School of the Nations (Bahá'í - Macau)

The School of the Nations is a Bahá'í inspired school in the Taipa, Macau community by the Badi Foundation. In 1988, as the result of the efforts of a number of Macau residents and Government, the School was established. As an international school, it provides an internationally oriented English medium educational program that met not only the needs of many expatriate families, but also the needs of numerous local families.

History

The school opened in January 1988 with 5 students, all of whom were enrolled in the kindergarten. Yet, within a few months the demand from concerned parents for more grade levels resulted in the decision to expand to a full primary school for the academic year 1988- 1989. In 1990-1991 the school moved into new premises allowing the school to enroll approximately 200 students (a 100% increase over the preceding year). A 35% increase for the academic year 1991-1992 and a 29% increase for 1992-1993 brought the school to a critical condition of overcrowding again. To accommodate the influx of new students, in 1994 the school began to lease commercial properties and convert them to classrooms. In 1997 all of Asia experienced a severe economic downturn. This also affected enrollment in the school. The decision was made to return all leased property, reduce overhead and limit enrollment to the number of students that could be accommodated in the properties belonging to the school. From that period on the school has maintained a steady population of about 260 students. Unfortunately this has forced the school to turn away applicants at all levels.

Current Status

About 70% of the student population is from Macau while the other 30% represents approximately 35 different countries. The expatriate families represent the worldwide search and recruitment of specialists and experts needed by the private and public sectors of Macau for their continued expansion and development. For this reason the School of the Nations has received the full cooperation of the Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China Departments of Education, Economics and the Department of Immigration.

Facilities

At the moment, due to Macau's special circumstances the school is located in three different residential buildings. The primary and secondary sections occupy the 4th floor of the Lei San building with a total area of 1600m2. Physical education and other outdoor activities are carried out in the nearby facilities of a government school as well as public facilities where the School has access to basketball and mini-soccer courts and swimming pools. The pre-school section occupies the 1st floor of the Seng Vo Building with a total area of 500 m2.

In 2006 the school was given a 2,500 square meter land-grant by the Education Department of Macau, between the Hyatt tennis court and the car park of the Buddhist Temple in Taipa as well as substantial financial support for the construction of the new campus. [http://news.bahai.org/story/460 School of the Nations, Macau, receives land grant from government] Taipa, Macau 6 July 2006 (BWNS)]

Acreditation and Awards

Students can pursue an Internationally recognised certificate, the International General Certificate of Secondary Education.

The character training program was awarded first prize in 1997 for innovation in curriculum by the Department of Education and Youth Services of Macau and awarded 3rd prize by the International Schools Services in their worldwide competition for community service programs. [http://www.schoolofthenations.com/program.htm The Educational program of the School] ]

Programme

Character development, a spirit of social service and cooperation, including environmental awareness [ [http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/planet/pages/33.asp Atlas of Student Action for the Planet] UN.org Cyberschoolbus] is a strong theme and distinctive contribution to the educational landscape of Macau in addition to the full suite of academic curricula required for the IGCSE exams in Form 5 (year 11) including major subject areas of:
* All secondary students are required to devote almost two hours a week to service activities : (examples include in-school cross-age tutoring, collaboration in homes for the elderly, participating in a government sponsored program for home help, working in government sponsored nurseries serving the needs of working mothers, assisting in programs for the mentally challenged and raising awareness of environmental concerns) [ [http://www.schoolofthenations.com/character.htm Character Development Program at the school] ]
*English
*Mandarin
*English Literature
*World History
*Information and Communication Technologies
*Geography
*Combined Science (integrating Biology, Chemistry and Physics)
*Math (through pre-calculus)
*Physical Education
*Art

References

* [http://www.schoolofthenations.com/history.htm History of the School of the Nations of Macau]

External links

* [http://www.schoolofthenations.com/ Official Webpage]
* [http://www.badi-foundation.org/ the Badi Foundation Official Webpage]
* [http://www.iss.edu International Schools Services]
* [http://www.macaubahai.org/ Macau Baha'i Community webpage]