Twenty-five years of shaping learners who belong to the world

Yelena Khamitova's welcome frames Miras as a place where Kazakhstani educational traditions meet the International Baccalaureate, helping students become both responsible citizens and competitive applicants for leading universities.

The message also highlights the school's distinctive strengths: CIS and NEASC accreditation, authorisation for all three IB programmes, the French School pathway, and a warm culture where the success of each learner strengthens the whole community.

Miras opened its doors in 1999 — the same year Astana was still finding its shape as a capital. The school was conceived not simply as a place of instruction but as a testing ground: from 1999 to 2014 it operated as an official experimental platform for the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, trialling curricula and approaches that would later influence secondary education reform across the country.

That fifteen-year mandate produced something rare — a school fluent in both national standards and international frameworks. When the experimental period concluded, Miras retained the rigour and continued building: securing full IB authorisation at every level, earning CIS accreditation, and growing into a community of more than twenty nationalities learning side by side.

Fewer than 300 schools on the planet hold authorisation for the Primary Years Programme, the Middle Years Programme, and the Diploma Programme simultaneously. Miras is one of them. That distinction is not decorative — it means a student can move from inquiry-based early learning through conceptual middle years into a rigorous diploma pathway without ever changing the educational philosophy that holds the school together.

The result is continuity. Skills introduced in pre-school resurface in secondary science; the international-mindedness cultivated in Grade 2 deepens into the extended essay in Grade 12. Families choosing Miras are choosing a single, unbroken arc of development.

Miras exists to provide quality education within a challenging and supportive setting — one that nurtures lifelong learning, develops every dimension of individual growth, and prepares students to contribute responsibly to Kazakhstan and the wider world.

The school's vision is to be a leading learning community where global perspectives and Kazakhstani heritage strengthen one another, where multilingualism is a daily reality, and where every child is treated as a distinct learner deserving safety, respect, and intellectual stimulation.

• Inquiry, critical thinking, and creativity are woven into everyday teaching, not reserved for special projects.
• English anchors academic communication; Kazakh and Russian carry cultural weight and curricular presence.
• Pastoral care is structural, not incidental — each student is known by name and supported by design.
• Partnerships with families, universities, and external organisations extend learning beyond the classroom walls.

The school's leadership combines academic, pastoral, operational, and financial expertise under a single mandate: maintain the kind of environment where students flourish from their first day in pre-school to the moment they collect their diploma. Each leader oversees a distinct phase of the student journey, ensuring that transitions between programmes feel natural rather than disruptive.

Miras holds full authorisation for the IB Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme, and Diploma Programme. It is accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS) — an endorsement that covers governance, safeguarding, curriculum design, and student wellbeing.

These credentials are not collected once and forgotten. They require cyclical review, evidence of ongoing improvement, and alignment with standards that evolve alongside best practice in international education. For families, they provide a clear, externally validated guarantee of quality.

The Nursultan Nazarbayev Educational Foundation was established in 1998 to support the development of education in Kazakhstan in line with international standards and best practice.

Through the foundation, Miras schools in Astana and Almaty, alongside other institutions, work on educational model improvement, teacher development, quality management, international programme integration, and charitable initiatives.

• Build high-quality early years and school provision on both national and international standards
• Strengthen professional development and educational quality systems across the foundation's schools
• Develop specialised pathways such as the French School and wider international programme integration
• Share experience across Kazakhstan and CIS education systems while supporting charitable work