▲ Branksome Hall Canada Principal Karen Murton, left, JDC CEO Byun Jong Il, center, and Jeju Governor Woo Keun Min prepare to officially launch the groundbreaking, June 30. Photo courtesy Jeju Special Self-Governing Province

Spectators took refuge from the rain under a large tent on June 30 during the groundbreaking ceremony for Branksome Hall Asia, the second international school to start construction in the Jeju Global Education City (JGEC) in Daejung, Seogwipo City.

The school is set to open in September, 2012, in an area of 94,955 m2 that will contain the main teaching facilities, dorm rooms, a swimming pool, a gymnasium, and a hockey rink. At full capacity it will be home to 1,200 students. The facilities will account for 82,000 m2 of the total area.

Branksome Hall, located in Toronto, Ontario, is one of Canada’s most renowned private girls’ schools. It has over a 100-year history and a reputation of 100 percent of its students being accepted to university, with 95 percent of them receiving scholarships. Branksome Hall Asia expects to continue its tradition on Jeju by fostering globally-minded leaders.

“Our new campus will enable more Korean students to obtain a quality ... education, in English, without leaving Korean soil. Branksome Hall Asia will reflect the very best of [the school’s] programs and philosophy,” said Karen Murton, principal of Branksome Hall Canada during her speech at the event.

“Branksome Hall is now officially one remarkable school with two remarkable campuses: one situated in the heart of Toronto, and the other on this beautiful island, Jeju,” she said, continuing that this new school will “share the mission and traditions of its sister school. At the same time it will honor the unique culture and environment of Jeju Island.”

All students that attend Branksome Hall Asia, like its Canadian sister school, will be taught under the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, which enables students to apply for first-rate universities like those of the Ivy League in the US and Oxford and Cambridge in Britain. There will also be an exchange program between the two schools which will give students the opportunity to study in Canada and vice versa.

The purpose of the JGEC is to combat the South Korean trend of parents sending their children abroad to obtain an international education in English, an action that sees millions of dollars a year leave the country and causes a great deal of stress within families that have sent their children abroad.

“This program is not only a part of teaching English to teenagers, but it is also a process of building the whole island into an English system,” Vice Minister of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs Han Man Hee said during the ceremony, stressing the importance of the JGEC in helping to establish the island as an international city. He continued that the government will put forth even more effort to help bring this goal to fruition and that “we need help from everyone on the island” to promote its culture and economy and to continue contributing with “passion and effort.”

After congratulatory speeches, a video highlighting the accomplishments of Branksome Hall Canada and what its branch school will mean to Jeju, and a performance by the KBS Girls Choir dressed in Branksome Hall colors, the official breaking of the ground was underway. Members of the Jeju Free International City Development Center, JGEC and officials from Branksome Hall Canada, with the help of the KBS Girls Choir, simultaneously pushed buttons that released a shower of fireworks, celebrating the establishment of the school, as construction workers looked on.

▲ Officials from Branksome Hall, the JGEC, and members of the provincial and national governments, and with help from the KBS Girls Choir set off fireworks with a push of a button announcing the start of construction for Branksome Hall Asia on Jeju. Photo courtesy Jeju Special Self-Governing Province

The JGEC will be completed by 2015 and house 23,000 people including 9,000 students and 12 international schools. The entire project will cost 1.78 trillion won (US$1.67 billion) in an area of 3.9 km2.