Canadian boarding school opens on Jeju

Glen Radojkovich, principal of Branksome Hall Asia, speaks at the school’s opening ceremony on its campus in Jeju Global Education City, Monday. The campus is the first overseas campus of the prestigious Canadian girls’ school, Branksome Hall. (Photo : Branksome Hall Asia)

Branksome Hall Asia (BHA) will play a key role in cultivating successful young female leaders, said the principal of the prestigious Canadian girls’ school’s first overseas campus on Jeju Island.

“We will inspire students to find their own remarkable talents, empower them to make their dreams become realities, and compel our students to take their place in shaping the world,” Principal Glen Radojkovich, said at the school’s opening ceremony on Monday.

BHA opened in Jeju Global Education City on Oct. 15. As the first and only overseas campus, it reflects the educational philosophies and systems its main campus in Canada has maintained for 110 years.

At the campus, stretching over 95,000 square meters, students live and learn in state-of-the-art facilities. It currently has 310 students enrolled.

Students are studying under the international baccalaureate (IB) program which is provided across all age-ranges, from kindergarten to grade 12. The school also provides grade 9 students with a chance to study at the Toronto campus through an exchange program.

BHA is the second private international school to open in Jeju Global Education City, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province’s specially designated 3.79-million-square-meter area, following North London Collegiate School Jeju.

The opening of these schools is part of the Jeju Global City Project run by the Jeju Free International City Development Center (JDC). The project aims to attract students who wish to study abroad, in order to prevent the rising number of students leaving the country.

Student and parent responses

Yoon Soo-kyung, a student in grade 10, attended a girls’ boarding school in the United Kingdom before she came to BHA.

“Although the two schools have many similarities, the nice thing about attending BHA is that I am closer to my parents who are living in Seoul. Although I am living on campus away from my parents, the dormitory teachers provide us with guidance. And since the school is in Korea, I am able to have Korean food at the school cafeteria, which I missed having in the U.K.,” said 15-year-old Yoon.

“Another great aspect is that I can get a Korean high school diploma when I graduate. This allows me to apply to a Korean university,” said Yoon who is aiming to go to university in Korea. Currently only one out of three international schools in the nation has its curriculum certified as equivalent to those of Korean high schools.

For parents who wish their children to receive education abroad, having their them attend BHA can have several benefits.

“First, the cost of sending my daughter abroad is slashed to one third. Also, not having to send my child alone to a faraway country is very assuring. Lastly, the curriculum at BHA encourages students to think and share their ideas in an environment that provides positive support,” said Kim Eun-ji, whose daughter is a fourth grader at the school.

“The reason why we did not select other international schools which provide similar benefits is because my daughter had not filled their requirements of gaining experience of living abroad. BHA offers a greater pool of students the opportunity to study at foreign schools,” she said.

Overcoming obstacles

Although students who are enrolled at the school are those who have sufficiently proven that their level of English is good enough to take classes taught in the language, because English is a second language for most of them, obstacles are bound to arise.

The school is utilizing digital technology to help students overcome language difficulties. The classes are recorded through a video recording system, so that students are able to review their classes in the evening and also go back to certain parts of classes before taking tests.

All of the classes taught with the exception of the Korean language and Korean history are instructed in English and the school provides an environment that enables immersion in the language. Students however, are not prevented from practicing their mother tongue.

The school offers an exchange program for grade 9 students who are able to study at Branksome Hall Canada.

Future plans

The initial plan was to have 12 elementary, middle and high schools altogether in Jeju Global Education City. But since the schools that have opened are each composed of students from all three levels, JDC will invite just one more international school, according to its Chairman Byon Jong-il.

“Our plan is to establish one school from each of the representative English-speaking countries ― the U.K., the U.S. and Canada,” he said.

“We are now in the process of talking with several American schools, to have the last school take its place here.”

By 2015, JDC aims to have some 9,000 students attending the institutions in Jeju Global Education City, said Byon.

The city is expected to reduce the nation’s educational trade deficit, which has been snowballing as large numbers of students continue to leave the country to study abroad.

According to JDC, when the English-immersion education town is completed in 2015, up to $600 million on sending young students to foreign countries for studying can be saved.

In the meantime, the center will continue to commit to building a strong international education city.

“We are dedicated to making the city the educational hub of the Asia-Pacific region,” said Byon.