About AIS
Adams International School (AIS) is one of the nation's newest independent schools. Nestled among the rolling hills of Goochland County, VA, AIS is perfectly situated to take advantage of the area's thriving rural culture as well as the urban excitement and academic opportunities that nearby Richmond and Charlottesville have to offer.
Our Facilities
The Montessori Primary Class is on the ground floor of a meticulously renovated barn. The openness of the original structure has been retained and the classroom is surrounded by large windows that allow natural light to fill the room. In keeping with Maria Montessori's vision of a classroom as a prepared environment, the AIS Primary Classroom offers students a beautiful space, ordered and peaceful, that inspires their enthusiasm for work and natural learning.
The AIS Elementary facilities are on the school's second floor. Here students can learn in a peaceful (yet still lively!) environment, immersed in their studies of reading and language arts, mathematics and technology, physical and life sciences, and history and culture. Much of their day can be spent outside of the classroom in the outdoor lab, the library, or the performing arts studio.
The school's performing arts facilities are housed in the upper two floors of the main building. The theatre is equipped with professional sound and lighting systems and serves as the school's dance studio and event space. The Performing Arts Library contains artist biographies, plays, and instructional materials that support classroom teaching as well as the individual artistic interests of students and teachers. Finally, the music studio provides a comfortable and inspiring space for individual and group instruction.
Just steps from the Primary Classroom door is the AIS Outdoor Classroom. Here young children can care for the school rabbits, gather and arrange flowers for snack-time centerpieces, tend the lush school garden (we had a bumper crop of tomatoes this year!) and create civilizations in the generously proportioned sheltered sandbox. For older students, the expansive outdoor facilities function as a dynamic lab environment, where their academic studies are deepened through experimentation and observation.
A short walk from the Outdoor Classroom is the picturesque Little Red Schoolhouse, a seventy-year-old former granary that now houses the AIS Visual Arts Classroom and the school's central library collection. The ground floor art studio is designed to inspire creative expression and art explorations that range from drawing and painting to woodworking and pottery. The upper floor is devoted to the AIS Library where, in addition to weekly storytime and book selection, students learn to use library materials to form bridges of discovery, allowing them to satisfy their intellectual curiosity while they simultaneously refine their research skills.
The historic facilities of AIS have been thoughtfully modernized with the goal of supporting an exceptional educational environment, where natural love of learning can take root and thrive year after year.