United World College of South East Asia
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The United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), is a school in Singapore. With around 2500 students, UWCSEA is the largest of the international group of educational institutions which form the United World College (UWC) movement. UWCSEA is quite different from many of its sister colleges in the UWC movement, most of which are wholly boarding institutions which offer only a two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme for mainly scholarship students of around 16-18 years of age.
Since its founding, UWCSEA has offered full secondary school education. In the late 1990s the school expanded further and now also offers primary education. While many students at the school are boarders, the larger majority are children of the expatriate community living in Singapore who do not live in school's boarding facilities. A small percentage of the students at the school come on scholarships from a range of nations such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Australia and Germany. Singapore government policy prevents most Singaporean students from attending international schools within Singapore, and therefore UWCSEA has the smallest percentage of local students of any UWC.
Being part of the UWC movement the school prides itself on its international nature. It has students from over 60 different nations and staff hail from a wide range of countries including the UK, South Africa, Japan and Bulgaria.
UWCSEA also maintains a strong academic reputation, with very high annual pass rates for GCSE and IB examinations.
History of UWCSEA
In 1970, the site on which UWCSEA now stands was occupied by the St John's Army School, run by the British Army. However it was due to be vacated. Lord Mountbatten, then the President of the UWC movement, was keen to set up a United World College in Singapore and the Singapore government was equally keen to have a school for the education of the children of expatriate businessmen.
The parties came to an agreement, and in 1971 the Singapore International School was officially opened by the Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew. The school was designated an associate member of the United World College movement. It subsequently became of full member of the movement and was officially renamed the United World College of South East Asia in 1975.
School Activities
Within Singapore, UWCSEA is well known for its annual Arts Festival. Every year the school puts on a wide and culturally-diverse range of drama and dance productions, music concerts, art exhibitions, and other events to celebrate the arts. United Nations Day is also a major event celebrated at the school each year through cultural performances and an elaborate international food fair. UWCSEA has been host to many well-directed stage productions, including Dancing at Lughnasa, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and more recently Cabaret.
UWCSEA operates an extensive network of 'Global Concerns' projects, run by the students and staff to raise environmental awareness and establish small sustainable development projects in rural areas around the Asian region.
Expeditions out of Singapore are a major emphasis of the school. Most students aged 9 and above are involved in overseas expeditions as part of the school's curriculum.
Students at the school are also involved in a wide variety of social service projects, working with many organizations that help the disadvantaged communities in Singapore.
The school has a wide range of sports facilities such as a 50m swimming pool and training pool, astroturf and grass pitches, tennis courts, two sports halls with basketball/volleyball courts and a gymnasium and fitness centre. It maintains teams in many sports including tennis, netball, rugby, badminton and basketball however there is also the opportunity for students to participate in other sporting activities run by staff such as kickboxing, golf, sailing and canoeing.
Competitively, the school has also acquired a strong reputation on Singapore's inter-school debating circuit in recent years.
UWCSEA also has a strong music department and hence there are various musical ensembles that students can join. The Brass ensemble (brass), the Camerata (strings), the Symphonic band and the Jazz band as well as the orchestra and the different choir groups are all available for participation from all students, however for some auditions are required.
External links
- UWCSEA website (http://www.uwcsea.edu.sg/)
- UWC Homepage (http://www.uwc.org)