Kolej Yayasan Saad was established in 1995 by Tan Sri Halim Saad, a successful entrepreneur. It began with his personal conviction to build a school to provide quality secondary education for the potentially quality Bumiputera students of diverse backgrounds.

Besides, the establishment of KYS is also a way for Tan Sri to pay tribute to his late father and a goodwill gesture for the government. With his personal revenues lay ready to hand, a 131 acres piece of land at Ayer Keroh, Melaka was purchased and developed to be what we see today, the KYS campus.
The ground breaking ceremony to commence the construction of the school was officiated by the then Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on 19 January 1995.

The then Director of Renong Education Centre (REC), Mr. Rozalli Noordin, who himself is a highly knowledgeable educationist, was the man behind the concept and responsible for the construction of the school, which took a record four months to complete.

In the early days, the KYS administration office was at the Renong Education Centre, Faber Towers, Jalan Kelang Lama, Kuala Lumpur. On 2 May 1995, the pioneer employees, comprising of seven academic staff-members and five administrative personnel moved in to occupy the KYS campus at Ayer Keroh, though construction work was still in progress.

The first intake of 60 Form 1 scholars (40 boys and 20 girls) who initially had to study in various government schools were transferred to Kolej Yayasan Saad on 25 June 1995. In January 1996, KYS took in the first batch of 60 Form 4 scholars. KYS then opened its doors to non bumiputera students – on 6 January 2000, five Chinese and two Indian students were the first seven non-bumiputera students to register as Form 1 students.

Policies and strategic decision-making lie with the governing body, referred to as the Board of Governors (BOG). Members in the BOG are professionals who are very well versed in quality education. It was the  BOG members who had constructed the vision and mission statements of KYS.

Among the credible BOG members since the inception of the school includes Yang Berbahagia Dato Seri Abdul Shukor Abdullah, ex-Director General of Education, Yang Berbahagia Professor Dato’ Dr. Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid, Director, UNESCO-RCEP, United Arab Emirates and ex-Director of  Aminuddin Baki Institute and Mr. George Anthony Dass David, a lawyer.

It is the able leadership of the members in the BOG that has enabled KYS to stand tall as a leadership school and in providing an all round quality education for its students.

Among the many dignitaries who have visited KYS are Yang Berhormat Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, the fourth Prime Minister and Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Najib  Tun Abdul Razak, the sixth Prime Minister. On 20 November 1998, the KYS Orchestra was launched by Yang Berbahagia Datin Seri Dr. Siti Hasmah bt. Mohamad Ali, wife to the fourth Prime Minister. The launching ceremony together with the orchestra’s first performance was held at the Great Hall of Kolej Yayasan Saad Melaka.

KYS first PMR results in 1998 was the best in the country with 85.9% of its students securing all As. The percentage of straight As in the PMR results kept improving.  In 2007, 2008 and 2009, KYS PMR results were 100% straight As consecutively. The SPM results were equally as impressive with average school grades between 1.50 and 1.33 from 2004 to 2008. The school average grade for the SPM 2009 result under the new grading system was 0.58, putting KYS as the Number 1 school in the nation.

KYS received the national awards from the Ministry of Education, Malaysia for Best PMR and Best SPM results in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, KYS won several national awards again – ‘Anugerah Kecemerlangan Akademik’, ‘Anugerah Kecemerlangan Ko-Kurikulum’ and ‘Anugerah Sekolah Cemerlang SPM 2003’ under the Secondary School, Private Education Institute Category.

KYS international linkage are friendly rugby games, student exchange, academic exchange, cultural exchange and communication exchange. The first international linkage started in 2003 with Vajiravudh College, Thailand through a student exchange programme. Students of KYS were involved in a cultural exchange with the  Venezuelans during the launching of Venezuela Week in 2009. Other international linkage includes a day activity with schools from Australia, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia.

All KYS students were fully sponsored by Yayasan Saad until 2008. The status of fully sponsored students was then reviewed due to expansion plans. From 2010, all new students who enroll into KYS have to pay fees.  However, we have a scholars list meant for students of humble socio-economic background. KYS will continue to serve the nation to produce quality human capital.