative.
• Whether the content of the Personal Statement is appropriate. (Grades 8 and above)
• Whether there is evidence that the applicant’s parents/guardians are supportive.

With the exception of applicants for K1 and K2, it is possible that applications that do not show evidence of the above expectations may not pass the screening stage.

Applications will not begin the screening process until the online Application for Admission, the application fee and all required supporting documents have been received. Screening takes approximately one week but may take longer for applications for the April/August main intake periods.

Screening results are sent to applicants by e-mail only. Not all applicants will pass the screening stage. Those who are unsuccessful will be unable to proceed to the admissions testing stage. The application fee is not returned in this instance. Please note that we are unable to respond to individual inquiries regarding screening results.

All applicants who pass the initial screening stage are invited to participate in admissions testing, which involves an English test (all applicants) and a mathematics test (applicants for Grades 2 and above), as well as a student interview (applicants for Grade 4 and above) as outlined below. For applicants who demonstrate academic skills to a certain level and display appropriate behavioral characteristics during testing, a subsequent parent interview is also required at a later date. Please note, however, that receiving an invitation to participate in the parent interview does not necessarily mean that your application has been successful.

The English test checks whether an applicant has the necessary English language skills required to access the curriculum of the grade for which they are applying. The type of test administered depends on the grade as outlined below and may take from one hour to several hours depending on the grade.

For K1 and K2 applicants, the test takes the format of a classroom observation and involves the children taking part in a variety of activities such as drawing, naming objects, coloring, counting etc. The examiners observe the children’s level of understanding of English and whether they can respond in English (or another language) and also how they interact with other children in the room.

For applicants for K3 and above, the test used is a common test used by many international schools to appraise English proficiency in the four areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Depending on the grade, students may be asked to complete activities such as reading letters, words, sentences, paragraphs and longer texts up to several paragraphs; speaking about/telling a story from pictures; asking and answering questions;
writing letters, words, sentences and longer texts (e. g. continuing a story where the beginning is provided, or writing a response to a particular prompt); and listening to a recording or the examiner’s prompts, then answering multiple choice or yes/no questions.

During the test, the examiners will also observe applicants’ degree of focus and attention to the tasks presented as well as their general attitude, behavior, appearance and the like.

On-site admissions testing for K1, K2 and K3 applicants who have applied for admission for the main intake period and have met the application deadline is conducted on a date as indicated in this handbook. Applicants are allocated to testing slots throughout the day by the school. For very young children, this may be at a time when your child usually sleeps at home. In this case, due to the volume of applications expected, we ask for your understanding that we are unable to schedule testing to meet individual family needs and ask that you instead make adjustments to your child’s sleep pattern in the days leading up to the test.

All applicants for Grades 2 and above are required to take a mathematics test. The test takes 45 minutes for Grades 2 to 4, one hour for Grades 5 to 9, or two hours for Grades 10 and above. For Grades 2 to 10, the tests are at a level similar to England’s national curriculum as indicated in the tables below.

For admission during the 2025–26 school year:

• ^*The content of the test depends on the course the applicant intends to take

Past Key Stage exam papers similar to the tests used can be found online at sites such as http://satspapers.org/. These may help students become familiar with the structure and format of the tests, although the content will differ. Past IGCSE Mathematics A papers can be accessed at sites such as the following:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-international-gcses.html

All applicants for Grades 4 and above, as well as those applying for admission to Grade 3 from April, are required to participate in an interview with the respective Area Principal. This may take around 15–20 minutes. During the interview, students are asked various questions about topics such as their current schooling, hobbies and interests, expectations for schooling, future plans and the like. They also have the opportunity to ask questions of their own about life at KIST if they wish. During the interview, the Area Principals observe the students’ level of English as well as other aspects such as their general appearance, attitude, behavior and level of motivation.

For K3 and Grade 1 applicants, an observation of their interaction with other children in a regular classroom situation may also be conducted in addition to formal testing. On some occasions during the year, depending on class schedules, classroom observations may not be conducted.

