Category: Uncategorized

Activities

After-School Activities and Athletics

We believe that after-school activities add quality to students’ educational experiences and help them grow in both academic and social areas. With this belief in mind, we offer both school-sponsored and community-sponsored activities throughout the school year.

School-sponsored activities are free of charge. These activities are planned in three cycles during the school year, each cycle being about 10 weeks in length. Teachers try to vary these activities during the school year in order to allow for active play outdoors as well as outdoor options. We are always open to suggestions from families about the activities they would like to see.  Also, we encourage parents to offer activities themselves.

Signups for Activities

Please visit our new After-School Activities Website: TISACTIVITIES for more information.

Activities Handbook

MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HIGH SCHOOL AFTER-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

Tirana International School offers a wide variety of extracurricular activities for middle and high school students. TIS is a member of the Central and Eastern European School Association (CEESA), as well as the local Tirana Association of International Schools (TAIS). The school also participates in joint activities with fellow QSI schools in the Balkans: Sarajevo, Podgorica, and Skopje. Taken together, participation with these other organizations affords TIS students the opportunities to enhance their educational program and experience the social, competitive, and cooperative challenges that will help them grow in more ways than they can by sitting in a classroom.

Part of the extracurricular experience involves travel outside the country to events hosted by CEESA, QSI Balkan schools, and others. These competitions and learning experiences are extremely enriching and help students grow.

But, we want to make sure we don’t “overdo” the offerings, and have out-of-country activities overshadow in-school activities. Please note that all students’ first priority should be classroom obligations and work; these other activities should serve to supplement and enrich, not replace, our regular program. 

Families may register for all activities and athletics through a link provided by the school.

Visit TIS

Thank you for visiting Tirana International School website.  Even though we believe that we have published all the main important information regarding the school, we highly suggest you to pay a visit in our campus. We would love to show you the school facilities and discuss how we might best meet your needs as a family. We are glad to answer all you questions regarding the academic program and school life.

If you are interested, please feel free to contact us to schedule a visit:

Send an Email

Please send an email to egla-lila@alb.qsi.org

Make A Phone Call

Please call school: 00355 42 365 239 to talk with our admissions coordinator

Contact us in FB

We look forward to meeting you!

Why choose TIS

  • TIS – 26 years of successful service to the international and local student community in Tirana
  • Tirana International School (TIS) is accredited through the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA), an American accreditation board that works with American and International Schools. In addition, we are recognized by the US State Department and the Advanced Placement College Board.
  • The educational philosophy is founded upon the premises that: All students can succeed; Students breed success; and it is the responsibility of the school to provide the conditions for success.
  • Education process starts from 2 year old through high school.
  • All the teaching subjects are taught in English, most of the teaching staff are English native speakers. The staff has an average of 11+ years of teaching experience, and they are all certificated and qualified teachers.
  • Our daily studies include English (reading, grammar, composition, and spelling), Mathematics, Science, Cultural Studies, Art, Music, and Physical Education, Foreign Languages (Spanish, French, German and Russian)
  • Advanced Placement (AP) courses in high school
  • Advanced Placement Capstone Diploma (AP Capstone)
  • Spacious classes and small number of students, allowing for ample individual attention for all students.
  • We have a School Counselor who works with students and their families toward the universities acceptances. She is the connection bridge between students and universities in US, Canada, UK and Europe.
  • Students aged 5 and older have the possibility to be part of school sponsored after school activities here you can find more details: tisactivities.weebly.com
  • TIS is a member of the Central and Eastern European School Association (CEESA)
  • TIS offers amazing facilities, students and parents have the opportunities to use all school facilities such as: gymnasium, football pitch, tennis court, exercise room, play grounds.
  • Great location, fresh air and quite area.
  • Gated and safe school.
  • Students from 30 different countries – it means socializing with different cultures.
  • TIS is an nonprofit school

School Lunch

TIS works in partnership with Era Catering to provide hot, healthy lunches to students during each school day.  The cafeteria is in compliance with all national health and safety codes for the purchasing, preparing and serving of food. Families that are interested in purchasing the school lunch may contact Elvisa at era@alb.qsi.org for a full menu and information. Vegetarian and gluten free options are available.

