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Prestigious British school to open Singapore campus
Published on Feb 08, 2013
An artist's impression of Dulwich College, which will open in Bukit Batok next year. The school will start with 400 to 500 students from ages two to 14 and expand to 2,500 in the next few years. -- PHOTO: DULWICH COLLEGE (SINGAPORE)
By Sandra Davie Senior Writer
SINGAPORE'S status as an education hub will move up another notch when the local campus of prestigious British independent school Dulwich College opens in August next year.
The London-based school will start with 400 to 500 students from ages two to 14 on a 5ha Bukit Batok campus and expand the number to 2,500 over the next few years.
The target students will be mainly children of expatriates here. Singaporeans must get approval from the Ministry of Education to enrol.
The 394-year-old Dulwich, which has campuses in Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou and Seoul, will offer an enhanced British curriculum and prepare students to sit the International General Certificate of Secondary Education and the International Baccalaureate diploma at age 18.
Mr Nick Magnus, headmaster-designate, said there will also be an emphasis on Mandarin. Children aged two to seven will have a full bilingual education where they will be co-taught by two teachers in English and Mandarin.
In the junior school years till age 11, they will have daily Mandarin classes.
Said Mr Magnus who used to head Dulwich in Suzhou, China: "Proficiency in Mandarin opens doors. Parents see the value in it and are very keen on their children learning Mandarin."
Fees will be similar to those charged by high-end international schools - above $20,000 a year.
Dulwich's entry will go some way to ease the crunch on international school places. A few years ago, the problem became acute enough for foreign business chambers to warn that it was a stumbling block for international firms looking to set up here.
Market research shows that there are about 40,000 students in more than 30 international schools here. Four years ago, the number was 32,000 students.
The Economic Development Board (EDB), which launched its third Request for Interest exercise to award state land for foreign schools last year, said then that it continued to see demand for places in such schools as foreign firms boosted their presence here.
This demand was most apparent five years ago when many of these schools were full or had waiting lists. The Government began releasing more land for such schools in 2008 and 2010.
Though the situation has eased somewhat since 2008, several schools said they continue to face a space crunch. One of them is Stamford American International which opened last August.
It already has more than 1,000 students and has launched the second phase of its campus development in Upper Serangoon which will allow it to take in up to 2,500 students.
Some expatriates have also resorted to sending their children to international schools such as Marlborough College in Johor.
Yesterday, an EDB spokesman said it anticipates that the Dulwich school will be able to "meet market demand for quality education, especially among British expatriates".
Briton Alex Houghton, 40, who works in the finance industry, agreed to take up his firm's offer to move here only after he heard about Dulwich opening a campus here. "I've two young children and it is important that they get a good education.
"I'm also very keen on my kids learning Mandarin as I believe it will be a very marketable skill."
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