Dulwich College Seoul, a new addition to the Korean international education landscape, has just started its second school year. With direct links to the 400 year-old Dulwich College in London and located in Seocho-gu, Dulwich College Seoul provides an enhanced English National Curriculum to students from 35 different nationalities.
This year the school has proved to be so popular that it has expanded its enrolment from 250 to over 400 students, which is all part of its commitment to provide a continuous education for Dulwich students from 18 months to 18 years, including plans to open a new Senior School.
Despite just completing its first year, the school has already brought a rich educational and co-curricular offering to its young students. Boasting an experienced and highly qualified international teaching staff, the school is well positioned to deliver on its promise of a truly inspiring and rich education.
The Dulwich Colleges have a proven model of success particularly in terms of academic excellence; recent Dulwich Senior School graduates from Beijing and Shanghai have matriculated to such prestigious academic institutions as Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Dartmouth, and John Hopkins University, again building on the Dulwich College London reputation where one in eight students are accepted into Oxford, Cambridge or the Ivy league universities.
Dulwich College Seoul will follow on this tradition of academic excellence by offering in the near future a full International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) program leading to the International Baccalaureate (IB) degree program.
Sport plays an important role at the College. Football trips to Phuket in Thailand, taking part in competitions with its sister schools in China and hosting basketball and football competitions on its own campus, are all part of everyday life for a Dulwich College Seoul student.
Following on from its heritage in the arts - Dulwich College London was founded by the famous Shakespearean actor Edward Alleyn - Dulwich College Seoul takes great pride in exposing students to world class instructors as witnessed by the hosting of the 'Three Clarinets'tour in March this year.
This particular tour provided the students with Master Classes from such distinguished practitioners as Linda Merrick, vice-principal of the Royal Northern College of Music in the U.K., and Yi He, one of China's leading woodwind musicians and Chair of the Woodwind Department at the China Conservatory of Music.
However, it is not just in the classroom that Dulwich College Seoul is excelling. Daryl Orchard, headmaster, has also been a strong proponent of engaging the local community.
“We are very grateful to be part of the community in Seocho-gu. Our teachers teach a variety of activities to about 40 low income children in Yeongdeungpo Community Welfare Centers,” Orchard said. “Our bus picks up the children visit our school for sports, science, music and art programs. For us these activities are all a key part of delivering an educational experience based on our four core pillars of academic excellence, the arts, sports and community engagement.”
“Being part of an international family of schools with Colleges in London, Shanghai, Suzhou and Beijing really adds an extra dimension to our students' education, with school trips and exchanges to rich cultural destinations like Beijing and Austria, to work with the Vienna Boys Choir. These linkages also have educational benefits as evidenced by our Mandarin programme, which is based on a proven and highly developed curriculum from our sister schools in China. Our teachers enjoy professional development opportunities by interacting with their colleagues in the U.K. and China, whether it be in the arts, sports or academic activities.”
On Nov. 18, 2010 edition, The Korea Times reported that Dulwich College Seoul bribed district office staffers in exchange for favors to attract funding for the construction of a basement parking lot under the school building, citing unnamed sources.
However, the sources failed to substantiate their allegations, and it was found that no officials from the school were directly or indirectly involved in bribing district staffers.
This finding is consistent with the school's position that the allegations were not true.