Progress at the College

I have just paid my second visit to the interior of the extension to the teaching block. Thisthree-storey building is due to be commissioned in September 2005. Already the place feels like a part of the College, with light and airy rooms currently in the final stages of being fitted-out. The extension to the Classroom Block will contain 15 new classrooms, a resources centre for teachers and a double-classroom art studio. The departments teaching English, Geography, Art and History will transfer into these buildings, and two of the classrooms will be fitted out as ‘mini’ laboratories. This will bring the total number of laboratories at the College to eight.

Near the teaching block extension an area of land (currently being used as the builders' yard) will become a 25-place car park. The construction of the car park meant that the well-established College pond had to be moved, and this has been done most ingeniously by moving the pond up the hillside towards the wooded area at the rear of our campus. The area should prove a popular location for both frogs and students!

Whilst all this is going on, work is proceeding with the planning of a second girls' house. The cash for this project, as yet, does not exist, but the Governors are hoping to proceed to gain permission from the local authorities, and then start trying to raise the funds. On the main campus, once the new teaching block is completed, the final major building required will be a multi-purpose hall. This is needed to accommodate our public examinations, assemblies, concerts, plays, indoor sports and so on. Again the money for this project does not yet exist, but the whole College is hopeful that the final link in the development of the main campus will soon be on its way.

The College student population reached 139 during the summer term, equalling the all-time record. Registrations for both the summer programme (Fourth Term) and for the main course in September are looking very promising at this stage.

The College teachers are also up-grading their qualifications. So far a dozen teachers have been awarded the Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Cert TESOL) joining the seven who already held this qualification. Another teacher of English has achieved his Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and next term two more teachers will have sabbatical terms in order to upgrade their qualifications. At the same time six further members of staff will be studying for the Certificate of TESOL. The achievement of these hard-working teachers will help keep the College at the forefront of schools of its kind!

Dr Christopher Greenfield – Principal

International College
Sherborne School
Newell Grange
Sherborne
Dorset DT9 4EZ, U.K.

Tel
+44 (0) 1935 814743
Fax
+44 (0) 1935 816863
e-mail:
reception@sherborne-ic.net
www.sherborne-ic.net

Sherborne School is a registered Charity No 306219. The International College, Sherborne School is a living
institution and changes may be
introduced to the arrangements described in this newsletter from time to time.
The newsletter therefore does not constitute in whole or in part any form of contract between the International
College, its pupils or their parents.

ICOSA ~ Contact the College Office • F: +44 (0) 1935 816863 • E: info@icosa.org

Hi from Mr Hardaker....

This academic year has seen me fortunate enough to be able to travel widely, visiting Berlin, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Tokyo. Although I have not organised any formal International College get-togethers this year, as always it has given me great pleasure to meet up with some of our old students whilst on my travels. Special thanks must be given to Colin Cheng who very kindly helped me at the Mentor exhibition at the Sheraton Hotel in Kowloon and then showed me one of the best places to eat in Wanchai! Similar thanks must also be given to Ta Chung Lin and Kenji and Takashi Nakamura (not forgetting their father who as always was excellent company) for entertaining me so well whilst I was in Tokyo. Ta Chung in particular was a great help, not only helping me navigate my way from Narita Airport, but also in being such a good friend whilst I was out there.

Indeed it was a great pleasure, along with all the other students who came back this year to the International College, to see Ta Chung with his wife Charice visit the College after such a long time. Ta Chung joined the College in 1979 (incidentally, exactly the same year as me!) and was amazed at the changes that had occurred.

Despite the changes, I was able to hunt out some of his favourite old places, such as the School sports hall, the swimming pool and dining hall as well as to visit the sports pitches where we used to play football in the winter and make a brave effort to play cricket in the summer.

Many, many thanks to everyone. I hope you are all well and successful in whatever you are doing and I look forward to seeing some more of you next year.

With my best wishes

Phil Hardaker – Vice Principal

..... and from Mr Walters

Since the last newsletter, we have received a wonderful gift of photographs and other memorabilia from Mrs Yvonne Forbes, whom many of
you will remember as Matron. The photographs cover a period of 10 years from 1987 and there are so many of them that we have decided to make a real feature of them in this issue. We are very grateful to Mrs Forbes for this gift, which is a splendid and valuable resource archive for a period which covers the transition from the Study Centre at Greenhill House to The International College at Newell Grange.

If you feature in the photographs, (or indeed if the photographs stir up your own memories) and have not yet registered as a member of ICOSA, please visit our website www. icosa.org and do so. It really does help us to keep in touch with you.Remember that, because of our law (The Data Protection Act), we cannot give you any information about former students at The College unless they too have registered. I often have to disappoint people because of this. So, if you have friends and you know they have not yet registered, PLEASE encourage them to do so. It costs nothing and is helpful both for you and us.