At Astana Garden International School, English is not a separate subject on the timetable — it is the language in which learning itself takes place. Students listen to teachers’ lectures, take notes, work with textbooks, and complete and defend assignments in English. This transition is not abrupt: from grade 5 to grade 11, the school builds a carefully designed pathway that gently guides each child from a bilingual environment to fully English-medium academic study.

For families whose child already studies fluently in English, it is important to know: alongside the bilingual classes, middle school also runs classes taught entirely in English. These classes are formed from graduates of AGIS’s English-medium primary school — children whose level of academic English is already sufficient to study the whole programme in English without an adaptation period. From grade 5, such a child continues learning in a fully English-medium academic environment rather than waiting for the gradual transition together with the rest of the year group. This option is available at every stage of middle school.

An important feature of AGIS: we have no expat teachers. All subjects taught in English are delivered by highly qualified teachers who have mastered the methodology of teaching their discipline specifically in English. This is a deliberate choice — the teacher is both a subject-matter expert and confident in a bilingual environment, understanding how a child whose first language is Russian or Kazakh acquires complex material in English.

In grades 5–7 we deliberately maintain a bilingual model. About 50% of subjects are taught in English (12–18+ academic hours per week) — and not only for reading or project preparation, but as full instruction: the teacher’s lectures, notes, textbooks, assignments and their defence in English. The remaining subjects are taught in the language that was primary for the class in primary school — Kazakh or Russian.

This balance addresses the main goal of this stage — to let the child strengthen academic English without losing depth of understanding in the subjects. The language load increases step by step; the student has time to master the terminology and academic formats before the share of English grows. At the same time, as noted above, grades 5–7 already include fully English-medium classes — for children who have completed the English-medium primary school and do not need a transition period.

English as a subject
Grades 5–7: 5 academic hours per week.

Grade 8 is the point at which the bilingual model gives way to English as the primary medium. The share of instruction in English reaches 80%, and in some classes of the year group instruction is already entirely in English. The student comes to this stage prepared: over the previous years both an academic vocabulary and the habit of working with English-language study materials have formed, so the increase in load feels natural rather than an abrupt change of environment.

It is in grade 8 that the separate discipline of Academic Writing enters the programme. Students begin to master academic writing systematically: building the structure of a text, formulating theses, arguing a position, working correctly with sources, and creating texts to international academic standards. These skills become the foundation for high school, international exams, and subsequent admission to universities abroad.

English as a subject
Grade 8: continues at 5 academic hours per week + Academic Writing.

In high school, English finally becomes the sole language of academic work: from grade 9 to grade 11, instruction is 100% in English. The only exception is the subjects “History of Kazakhstan,” “Kazakh Literature,” and “Russian Literature,” which, by state requirements, are taught in Russian or Kazakh.

This stage is built around a serious academic load for which fluent English is already essential.

In grades 10–11, instruction is built on the IB Career-related Programme (IB CP), combining the academic depth of the Diploma Programme with an applied focus. National-standard subjects are retained and also taught in English, while BTEC (Pearson) qualifications add a career-oriented track that often plays an important role in admissions.

In grades 9–11 the academic load in English reaches its peak. Thus, high school is not a set of disconnected courses but a single system that brings command of English to the level required to study at the world’s leading universities.

The subject “English” itself also develops alongside the student, shifting focus from general command of the language to academic use:

EAP prepares students for international exams such as IELTS: students master task strategies, expand academic vocabulary, and develop critical thinking.

Academic preparation at AGIS is not reduced to separate “exam prep” courses. English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and Academic Writing build skills that work directly toward several outcomes: a high IELTS Writing score, convincing university application documents, and confident command of international academic standards for further study at university.

SAT preparation grows from Pre-SAT in grade 9 to 4 hours of SAT per week in grade 11, giving students systematic rather than last-minute preparation for admission.

For students who have reached a high level, courses are available that build a truly academic command of English:

The school follows the concept of “Қазақстандық білімді брендке айналдыру” (“Turning Kazakhstani education into a brand”), so its staff consists only of Kazakhstan-resident teachers selected on a competitive basis.

We do not build our teaching on invited native speakers. Our subjects in English are taught by highly qualified teachers who combine deep expertise in their discipline with professional command of the methodology of teaching in English. For a student whose first language is Kazakh or Russian, this is often more effective: the teacher understands exactly where difficulties arise in the switch to English and shapes explanations so that the student overcomes them consciously rather than memorizing material mechanically.

This is precisely why the transition to English at AGIS is intensive but managed. Bilingual support in grades 5–7, growth to 80% in grade 8, and 100% academic instruction from grade 9 are built as a single system that leads the student to fluent command of English as the language of knowledge, research, and admission to the world’s best universities.

This system rests on the school’s many years of expertise in preparing students for admission to leading universities abroad. Its effectiveness is confirmed by graduates’ admissions — with scholarships and full (100%) grants — and, no less importantly, by their successful studies at those universities.

For example, the 2025 graduating class of 38 received 159 offers of admission from universities in 20 countries, while the 2026 class of 63 received more than 420 offers from universities in 35 countries.

Among the universities that AGIS graduates enter are UC Berkeley, UCLA, University College London, King’s College London, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, HKUST, and Carnegie Mellon University.

These results show that the pathway described above gives them confidence both in admission and in their subsequent journey abroad.

BOOK A SCHOOL TOUR