Kolej Yayasan Saad (KYS), formerly known as the Saad Foundation College, was established by Tan Sri Halim Saad as a private, entirely residential institution in 1995. It was built as a tribute to his late father. The school is located in Ayer Keroh, Malacca. In both the Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3) and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exams, the school is popularly known for achieving outstanding outcomes. Additionally, the school is also known for its wide variety of co-curricular activities such as rugby, netball, swimming,[1]triathlon, orchestra and also debate. The school only accepts scholars who demonstrate merit. Students who want to be admitted into this school submit their applications online, where their applications has to go through stringent selection process that takes into account their academic standing, potential for leadership, and extracurricular engagement. Only roughly 100 slots countrywide are available out of about 5000 submissions. About 100 spots are offered for the Form 1 batch yearly. Half of these spots are set aside for scholars from lower socio-economic environments where they are funded by local GLCs or organisations such as Axiata Foundation and Yayasan Khazanah. The school fee averages at around RM40,000 yearly
Location
Kolej Yayasan Saad is located in Ayer Keroh, a small town in the state of Malacca. Kolej Yayasan Saad lies near the North-South Expressway and accessible through the Ayer Keroh Toll Exit. KYS is 140 km from Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur, about one and half hour if travelling by car. It is located in a rubber treeplantation.
Events and activities
Every month, a "Union Night" is held by the four societies in the school.
Usually the Union Nights are inter-house competitions, such as the Science and Maths Quiz, Malam Bintang Legenda, English Drama, Choral Speaking, Religious Studies Quiz; there are also Union Nights that are talent shows, talks and speeches.
The School Orchestra was established in 1997 at the behest of the school's founder. Music is one of the compulsory subjects for students in the Lower Secondary School. The programme is performance-based and all students learn to play an instrument or two in the course of their studies here. The orchestra has about 76 members and about 100 other members in the Junior Development Programme.
The department is headed by the Director of Music (Head of Music Education) and is assisted by two full-time staff as well as part-timers who handle the teaching of percussion, piano, keyboards, brass instruments and guitars. The full-time staff are teaching the strings section which includes classes for violin, cello and double bass.
The orchestra has performed in venues across Peninsular Malaysia which included a 2003 performance in conjunction with the 13th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Kuala Lumpur. In the same year, the orchestra performed at the Thailand Cultural Village in Bangkok. Every year, the orchestra goes on tour and performs for dignitaries including the Royal families and Malaysian ministers, parents and students of guest schools.[2]
In 2010, the orchestra performed at the Kuala Lumpur City Hall Auditorium featuring a split programme consisting abridged works from Beethoven to Andrew Lloyd Webber. For 2011, the orchestra featured a serious programme with classical works like 1st Movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Mozart's Piano Concerto in G, contemporary orchestral works like medleys from the Phantom of the Opera, Pirates of the Caribbean and selections from Andrew Lloyd Webber's works.
Achievements
The school has produced the best results for both the Penilaian Menengah Rendah and the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examinations. In the 2006 PMR examinations, a total of 54 out of 56 students obtained straight As or 96.4% in all subjects. This result was the best in the country. In 2007 the school achieved a 100% percent straight-As in the PMR examinations. The same goes for 2008, they also achieved 100% straight-As. And to complete the hat-trick, the PMR candidates of 2009 had managed to get 100% straight-As for the third time.[3] The more recent PT3 examinations also produced similar results as KYS was the number one ranked school in the nation for all five years of its implementation. SPM results are equally as good as KYS becomes a main-stay in the top 10 rankings nationwide from year to year. Just recently, KYS emerged as the top school in Malaysia for SPM 2018 with a GPS of 1.24, beating MRSMs and SBPs nationwide.
In sports, the KYS athletics team have been the Ayer Keroh district champion and Melaka state Champion for many years straight. The school rugby team, also known as the KYS Rammers, is one of the best school rugby teams in Malaysia. The school rugby team has won 2nd cup in KYS Invitational Tournament in 2014 and has won many achievements in Kejohanan Ragbi Malaysia, which is one of the most prestigious tournaments in Malaysia.
The team has played state and national tournaments such as the Sekolah Menengah Sains Selangor 10s (SMSS 10s). The Rammers participate in international rugby tournaments such as the COBRA 10s, Vajiravudh 10s and MCKK Premier 7s. The Under-15 Netball Team also become the champion in the Ayer Keroh zone for many years straight. KYS is also heavily involved with triathlon and swimathon events around the country, often emerging top three in various competitions such as the Port Dickson International Triathlon and the Kapas Marang 6.5 km swimathon.
KYS is also recognized for its English Debate, being a constant force in the arena for years. They have constantly been ranked one of the best teams for various tournaments nationwide, most notably for IIUM IDC and Swinburne Sarawak.
KYS also prides itself with its participation in the National Science Challenge. Constantly emerging as finalists from year to year, the school won the competition twice in the year 2013 and 2017. The winners were then selected to be ambassadors for Malaysia to witness the annual Nobel Prize event in Stockholm, Sweden.
School alumni
The school alumni is KYSER, which is an acronym for Kolej Yayasan Saad Ex- Resident. It was founded in the year 2003. All KYSERs pursue their tertiary studies either locally or abroad many of them on a scholarship.