Sample Lunches:

NWEA MAP Tests

Tirana International School utilizes the Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) test in order to help our students and teachers understand and plan for growth.  As an adaptive assessment, MAP is able to provide level appropriate questions for students that help them demonstrate their own level of achievement.  Because of this, each testing session is slightly different as assessments draw from a large digital bank of questions in order to determine areas of strength and growth.  Once testing is complete, educators are given immediate results so that we might identify targets for future learning and plan for the next level of success.  Discussion of MAP results and individualized plans are a key part of our parent and student led conferences.  We encourage you to visit the NWEA website to learn more about how you as parents can be involved in this important process.  

Safety and Security

TIS is secured by our professional security team, which provides security 24/7. The school is gated and supervised all the time with a video camera system and we work closely with the American embassy security office and the Albanian state police as well. Security team is vigilant when students are dropped off in the morning and picked up in the afternoon. They assist in the traffic time in order to make these processes smoothly and quickly.

School welcomes visitors during the day and they should have an ID or passport to submit at the security office in the entrance and after that they are provided with a visitor badge to enter inside the building. When they leave they must return the visitor badge and get their ID back.

Parent Pass: School provides to parents, and persons who are in charge for children with their permanent passes.
The parent pass is to be used only by the individual on the pass. Spouses, relatives, drivers, etc. may not use the same pass. The pass does not give the right to enter the school at any time. Parents should have an appointment, meeting or other reason to visit during the school day.


Emergency Actions: During the year TIS held periodically expected and unexpected drills such as: Fire, Earthquake, Hold in Place, Storm and Bomb threats drills. All these drills are practiced and we follow all the steps as it is a real emergency situation. Teachers and support staff have Emergency Actions Plans guide which instructs them what to do in all this cases.

Medical

TIS Health Services

The goal of the TIS Health Services is to promote wellness within the community of learners and stakeholders.  Education research clearly shows that students that are healthy and happy are better able to master new concepts and share their ideas with others.  

Families may visit the Health Service office during the school day from 7:45 to 4:00 to inquire about illness or preventative care.  Our hope is to provide information and support for our families as they determine the best care for their children.  

Newcomers to the school should schedule an appointment to visit our office before beginning the first day of school.  This visit will provide an opportunity to discuss any health issues, allergies, or other concerns that TIS should be aware of as we work with your child.  During the school year, our office conducts vision and hearing screenings for children and communicates results to families so that they might follow up on the results.    

As a reminder, TIS is a nut free school due to some severe nut allergies within our community.  We understand that this causes an inconvenience for some and appreciate your willingness to help keep our community safe.  

Health Services Documents

School Doctor – Valbona Selmani 

Our school doctor is Valbona Selmani. Dr. Valbona has 8 years of experience at TIS and 15 years as a doctor within Albania. 

Please feel free to reach out to her if you have questions or concerns.

Valbona Selmani MD, Tirana International School Doctor

Tel: 355 42 365239   Email: valbona-selmani@alb.qsi.org

Transportation Service

Tirana International School provides transportation for students. 

The standard of the service includes:

  • New, comfortable, spacious vans
  • Vans are equipped with security cameras and GPS tracking service
  • Licensed, trained & experienced drivers
  • Booster seats for preschoolers and adjustable seat belts for all other students
  • Students do not spend more than  40 minutes in the van based on their location
  • Pick-up and drop-off location is arranged at the most available, appropriate, close location to the home address of each student
  • Morning and Afternoon Service

Explanation of the Zone Structure: As you can see from the fee structure, there are only two zones on which fees are based: “Zone 1” and “All Others.” Zone 1 incorporates locations fairly near the school. All other locations will need longer drives and therefore higher fees. Please refer to the map below for the areas included in Zone 1.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Transportation requests might not be offered either because of extreme distance; capacity (usually for registration requests after the beginning of the semester).

Extras:

The transportation service offered by TIS is 100% compliant with Albanian law regarding student transportation. All vans are painted in orange color, equipped with cameras that film inside and outside.

Obligations of the Students’ Families

In order to ensure a successful service, we ask that families provide the following support and cooperation

  • Pay the designated fee for each term, in full and in U.S. Dollars at the beginning of the term. (Note: Parents will not be refunded for the days that students are absent and do not use the transportation service .)
  • Ensure that the students are at the designated pick-up location at the established pick-up time.
  • Support the establishment of seating assignments and behavioral expectations for students.
  • Notify the transport coordinator and the for any concerns and collaborate in resolving the issues.

It is very important to notify the transport coordinator  for cases when their child is registered in an activity which affects the assigned transportation; cases of pick-up; cases when the parents pick the child up by themselves; etc.