Seoul Foreign School celebrates opening of new High School building
Posted on 22nd Aug 2018 in School News, South Korea
hosted an official Opening Ceremony on August 11 for its new High School building. The ceremony showcased the amazing new facilities at the school which will offer students an enhanced learning experience in a state of the art environment.
The ceremony was attended by 130 VIP guests including Harry Harris (pictured below) - US Ambassador to The Republic of Korea - at one of his first official events. The Mayor of Seodaemun-gu - Soek-jin Moon was also present.
Ms Sylvia Kim – Vice Board Chair spoke on behalf of the SFS Board – most of whom were present. Bill Majors of the SFS Jaedan gave the inaugural prayer. Class President of the Class of 2018 Mark Ku spoke on behalf of the students. A string quartet from our High School student body played our guests in and Jhia Choe (Grade 10) gave an incredible solo violin performance.
Ennead Architects of New York gave a presentation on the design and construction of the new building.
Other guests included guests and representatives from the Embassies of Ireland, Greece and Canada. All our Seoul Foreign School Principals attended along with other selected friends of Seoul Foreign School.
The event was hosted by Colm Flanagan, Head of School. Colm spoke about the journey from start to finish - from the Board sign off of the new building in 2011 to the final design finishes. He spoke of our joy and pride in our new building and the students who will be there for the most important years of their education. He emphasized the importance of the entire Seoul Foreign School Community - students, parents, teachers, alumni, associates and friends.
After the ceremony guests enjoyed drinks and canapes and they then toured the High School to see for themselves the amazing achievements.
Later in the evening we hosted a community celebration for faculty and staff who have supported the process through the years!
The new High School
The new High School was designed to give our students the best possible learning experience. It was first conceived in 2011 and then the design process began. We appointed Ennead - a New York firm of architects and we also used Baum Architects here in Seoul.
Features of the building include multi-purpose areas; collaboration zones; a roof terrace with solar panels making the school as sustainable as possible; fabulous drama studios and much more. A suite of design rooms and science labs are in place along with fantastic home rooms and communal areas.
The building will be home to 480 students (Grades 9-12) from a host of nations including the US, the UK, Korea, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada and many more.
Seoul Foreign School
Seoul Foreign School was established here in Seoul in 1912 and has been providing an unrivalled education to international families with children aged 3-18 ever since. We offer a choice of well established international curriculums and curriculum frameworks such as the IB diploma and the English National Curriculum.
Our 26 acre campus is based in Yeonhui-dong and is easily accessed by a fleet of our own buses and by public transport.
We currently have almost 1500 students enrolled from almost 50 countries.
We accept students into our Elementary School, Middle School, High School and British School.