when isq began in the fall of 1996, there were eight students in kindergarten through fourth grade. the school was housed in three classrooms with an office and restrooms on the second floor of the back wing of the no. 1 middle school of high tech park. the school grew to thirteen students by the end of the first academic year, and by the end of the second year, the growing student population necessitated that the school relocate. in august 1998, isq moved to the fourth floor of the children's club at the qingdao children's activity center, no. 6 donghai road. the steady increase in enrollment required the school once more to acquire more classroom and office space at the activity center.