As the International School of Uganda (ISU) marks 50 years, its story is one of daring to dream, pursuing dream amidst challenges; appreciating achievements, eventually living the dream and going beyond that.

The idea of starting the first international school in Uganda was conceived in 1965 by parents who were working for the US Embassy; they wanted a school that would cater for their children's education needs and provide them with internationally recognised certificates.

This meeting also considered staffing, equipment requirements and discussed the possibility of any assistance from the US state department.

The meeting was a success. The following year, the initial constitution was drawn up and the foreign affairs ministry approved the plan for the establishment of a community school — it was named Lincoln School.

On May 17, 1967, the Lincoln School was registered by the education ministry and it leased a property on Buganda Road. "The school started with a handful of students and one teacher, it was not a purpose built school, but just a converted house," Caroline Jacoby, the school's head, says.

In 1972, the Lincoln school acquired land for its new proposed site at Kira Road Close. However, works was stalled due to the political upheavals Uganda was going through.

Consequently, in 1975, when the school moved from Buganda Road, there were 83 pupils. The junior school and early childhood students remained at Buganda Road with 60 students, while senior school moved to a site in Lubowa on Entebbe Road with 23 students.

At this time, the then president Idi Amin expelled Indians and with the instability in the country, expatriates left. This in turn affected the enrolment at ISU, with numbers declining.

A reduction in enrolment meant that the whole school moved back to Buganda Road. Uganda's political climate continued to be unstable. However, in 1984, during the Milton Obote II regime, the enrolment increased and the development of the site on Kira Road became a necessity.

Notably, the nationality of children enrolled shifted from only Americans to different nationalities due to increase in expatriates, thereby prompting the school's board to change the name to Lincoln International School to reflect the different nationalities joining the school.

When President Yoweri Museveni came into power in 1986, there was a spike in enrolment, so both the junior and senior school were relocated to Kira Road Close site, while the early childhood section remained at Buganda Road.

With the enrolment growing and the school expanding, it was first accredited in 1991 by the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the Middle States Association of Schools and colleges (MSA). "The process of accreditation entails a set of standards that schools have to meet in terms of curriculum and governance, among others.

The school first has to rate itself and indicate what it is good at and then a team from the organisations visit the school and decides whether your assessment of yourself is accurate or not," Jacoby explains.

Today, this is done every five years and each time the team makes recommendations which the school is expected to act on before the next accreditation visit, thus ensuring constant school improvement.

In 1993, 26 years after Lincoln International School opened its doors, the first cohort of students sat for Cambridge IGCSE examinations. In 1994, the school was authorised to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme by the CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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ISU produces well-rounded students

To offer an education that produces a wellrounded student, a school has to have facilities to cater for different activities outside the dedicated classrooms for all subject areas. At International School of Uganda (ISU), the facilities foster academic excellence, sports and extra-curricular activities.

Science building

ISU has a state of the art science building, with purpose built laboratories for physics, chemistry, and biology. It has a large apparatus lab, experienced teachers and two science assistants to help with the experiments and develop a strong understanding of science concepts. When painting the laboratories the school took into account latest research on how colours can affect student learning. "I discovered that the young ones are stimulated by primary colours while older students need strong, but subdued colours for their learning experience," Lynda Schuurs a science teacher explains. CLICK HERE FOR MORE

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