Morna International College

Home

Morna Valley goes to 'big' school

A school starts with a classroom, a teacher and a pupil and with any luck grows to a sufficient size to justify putting up a sign outside. This is not to remind pupils where to go, as that first visit to school for any child is an unforgettable experience. It is to attract the attention of other parents whose children require education, thus enabling the school to expand in size and facilities.

On the face of it the move from Morna Valley to Santa Gertrudis is a major milestone in this school's achievements and development. Now 30 years of age, Morna International College is celebrating adulthood.

We went to admire the new premises and to find out how well the less visible aspects of the school were improving. A lot has changed.

That cuddly, old, leaking rabbit warren of a school building with its idiosyncratic, often hilarious, occasionally dangerous car park is gone. School will no longer close on rainy days when the 'valley' floods. All have removed to their palatial, brand new hilltop campus by Santa Gertrudis - and its 32,000 square metres look very impressive too.

The building project is not yet complete, but the facilities already in place far outweigh the inconvenience of having workmen putting final touches to the ongoing third phase of construction. That final phase will see the new kindergarten completed by January and, over the coming months, a half-size football pitch for the juniors, a full-size version alongside and, by September 2005, a separate assembly hall housing facilities for dance, drama, gymnastics and music.

The most imposing change from those 'good old days' is the arrival of serious sports facilities, which might fairly have been described as non-existent on a rainy day in years gone by. Two huge 2,000 m2 all-weather, multi-sport surfaces provide facilities for football, tennis, basketball, handball, netball, hockey and more. Little wonder there are no bored children during the lunch break!

Inside the school one is immediately struck by the sense of ample light and airy space. Built as ten separate blocks, including 20 classrooms in a woodland setting, a certain ambience of the old school has been retained, however, within the blocks every piece of furniture or equipment is brand new.

So much for the tangibles, what of the bits that go on in the background?

Morna International College is a 'private school', entirely funded by the fees that it receives from parents for educating their children. Lessons are conducted in English, although only some 30% of the students are British.

Development of this project has cost a great deal of money, but has enabled the school to continue with its expansion. There are currently 180 pupils, but the new complex can comfortably cater for 250 and expects that it will be required to do so within the next couple of years. One has to respect the courage of the owner in taking this huge step forward with the overheads incumbent on such an expansion.

There are currently 29 staff, of eleven different nationalities, in order to ensure a maximum class size of 25 (which will never exceed 20 in the nursery). Current class sizes average between 15 and 18 and the age range covered is from 3 to 18. (Full time nursery care from the age of 2 _ will be available from the New Year.)

The school has no Board of Governors, but feels that exercising the various controls required in order to be a member of the National Association of British Schools and fulfilling the requirements to represent three internationally recognised examining boards negates the need for such a body.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say, and in this case the 'pudding' is academic success, normally assessed through examination results. As you might expect in such a multi-cultural environment as Ibiza, and in such a school as this, the language results would be the envy of any college in the world - 100% achieved grades of A-C at O-level in four subjects. 85% achieved A-C grades across the range of subjects but, as headmaster John Fairclough points out, the school does not operate a selection process such as that of UK 6th form colleges. Those of any ability level will be accepted. Indeed students arriving with no grasp of English are offered an intensive personal English programme with specialised teachers till they reach a sufficient level of confidence in English.

On the subject of 6th form colleges we find yet another breakthrough. The school now offers seventeen A-level courses, utilising personal tutors over the internet, to supplement the local support provided by the school. This might sound a little sketchy at first, but cast your mind back to that contrast between formal school and your initiation into the 'college' method of learning. That step requires self-motivation - a desire to think and learn for yourself - to find your own self-respect? With the advent of the internet we're all standing in the same room, in terms of communication, so almost everything is possible now.

OK that's the theory, how do the results look?

They all passed.

And full marks to Morna International College too.