On Sept. 9 the prestigious UK-based King’s School Rochester (King’s Rochester), signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Jeju Free International City Development Center (JDC), officially becoming the third overseas private school to join the Jeju Global Education City (JGEC).
The MOU signing was held at the school’s main campus in the UK during a ceremony attended by JDC Chief Director Byon Jong Il, King’s Rochester Headmaster Dr. Ian Walker, school governor John Lord, and staff.
Following North London Collegiate School (NLCS) Jeju, Korea International School (KIS) Jeju, and Branksome Hall Asia, King’s Rochester marks as the fourth school (the third from overseas) set to open in the JGEC.
The MOU is a more specified version of the letter of intent that was submitted by King’s Rochester on Aug. 19. It states that after revising the establishment and administration plan, the two parties will discuss the exact site of the school on the JGEC grounds.
The terms are different to agreements signed with the previous schools. Unlike the other schools (classified as Stage 1 model schools), as a Stage 2 model school, King’s Rochester will have to buy the land from the JDC, pay construction costs, and will carry out overall administrative responsibility, which could be seen as a way to attract investment to Jeju.
Originally a Cathedral foundation school, King’s Rochester came into being in 1541 on the orders of King Henry VIII. Located in Rochester, Kent, approximately an hour away from London, it is the second oldest school in the world and the oldest choir school, holding 600 pupils with ages ranging from three to 18.
Of all of King’s students, 99 percent go on to university with 40 percent of those going to one of the top 20 universities in the UK. Last year, its pupils achieved a 100 percent pass rate on all A-Level subjects, ranking fifth in the top 200 independent schools in London and in South East England.
JDC Edu-City Department Director Lee Sung Ho told The Jeju Weekly that the headmaster and others from King’s Rochester visited Jeju in 2009 and the school then kept in intermittent contact with JDC. As the JGEC project extended its reach, with NLCS finalizing their agreement to open a school here, King’s Rochester approached the JDC again around April of this year. Lee said he thinks the combined agreements with NLCS-Jeju, Branksome Hall Asia, and KIS Jeju had a significant impact on King’s Rochester decision to sign the MOU.
Lee said that the new King’s Rochester campus is most likely to be a co-ed school from pre-preparatory to senior level like the King’s Rochester in the UK. The school will run GCSEs, in this case IGCSEs, and A-Levels. However, when asked whether the school will keep a traditional curric-ulum like its parent school in the UK, Lee said that since the school will not be in the UK it has to alter its curriculum to meet the demands of sending students to US universities. He said that the school is looking into the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, but this has yet to be determined.
The next step will be the submission of the school’s establishment plan to the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Office of Education. Once approved, the school can begin negotiating contracts to buy land from the JDC and start the school s construction.
Currently, the JDC is negotiating with St. Albans as a Stage 1 model school. Originally, the JDC planned to build 10 schools in the JGEC. However, as the schools set to open in the JGEC were accepting students from kindergarten to graduating years and required more land than originally anticipated, the JGEC will establish six to seven schools. Currently, with three schools set to open in the JGEC, Lee said the JGEC project is “about half finished.” <Jeju Weekly>
<Oh Ji Su editor@jejuweekly.comⓒ Jeju Weekly All rights reserved>
