Long renowned as an excellent private school following the local syllabus, Sri Garden Kuala Lumpur has recently introduced an international curriculum in order to ensure the holistic and balanced development of its students and equip them with the training and exposure to excel in the global arena. Launched in January 2011, this now fully operational international system allows Sri Garden students to follow an English-based international syllabus.
Principal Peter Wells, who originally hails from the UK and has been at the helm of Sri Garden since 2009, explains, “Sri Garden was a private Malaysian school, but is now moving towards wholly adopting an English curriculum and an international system emphasizes invidualised learning and understanding and developing analytical skills rather than the traditional method of rote learning.“
Peter went on to add that the focus in modern education is shifting to how the child learns, rather than on how the teacher teaches. In Sri Garden’s new international school system, the emphasis is on developing each child as an independent learner.
Sri Garden will be gradually phasing out the local school and syllabus over the next four years, and will be a fully international school in 2015. Currently, international pupils comprise 15% of the population of the student body, but this percentage will increase to 60% by 2015. There are, at present, approximately 800 students in Sri Garden’s international programme, and over 670 who are still studying the Malaysian syllabus.
Although the local curriculum will be phased out, Principal Peter Wells still wants Sri Garden to retain and maintain a sense of Malaysian culture and language by mixing local elements into the British curriculum and thereby giving students a more global perspective. “We want to be known as a ‘Malaysian International School’,” Peter explains, “fully international in terms of our curriculum, but with a Malaysian character and flavour.” Although all of the core subjects will be taught in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin will also be offered. The teachers at Sri Garden will also seek to infuse their lessons with bits of Malaysian culture, emphasizing the strong Malaysian family values and cultural diversity.
“We offer the same British curriculum, methodology, and educational experience as other international schools but in a Malaysian environment, and will strive to keep the local language and culture as a part of our school. It is my hope that expat students will soak up the local language and culture, and leave Malaysia truly enriched by their educational experiences here,” Peter adds.
When compared to other international schools, Sri Garden has numerous other advantages including its cost – it is reasonably priced and affordable – and its location – the campus is situated in the heart of Kuala Lumpur and is easily accessible. The school also offers a plethora of electives and extracurricular activities.
Established in 1991, Sri Garden is a part of the Taylor’s Group of schools, and shares the same core values and high standards as the other exceptional schools in this group. The schools also share resources, including teachers and facilities.
Principal Peter Wells and his staff extend the invitation to both expat and local families to come and visit the Sri Garden campus to see what the school has to offer. The school will be holding an Open Week from 18 to 22 April 2011 (Monday to Friday) from 9am to 3pm. “At Sri Garden, we are offering something unique and special. We are giving students the opportunity to get an international education, with a focus on individualized learning, in a Malaysian environment.”
For more information, visit www.srigarden.edu.my, email [email protected] or call 03.9286 2668.
This article was written by William Citrin ([email protected])
Source The Expat magazine April 2011
This article has been edited for Expatgomalaysia.com
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