| Fundación Colegio de Inglaterra, The English School | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1961 |
| Type | Private School |
| Mixed-sex education[1] | |
| Headmaster | Sarah Osborne |
| Dean | Charles Weston, OBE |
| Rector | Luis Eduardo Rivas [2] |
| Founder | Elisabeth Masson |
| Teaching staff | 185 .[1] |
| Students | 1690 [1] |
| Grades | Preschool - 11 |
| Location | Calle 170 #15-68[2], Bogotá, Colombia |
| Accreditation | EFQM Quality School Certification |
| Colours | Blue, Red and white |
| Athletics | Soccer, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, Track and field, |
| Nickname | English, TES |
| Mascot | Lion |
| Yearbook | Huts |
| Newspaper | Hablantes |
| Alumni Association | AEXTES |
| Parents Association | TESPAS |
| ICFES Average | Muy Superior [1][2] |
| Website | www.englishschool.edu.co |
The English School (Fundación Colegio de Inglaterra) is a private[2] school in Bogotá, Colombia. It offers the full International Baccalaureate program[3]: the IB Primary Years Programme, IB Middle Years Programme and IB Diploma Programme. It is one of Colombia's highest ranking and most exclusive private bilingual schools. The School was founded by Elisabeth Masson in 1961.
The school is divided into three levels: Preschool (ages 4–7), Primary education (ages 8–11) and Baccalaureate (ages 12–18). Baccalaureate is divided into Middle School (grades 5-8) and High School (grades 9-11).
The school belongs to the Uncoli Organization [2][4]. The Uncoli is an organization of international schools in Bogotá[5]. They are the governing body of all inter-school competitions and provide the organizational support for sporting, academic and artistic events among the schools.
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In 1961, Elizabeth (Van Rossum) Masson founded the school with the purpose of creating an institution which would do both, educate students using a demanding program and a high standard of English, and offering the British Community a school with a sufficiently high standard of English so that British pupils could transfer from Colombia to schools in England without difficulty. In order to achieve the desired education standard, books were imported from Britain so that students could follow the English program.
On September 4, 1961, The English School opened officially with 54 pupils (Nursery, Kinder and 1st) and english classes for 6th and 7th where Mr. Masson was the teacher, in a rented building located in Carera 9 #69. The school was a success and soon, the number of students increased dramatically having 250 pupils by the beginning of 1962. The increasing number of students demanded a bigger campus so the school was moved to its second location on Calle 77 # 9-20. By September 1963 there were already 600 students and in 1965 the school was moved to the North of Bogotá, its third location in the "El Redil" neighborhood in Carrera 7 with Calle 172-EI Redil. Finally the school was moved to its current location in street 170.
In the late 1960s, in a gesture of generosity, Mrs. Masson and her husband handed the school to the parents, converting the English School into a foundation.
The school continued to grow and became one of the top education institutions in the country. In 1981, the School was authorized to offer the IB Diploma Programme, becoming one of the very first schools in the country to do so. In the early 1990s the school undertook a huge renovation of its campus facilities. This resulted with the building of the Community Hall and The Elisabeth Masson building.
The school's 62,000m2 campus[1] includes many playgrounds, and sports facilities such as an athletic track, a football field and several volleyball and basketball courts. The school has five parking facilities: Three outdoor Car parks, and two underground parking garages below the Community Hall and the Coliseum.
There are several buildings inside the campus of which the most important are The Coliseum, the Elizabeth Masson Building, and the Community Hall complex. The Elizabeth Masson Building, named after the school's founder, is the place where most classrooms are located. The Community Hall Complex is located in one of the school's entrances and includes two buildings joined by a bridge. These buildings together with the bridge joining them, have become a landmark of the school. The school's cafeteria, administration offices, infirmary, and meeeting rooms are found in these buildings, as well as the Baccalaureate Library.
The English Coliseum, a sport complex with an area of 4.850 m2 was opened in May 2004 is one of the best sport halls in the country. It includes a sports arena, a stage and a dance studio. The main stands can accommodate 600 people, although the capacity may be increased to about 1,500 spectators through the use of mobile stands, depending on the sporting event.
The sports arena has one professional basketball court with hardwood floor, which may be divided into two or three basketball/volleyball courts for multiple simultaneous training. In front of the sports court there is a 300m2 stage which may be used for artistic and cultural events. However, due to the nature of the ceiling, the acoustics inside the venue are below average.
In keeping with its British tradition, the school implemented a house system. Several house systems have been used since the 1960s.
In the first houses system : Churchill, Washington, Tasman and Bolivar.
Then changed to: Incas, Mayas y Aztecas.
The current system, implemented in 2010, replaced the previous houses (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) with four new houses named Unicorns, Phoenix, Lions and Dragons. Each student, teacher and employee is a member of one of the four houses named above. The Houses compete for the title of champion by taking part in a variety of cultural and sports activities throughout the academic year.
Lions
Unicorns
Dragons
Phoenix
TESMUN is the English School's Model United Nations.[6] TES students had been participating for years in MUN activities until in 2004, a group of students, under the leadership of humanities department,[6] created The English School Model of United Nations (TESMUN I), a small event inside school whose participants were only TES students. Since TESMUN I, the event has been repeated annually. Since 2006 TESMUN III, the event has included students from different schools as participants, and since 2007, the event has had so many participants that it has had to be organized outside the school in convention centers. Currently, TESMUN is organized annually in the Compensar Convention Center and includes participation of more than 800 students from schools all over the country, actually being one of the biggest MUNs event in Colombia.