In order to gain a clear understanding of an applicant’s academic abilities and behavioral characteristics, face-to-face testing at our campus in Tokyo is preferred. Families who are living overseas are strongly recommended to make arrangements to visit Japan for testing where possible. Where this is not feasible, applicants for the Secondary School (Grades 6 and above only) with proven recent high academic performance and exemplary behavior and motivation may wish to request remote testing. Whether remote testing can be conducted or not is determined during the application screening process. If remote testing is approved, applicants are asked to complete an online English test through the Duolingo English Test* platform (charges apply), and a mathematics test as arranged through the applicant’s current school. Where this cannot be arranged, face-to-face testing at our campus in Tokyo is required. In principle, remote testing is not available for applicants for K1 through Grade 5. This includes siblings of older children applying for the Secondary School. Issuance of final results for applicants tested remotely may take longer than regular applicants.

• ^*The English test is an online test from Duolingo—an independent, external organization with no affiliation to KIST—that can be completed via computer from home. Due to the nature of the testing platform, there are very strict conditions under which the test must be taken (e. g. there must be no one else in the room; the examinee must not look away from the screen; there must be no programs running in the background etc. ). Families are advised to read through the testing instructions carefully with their child in advance to avoid problems. If the conditions are not met, the test may be judged by Duolingo as being invalid, and a result may not be issued. In this situation, it is your responsibility to communicate directly with Duolingo as the school is unable to act on your behalf. Subsequently, it is up to you to decide whether to have your child sit for the test again (additional charges apply), or to wait until arriving in Tokyo.

The parent interview is designed to check that parents’ educational beliefs and aspirations match the school’s mission, vision, guiding beliefs and programs. The interview is usually conducted with individual families online via Zoom and may take around 20 to 30 minutes. In some instances, instead of being conducted online, parents may be asked to attend a face-to-face interview at the school. Parent interviews are not conducted for applicants who do not demonstrate appropriate academic skills and behavioral characteristics during the testing stage.

Parent interviews are conducted in either English or Japanese. Parents are required to select the language they wish to use. If both parents are Japanese nationals, a Japanese interview should be selected. Parents unable to communicate in either English or Japanese are required to provide an interpreter for the interview and must notify the school of such arrangements in advance. In such situations, the role of the interpreter is to assist in providing smooth communication between the interviewer and parents through direct interpretation of the specific points discussed only. The interpreter is not permitted to add points not mentioned in the discussion or to provide personal ideas or comments in response to the questions asked. Other parents who have children enrolled at KIST or KIPS are not permitted to act as interpreters for applying families.

From the responses you provide to questions asked during the parent interview, you will be rated against the following criteria:

• Degree of international mindedness in relation to an international education.
• Degree of understanding of and alignment with KIST’s guiding statements (mission, vision, guiding beliefs and educational goals).
• Clarity of educational views and vision for your child’s future.
• Ability to provide support to your child at home (emotional, academic).
• Willingness to support the school.

For applicants who have been homeschooled through an online program or using a particular curriculum, please provide information about the program or curriculum used, as well as grade reports, standardized tests, or other feedback issued by the program or curriculum used. If your child attends any type of online classes or distance learning with teachers, please request a reference from one of these teachers. The Confidential School Reference is preferable, but if the teacher does not feel able to complete this form, a letter explaining the applicant’s performance, behavior, attitude towards learning, etc. is also acceptable.

In cases where the applicant has been homeschooled without any external program or curriculum and therefore may not be able to provide school reports or the Confidential School Reference, please provide other information, if possible, that shows evidence of your child’s academic level such as any online tests that may have been completed, as well as details of the curriculum or course followed for the subjects studied.

If it becomes clear through the admissions process that significant gaps exist in the applicant’s academic level, or if their social behavior and maturity level has not developed to the stage generally accepted for children of the same age, initial enrollment, if granted, and/or subsequent progression to the next grade may be on a conditional basis, pending improvements to the areas of concern.