The Saturday School
There are now five co-educational international schools: Dulwich College Shanghai, Dulwich College Beijing, Dulwich College Suzhou, Dulwich College Seoul and Dulwich College Singapore. In addition, the College has worked with DCMI to establish two high schools for Chinese boys and girls to study IGCSE and A level courses in preparation for entry to top universities in the US and the UK. These programmes are located at schools in Zhuhai and Suzhou. ‘Dulwich College (Singapore) opened in August 2014 with 886 students and 150 members of staff. The first British independent school to open in Singapore, it has been very well received and ably supported by the Alleyn Club network in Singapore, with Anil Scott (OA 1986-91) a frequent visitor and a number of OAs having enrolled their children. On Remembrance Sunday the Alleyn Club and Dulwich College (Singapore) laid a joint wreath at Kranji War cemetery to honour and remember the OAs who have made the ultimate sacrifice in military campaigns in the Far East.’ Nick Magnus, Headmaster of Dulwich College (Singapore) In 2014 there are some 6,000 students across the partnership schools. Close links with the College are established, from student links to teacher visits. All partnership schools are inspected annually by the College. In recent years, a number of teachers from the College have gone on to work in the partnership schools as one aim for all staff involved at the College and the partnership schools is to be able to develop their careers within the Dulwich Family. Many of the projects developed involve all the Dulwich schools, from performing arts to Mandarin, and sports to early years education, thus allowing all the schools to benefit from the membership of a wide group of schools. An exciting new initiative is a Dulwich Olympiad that will be held in China in March 2015. It has a focus upon Sport and Music. Students from all that Dulwich schools, including more than 100 from London, will take part in workshops, concerts and competitions. Plans for a second Olympiad have started and this will be held in London as part of the College’s quatercentenary in 2019.
The Saturday School has flourished at Dulwich College for more than 20 years. It is operated under the auspices of Southwark Community Education Council (SCEC), a separate charity whose governance was re-organised in 2014 to tie in more closely the support of the three Dulwich Foundation Schools: JAGS, Alleyn’s and Dulwich College. SCEC raises money in its own right for the Saturday schemes, which are held at the three Foundation Schools and provide free booster and enrichment classes on Saturday mornings for some 165 pupils from local Southwark primary schools. The aim of the scheme at the College is to improve the confidence of pupils in Year 6 in preparation for their transition to secondary school by giving them experience of subject-specific lessons in, for example, Science and Drama, taught by qualified subject specialists. Southwark Schools Learning Partnership Here the College works with JAGS, Alleyn’s and seven maintained secondary schools in the London Borough of Southwark. The focus is upon delivering a rich and varied continuing professional development programme for teaching staff and events that involve students from all the schools. In the case of the latter, there are annual meetings around Music, Drama and Sport. Often a two-term project is developed as well, a recent example being an exploration of the value of ‘student voice’. Overseas Partnerships The College has established a worldwide charter with a company in China called Dulwich College Management International (DCMI). Through this agreement currently seven schools have been opened. The partnership is a strong one, drawing from the ethos of the College to its holistic approach to education, from its objective to achieve academic excellence, to the traditions and style of the College in London. Firm links are also established between the 10,000+ alumni from all the Dulwich schools – often referred to as the Dulwich Family of schools – to provide all former students with international contacts in almost all major professions.
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