NEWS | Wednesday, 30 January 2008

St Edward’s to re-open Sixth Form doors

Boarding also in the pipeline

By the start of the next scholastic year, a new boarding facility catering for sixth formers shall be available to those interested in obtaining an international baccalaureate diploma at St Edward’s College.
The boarding house shall be constructed in partnership with an established English language school in order to allow the premises to cater for students of English in summer months and Sixth Formers in winter.
In order to ensure feasibility, as Chairman of the St Edward’s Board of Governors Alfred Mangion suggests in an interview featured in this edition of Business Today, the new Sixth Form will be mostly targeting international students, Turkish ones in particular.
In 2005, the independent college had announced closure of its old Sixth Form doors due to dwindling numbers of post-secondary students enrolled.

Now under the headship of New Zealander Michael Chittenden, the college’s new sixth form is in discussion with the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme in order to have the educational programme offered in its new facility.
IB is regarded as a leading university entrance course. It is taught in 2,075 schools, often in international schools, in 125 countries all around the world. More than half of the schools offering the Diploma Programme are state funded schools. The programme, administered by the International Baccalaureate Organisation, is the most widely recognized pre-university educational programme. However, it remains less popular than nationally affiliated preparatory programs in most countries, such as that of the Advanced Placement examination system in the United States and Canada, the A-level in the United Kingdom, the HSC (higher school certificate) in Australia or Advanced Highers system in Scotland.