School plans to add a third building, play field and a pavilion

Grainne O'Reilly, International School of Texas headmistress, said she has started more than a dozen schools in her career, including schools that teach British Curriculum throughout the world, such as in South Korea.

O'Reilly was recruited from her South Korea school to work for Abercorn International School in Lakeway. After three years with the school, she was recruited by a group of interested parents during a June 2013 lunch that wanted to start a not-for-profit school in the Lake Travis area.

"I told them that if they could find me a place, I would start a school," O'Reilly said.

The group found a location off Eck Lane in Austin, behind Vintage Villas Hotel & Events and opened after Labor Day in 2013.

"It was very serendipitous that we were able to find the location we did," she said. "Then the question was, 'How do we ever afford this?'"

The lot, which included two buildings and 8 acres of land, was purchased by a group of 10 families, who then leased the property to the school. The school opened a few months later with 63 students and opened the current school year with about 100 students, O'Reilly said.

During its first year the school utilized one full building and the first floor of the second building, but the increase in students led to the use of both floors of the second building, she said.

O'Reilly estimates the school will need a third building to accommodate the growth within four years. The building would house a gymnasium, auditorium and more, she said. When the campus is completed O'Reilly said she envisions a play field and a pavilion in addition to the third building.

The school has begun fundraising internally for the new building and also has a Foundations First Fund, but those funds are largely used to run the school, she said.

O'Reilly said the fundraising could take upward of three years, meaning the school has to get started soon to have the third building operational in four years.

"We want to do it strategically," O'Reilly said about the planning and fundraising for the future land use. "We are not doing this for next year, but for 10, 20 and 30 years down the road. We are trying to create a community that will endure."

O'Reilly said she is surprised at how quickly the school has taken root and built a solid foundation in the area.

"In my experience it really takes about four to five years to establish a school and have it running on its own," she said. "We are really already there. We are growing so fast. It is a great problem to have."

Four Houses

The International School of Texas separates all its students, ranging in age from 2 1/2 to sixth grade, into four houses. Unlike Harry Potter, students won't find themselves wearing a sorting hat but are separated into houses named after iconic figures such as Winston Churchill, Lewis Carroll, Alexander Fleming and Florence Nightingale.

British education

The school uses a highly customized curriculum built on the standard of the British National Curriculum and is in the early stages of receiving its International Baccalaureate accreditation. The BNC and IB styles of learning provide the school with the education level students need to achieve, but not how to reach that level, Headmistress Grainne O'Reilly said.

"We really want to customize the learning experience for every child," she said. "We are not teaching to the middle. We see education as a continuum. There are not class ceilings.

"We don't want children to change," she said. "We want them to remain the same but to shine brighter."