The Houston Independent School District’s Arabic Immersion Magnet School will relocate this summer to the former campus of Kinder High School for Performing and Visual Arts — a move designed to accommodate the school’s growing student population and transformation to a PK-8 campus.  

The new location, located at 4001 Stanford St., is just seven miles south of the original AIMS campus on West 28th Street in the Heights. The campus will provide a more central, neighborhood location while still maintaining proximity to the original campus. Additionally, the new building has space for the school to expand, including areas for fine arts, physical education, and a growing pre-kindergarten program. 

“We are excited about the support we have received from the district to expand our trailblazing Arabic immersion program from Pre-K to eighth grade,” Arabic Immersion Magnet School Principal Mahassen Ballouli said. “We anticipate that this unique building and the Montrose community will be a great home for us for the years to come.”  

The Arabic Immersion Magnet School opened in August 2015 as the nation’s first public Arabic language immersion school. The school started with just 132 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students and has since doubled in size, steadily growing by one grade level per year. The school plans to ultimately serve students up through the eighth grade. 

The building will be renovated and retrofitted this summer to accommodate the school’s younger students. It will officially open its doors to students in time for the start of the 2019-2020 school year.