Action overseas

As well as welcoming international students, Scottish schools are looking to expand abroad

International trips, student exchanges and overseas staff have become key tools in Scotland’s independent schools for developing an outwardlooking curiosity and requisite language skills in pupils to broaden their cultural horizons and maybe even prepare for a global career.

In August, 20 schoolgirls from Malawi visited Erskine Stewart’s Melville Schools (ESMS) in Edinburgh for the first time.

The girls’ Mary Erskine School at ESMS supports the Chesney Trust, which was set up in 2006 and has built and runs Edinburgh Girls’ High School, a boarding facility for female pupils in Engcongolweni, a village about 230 miles north of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi.

Linda Moule, principal of ESMS, explains: “They wear the Mary Erskine kilt and our girls go out to visit every two years.

“Two years ago, the girls were building bricks for an extension to a classroom. I do not think brick-building was on their agenda, but they got such a lot out of it.

“It is not just an exotic trip, they learn about the culture, language and food.

“Malawi is obviously a very different setting and the pupils need to have some sensitivity and cultural awareness, so that is what we are teaching those girls.”

The group from Malawi stayed for five weeks over the summer and even took part in a dancing display at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

If a school has boarding provision, then it is truly an international organisation, according to John Edward, director of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools.

He says: “Mainland China and Hong Kong are always the two biggest markets for boarders coming into our schools, but as the world changes, you see countries moving up from Central Asia, the Sahara and Africa.

“There is that pure side of boarding, but even for day schools – particularly ones in big economic centres like Edinburgh and Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen – one of the offers that employers are making to people to encourage them to come and work here is the education provision.

“What we are now seeing for the first time is Scottish schools opening up overseas that support the Scottish education model, ethos and heritage.

“We have Merchiston opening in China this year, Fettes College opening a school in China this time next year and Craigclowan Preparatory School announcing a China partnership.”

Merchiston Castle School opened a school in Shenzhen, China, in August. It has been built to accommodate 1,200 boys and girls aged between five, and 18 and more than 80 per cent of the teaching staff are from the UK.

Headmaster Jonathan Anderson maintains that Scottish education is the envy of the world. He says: “You just need to look at the universities in Scotland to see the number of overseas students who come. They

International links have always been important to the independent schools sector

want to experience the quality education that we have to offer.

“Independent education is no different, and we do have a healthy overseas community within Merchiston, Edinburgh. There was an opportunity to export that DNA to China and take all our strong values to another setting.

“We have an international identity already within Edinburgh, but we have a very strong community out in China who have experienced the benefit from that education and they want to tap into that.”

The new Shenzhen school will allow more people from Scotland and China to share ideas and experiences – not to mention more student exchanges.

These links and international collaborations enrich the experiences of each individual pupil involved and perhaps open their eyes to global career possibilities.

The Compass School in Haddington, East Lothian’s only independent primary school, can point to a tie up with an overseas school where both institutions worked together to benefit pupils.

Head Mark Becher says: “We had a member of staff from a school in Spain spend a sabbatical year with us. [Consequently] we built a relationship with [Guadalquivir Primary and Infant School in Cadiz, Spain] and over time produced a joint newspaper called The Guadaltyne.

“It was named after the Guadalquivir river that goes through their town and the River Tyne through ours.

“The pupils worked collaboratively, which is really important for us to be able to do.”

He says that the Compass School also maintains links with former pupils who work globally.

He adds: “People don’t see their employment prospects as being limited to this country, and they are willing to travel to work abroad because that is very much part of what we do these days.”

Many parents choose their offspring’s school based on the curriculum and co-curricular activities, both of which include experiencing other countries.

For instance, elsewhere in East Lothian, pupils at Loretto School in Musselburgh are preparing for an expedition to Greenland next year, where they will trek, mountain climb and go on glacial accents.

It will be the fifth outing for the Loretto Borealis Expeditionary Society and the adventure will have a focus on self-sufficiency.

Meanwhile, schools that follow the International Baccalaureate curriculum are part of a network of 4,000 institutions worldwide, one of which is St Leonards School in St Andrews, Fife. Head Dr Michael Carslaw says: “That means we carry out a range of online exchanges with schools across the world, including Canada, Europe, Australia.

“We have expeditions abroad – for example, every two years, our drama students go to New York to experience Broadway.

“We also do sports tours, so our golfers have just been to Japan.

“There are all kinds of interesting trips going on and we embrace that internationalism because that is the world we are living in.

“We have around 30 nationalities in the school and so it is a really diverse group of people and we celebrate that.”

Meanwhile, at Ardvreck School in Crieff, groups of pupils celebrate summer with a month at the Chateau de la Baudonniere in northwest France to help bring French language and culture to life.

Head Ali Kinge says: “From a cultural perspective, it is really beneficial for our pupils because they gain fruitful and long-term friendships.

“We do have British children whose parents do work abroad in Dubai, for example, or who are pilots or in the army. That adds a bit of international flavour.”

John Edward adds: “International links have always been important to the independent schools sector, in terms of giving pupils the best education possible, right down to having as many language assistants as we can.

“Having as many teachers, probationers, and gap-year students coming from all parts of the world gives that different perspective.”