[1] Uplands occupies a five-and-a-half-acre site near to the sea in the tourist area of Batu Ferringhi, approximately eleven kilometres from George Town.

Year 7 to 11 students wear green polo shirts with khaki skirts or trousers, while sixth formers only need to adhere to a black/white dress code.

During this time the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) were waging a guerrilla war focused on crippling Malaya's economy by sabotaging rubber and oil palm estates, as well as tin mines.

As the violence throughout the peninsula intensified the Executive Council of the Incorporated Society of Planters (ISP) set in motion a plan for a school in a secure location where they could educate their young children.

As the school bell rang and classes began 2000 ft above sea level, accessible only by rickety funicular, the turmoil of the Emergency must have seemed a world away.

In 1972, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Penang Hill as part of their Malaysia and Singapore tour.

The Uplands community turned out in full force to welcome the Royal Highnesses who happily spent their time mingling and chatting with students and staff.

With the Communist threat now extinguished, the time had come for the school to move out of its isolation and bring its brand of quality education to the wider Penang community.

The move to sea level went without a hitch and on 11 September 1977, the boarding house opened its doors, with lessons at the Kelawai Road campus beginning a day later.

The new school had access to a huge sports field for regular and interschool matches, and the boarders were now allowed out on excursions to parks, movies and concerts.

- P.E Drury (Principal 1972-1984)The rapid expansion of the 1980s involved some ingenuity on the School's part as it renovated and changed buildings to meet its expanding needs.

The imposing Novitiate, behind the Senior building, was a former training institute run by the La Salle Brothers and had been unoccupied for 17 years.

The "Big Move" took place in 1988 was a typical Uplands community affair as staff and senior pupils took the day off to pack up the School and cart boxes across the field to St Joseph's Novitiate.

In academic matters, Uplands was also making huge strides befitting its position as one of the oldest and most established international schools in Penang and Malaysia.

For half a century, from its establishment right up until 2006, Uplands had always been housed in leased buildings, a situation that had deprived the school of a sense of permanence.