A prestigious canadian private school Glenlyon Norfolk School

One of the most successful IB schools in Canada.

Glenlyon Norfolk School is one of the most interesting private schools that I met at the Alphe Secondary Focus conference on secondary education in Frankfurt in October 2015. The school is located on Victoria Island, British Columbia, Canada. Interestingly, other British Columbia high school representatives who attended this conference spoke of Glenlyon Norfolk with great reverence, mentioning that of course, Glenlyon Norfolk is an Ivy League-level school (of course, by this they meant that graduates of the school are applying for universities Ivy League).

Kevin Marges, the school's representative at the conference, not only told me why the school is so successful but also agreed to give a short interview for the blog.

K: 100% of our graduates go to universities, with more than half going to the first choice university. In 2014, our alumni received C $ 900,000 in first-year university scholarships. This is an amazing result!

Programs of the school of GNS

Our school has two International Bacaulariat programs and a British Columbia High School program. Until grade 11, all students study according to the Canadian program and by the end of grade 10, they must decide on which program they want to graduate from. The second program is chosen by students who know for sure that they will enter Canadian universities. The IB program opens up even greater prospects for our graduates because we have been following this program for 30 years and we have very high results. We have 700 students, with 1 teacher for 7 students.

My daughter joined the school last year in seventh grade. She couldn't believe how many teachers knew her name. We have a lot of staff: when a new student arrives at school, everyone knows his name in two weeks - a lot of attention is paid from each teacher to each student.

L: How many international students?

K: Good question. Of the 700 students, only 70 are international students. However, they represent 20 countries. We have never had a student from Ukraine, and we are ready to give the first student a small scholarship so that our school will be recognized in your country. Our students are from Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, Venezuela, India, China and many others. But we want to widen the diversity, we do not want any culture to dominate, which is why I am here at this conference and meeting with you.

L: Tell us about the boarding house.

K: This is a very interesting concept. We do not have a boarding house. But we do not have host families either. We are a family-run boarding house which means that all of our international students live with school families - all of our families are associated with the school, they are either our teachers or the parents of our students. We know these families very well, they come to school every day. When a student arrives, he immediately gets friends. They live in a separate room, but they spend time together, they travel together, the student immediately becomes a member of our large school family. All these families live no more than 10 minutes from the school, but they bring the student to the school, because. that they go to school every morning anyway. If the family goes on skis, the student goes with them. If it is a short vacation and the student does not want to go home, he stays with his family.

L: Why do all your colleagues say your school is Ivy League level?

K: We have very good results. Every year, representatives of the best universities come to our school to tell students about their programs and invite them to their university. The best universities want our students because they know how good our graduates are. During the IB program, our students study subjects at the same level as first-year university students. What's going on? Our students are credited with university loans, they do not need to pay a second time for these loans at universities, they do not study these subjects in the first year of their studies, but immediately study these subjects at the second-year level, moreover, universities offer scholarships to our students! Not all students get these benefits, but there are many and this is a great advantage!

L: How many schools in British Columbia are under the IB program and are there any public ones?

K: There are 12 schools in total and they are all private. Because studying for IB is expensive. But the student gets a more advanced education, he pays less at the university. As a result, it saves time and money.

L: What is the most popular sport in your school.

K: It's football. Both boys and girls play football. Also rugby. Tennis. In winter we go to the ski resort. Despite the fact that our school is located on the ocean coast and the temperature in winter never drops below 5 degrees, we are just a stone's throw from the Victoria Island ski resort. Last year I had the most active day: in the morning I played golf, then I went sailing with a friend, and in the evening we went skiing. All of this is possible when you live in Victoria.

Students play in the theater, participate in debates, in charity. Last year, 30 students travelled to Guatemala and built houses in the village there. For 8 years we have visited 5 countries of Latin America. This usually happens during spring break. Our students are always busy, there is always so much to do in the school, because we are a private school, we give students the best prospects.