By Kim Tae-jong
The principal of Branksome Hall, a private girls’ boarding school in Canada, pledges to share the school’s culture and tradition with students in Asia at its new campus in Jeju.
“Branksome Hall Asia will reflect the very best of Branksome’s programs and philosophy,” Karen Murton said in her speech during a ceremony to break ground for the construction of the school on the nation’s largest island.
The establishment of a branch campus of the Canadian school is part of a government-led development project to turn the island into a leading English education hub in Asia.
Scheduled to open next September it will be the first sister campus of Branksome Hall School since its foundation in 1903.
“Branksome Hall Asia will share the mission and traditions, of its sister school. At the same time, it will honor the unique culture and environment of Jeju. Students here will enjoy the same benefits and honors as their counterparts in Toronto,” Murton said.
Murton introduced the school’s old tradition and global approach to education, embedded in its international baccalaureate (IB) program, available for all grades from elementary to high school, as the main attraction and competitiveness of the school.
“We felt that the opportunity to participate in this project could further our school’s mission and vision and that the timing was probably very good for our school, given the number of years we’ve been involved in teaching in the international baccalaureate,” she told reporters after the ceremony.
Murton also reaffirmed that the new campus will facilitate numerous advantages to students and teachers in two different locations.
“I see extraordinary benefits for the girls in Branksome Hall in Canada to learn from another country where their school is established, and in reverse, the opportunity for students of Korea to learn more about the campus in Toronto,” she said.
In addition to the student exchanges in learning, she also believed the faculty at the two schools will be greatly enriched from the partnership and shared programs.
Murton expects a student body of about five to six hundred students in the first year eventually growing to 1,200 students within the next four to five years.
“We’re confident in the number, our experience and our research tells us that schools tend to be larger in Korea and different parts of Asia that this is not an unusual experience to have schools with over one thousand students.”
She admitted the school will be dominated by Korean students in the beginning, but it will change in the coming years as a number of students from around the world have already shown great interest in the school. School officials also plan to actively promote the new school and attract students from other countries.
The school will be built with a gross floor area of 81,525 square meters, including various facilities such as an indoor swimming pool, auditorium, gym, theaters and dormitories.
In the process of recruiting students, school officials will review students’ interest in non-academic areas as well as their academic history and their desire to come to the school through submitted application records and interviews, Murton said.
“In addition to their academics, we look at what a student is interested in her involvement in life outside pure academics as well, because Branksome Hall really believes in a well-rounded education.”
Branksome Hall Asia will be the second private international school in Jeju Global Education City, following North London Collegiate School Jeju, which is slated to start its first semester this fall.
The education city has been under construction with support from the Jeju Free International City Development Center (JDC) which aims to embrace the ever-rising number of students moving abroad to learn English and benefit from global education systems.
The city plan is to comprise of 12 elementary, middle and high schools as well as a separate English education center by 2015.