the school's second floor. Al-Thager was the only school in Jeddah to have air conditioning. Curriculum and discipline Coll said that in the 1960s and 1970s Al-Thager "prided itself on its modern curriculum" and that it was the only Saudi school that "could even begin to compare itself to a place like" Brummana High School in Brummana, Lebanon. During that period the school had English instruction provided by many foreign English teachers from England and Ireland. Al-Thager, like other Saudi schools, had religion as a core component in the instruction. At noon, the boys performed zuhr, the Islamic prayer at noontime. Each morning, the school prompted boys in a military-style call of order to assemble in rows. Teachers had canes to discipline boys by striking their feet. Dress code Students wear western-style school uniforms from American and British university preparatory schools; in most Saudi schools for boys, the students wear thawbs and cloth headdresses. In the 1960s and 1970s, students wore white dress shirts with ties, grey trousers, black socks, and black shoes. In winter students wore charcoal-colored blazers. Notable alumni Osama bin Laden attended Al-Thager from 1968 to 1976. Former teachers, Brian Fyfield-Shayler and Seamus O’Brien gave an interview to The New Yorker in which they claimed that they remembered teaching bin Laden at the school. Some of his half-brothers were enrolled at Al-Thager. Ian Hislop attended for at least one year between 1968 and 1976. Sources Coll, Steve. The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century. New York City: The Penguin Press, 2008. References External links Al-Thager Model School 1947 establishments in Saudi Arabia Educational institutions established in 1947 Schools in Jeddah Education in Jeddah Private schools in Saudi Arabia