Originally founded by a group of parents in 1978, the Sotogrande International School soon established itself as a serious centre of learning for children from kindergarten to school-leaving age. Driven by a desire to provide children in the Sotogrande area with a British style international education with a natural Spanish influence, the school has evolved into one of the finest international colleges in the country – with some of the best facilities and teaching programmes available.
Led by its new headmaster Chad Fairey, this prestigious private school prides itself on providing a nurturing and very personal environment in which students are encouraged to harness their individual strengths and excel in their own fields of aptitude. By focusing strongly on academic excellence but also valuing the importance of sport, theatre and similar activities the school seeks to provide its students with the best possible preparation for both professional and personal life in the future.
Chad emphasises the culturally inclusive, global-minded nature of the school, which offers students the ideal mix of growing up in an environment like Sotogrande, combined with an education that is thoroughly focused on the wide, open world. Imbued with an ethos to inspire, challenge and encourage its body of students, the SIS is also very up to date in how it approaches its work, making full use of the latest teaching methods and systems as well as the latest equipment and resources.
The SIS moved into its new premises in 2001, a bright, spacious campus comprising a nursery, primary school and secondary school complete with full boarding facilities surrounded by lovely views of woods and fairways. Surrounded by Sotogrande’s residential areas, the school now has 660 students aged 3 to 18 from over 40 countries, and provides a complete professional support structure from toddler age right up to the international Baccalaureate programe for entrance into the world’s best universities.
SIS achieves its impressive results thanks to a highly qualified and dedicated staff, but also thanks to facilities that are second to none in the region. These include comfortable, well-designed classrooms and open areas, the extensive use of IT tools in the form of wireless broadband facilities and the fact that every secondary school pupil works with a personal laptop. In addition there are also well-equipped computer labs, science labs, music rooms, resource rooms and a complete multimedia library.
From the play and learn areas of the smaller children to the facilities of an active theatre society, SIS provides the ideal environment in which to excel. The latter also extends to sports facilities such as tennis, football and basketball courts, a running track, 25-metre swimming pool, a sports hall and the off-campus football and rugby fields, but equally to the quality of the nurses’ surgery and the quality of the fare on offer at the cafeteria.
Encouraged to develop their minds, bodies and open their hearts, students at the Sotogrande International School form part of an institution that stands right at the heart of the local community.
By Jackie Cruz - Manifesto ·