I dare say, fundamentally, we all identify the same qualities in an excellent school. We insist on safe, supportive and caring environments, where encouragement prevails, guidance is sensitive and self-esteem high.
Keenly sought too is a rigorous academic curriculum, with breadth and diversity, providing opportunities for all students to extend themselves and to reach their potential in friendly, creative, learning and teaching environments. Also where challenge and expression on the sports fields, on the stage, in the concert hall or on canvas are plentiful.
Fully qualified, innovative teachers; passionate about their profession, reflective and with commitment to continually improve, promote respect and responsibility. A school in which expectation is high, and aspiration, higher still.
This is the Epsom experience. Our sister school points the way. A heritage of success and achievement, of guidance, care and opportunity; this is indeed a model to emulate. In Malaysia, ours will be an aspirational experience too, defined by: intellectual rigour and academic success; by creativity and innovation; by vision, ambition and challenge; by respect, consideration and compassion.
Epsom's traditional academic association with science and medicine will continue. So too, the reputation for excellence across the curriculum will be pursued. In the very near future our graduates will grace the world's top universities, where I anticipate, they will prove themselves as leaders in the lecture halls and seminar rooms; fully engaged and informed, initiating discussion and action, taking the lead and setting the standard for others to follow.
The inital visit to a school tells us a great deal. My first impression of Epsom College, on a fresh, late November morning in England, with snow falling and plummeting temperatures, was the warmth of the welcome I received and the subtle, prevailing scent of quality and aspiration.
I don't anticipate encountering blizzards in KL, but that aside, this exciting Malaysian experience will strive to match, and who knows, maybe in time we can exceed, the standards set for over 150 years by our sister school in the UK.
I hope that the information and pictures included here help to illustrate some of the excitement and anticipation we feel in launching this excellent enterprise. I hope too, that at some point soon, you will be able to visit us; to sense, to feel, to see for yourself, just what will make an education at Epsom College in Malaysia so special.
