Taipei European School

The Taipei European School (traditional Chinese: 台北歐洲學校; simplified Chinese: 台北欧洲学校; pinyin: Táiběi Ōuzhōu Xuéxiào) is a pan-European international school in Shilin District, Taipei. It includes a British primary section, a British secondary section, a German section, and a French section.^[1]

Taipei European School is registered as a legal entity in the form of a non-profit foundation supervised by the Department of Education within the Taipei City Government.

The Taipei European School (TES) has attracted regional and worldwide attention with its unique model for integrating German, British, French, and High School sections in terms of their curricula, administration, finance, buildings and facilities. The Taipei British School (TBS), École Française de Taipei (EFT) and Deutsche Schule Taipei (DST) began around 1990 in response to the needs of expatriate families with young children living in Taipei. The schools soon realised that there was much to be gained by joining forces to establish a combined European campus. This would allow the schools to share facilities and resources but still teach their own respective national curricula.

The school has a total enrolment of 1500 students from over 50 countries. Taipei European School is authorised by the International Baccalaureate Organisation to deliver the Diploma programme, and is classed as an IB World School. TES is also a member of FOBISIA (Federation of British International Schools in Asia) and affiliated to AEFE (Agence pour l'Enseignement Français à l'Étranger) and BVA-ZfA (Bundesverwaltungsamt-Zentralstelle für das Auslandsschulwesen).

Campus

The Taipei European School operates on two campuses: Swire European Primary Campus (EPC) at WenLin Road and Swire European Secondary Campus (ESC) at JianYe Road on Yang Ming Shan.

Swire European Primary Campus – WenLin Road (文林路）

Swire European Primary Campus was completed in 2007 and consists of three buildings: the Central Resource Area (CRA), the Infant Building and the Junior Building. The Central Resource Area is a four-story building which houses common facilities such as the cafeteria, the library, a multi-purpose room, the Parents' Café, administrative offices, the uniform shop, a maintenance room and an underground car park. It is connected both to the Infant Building and to the Junior Building.

The two-story Infant Building contains general classrooms for students aged 3 to 7 years old from the German, British and French Sections, as well as shared specialist facilities. A multi-purpose room, an outdoor playground with play structures, as well as grassed and astroturfed areas, are also located in the Infant Wing.

The five-story Junior Building houses general classrooms for students aged 7 to 11 years old from the German, British and French Sections, and includes many shared specialist teaching facilities. There is an outdoor play area as well as two astroturf sport fields.

Swire European Secondary Campus – Yang Ming Shan （陽明山）

The two buildings in the secondary campus are referred to as Phase 1 and Phase 2. The construction of Phase 1 was completed in 1998 and the construction of Phase 2 in 2002. Both these buildings are 4-floor high.

The Phase I building contains different Departments and specialists rooms. This includes:

• A music suite
• A fiction library
• 2 computer labs
• A multi-media room equipped with 23 21-inch desktop iMac (for students involved in visual arts, music and film courses)
• 3 science labs
• A fine art and 3D art room
• Drama and performance area
• An outdoor basketball court
• 1 cafeteria
• 1 atrium with steps, suited for performances and assemblies .

The Phase II building contains:

• Physics and chemistry labs
• 1 non-fiction library
• 1 cafeteria
• 3 computer labs
• 4 science labs
• 2 art rooms, equipped with a kiln
• An indoor gymnasium
• A sport field with artificial astro-turf - recently renovated
• 2 outdoor basketball courts, one behind the Gym, and one in the sports field.
• An atrium/MPR, bigger than that of Phase I's

Student body

Currently Taipei European School has about 1,450 students in total, with British section students as the majority.

Students originate largely from Europe and North America, with British, French, German, American and Canadian as the dominating nationalities from the areas. Another great portion of the student body are children of expatriates from Latin America, Africa, and economic capitals of Asia such as Singapore, Japan, and Korea. Counting the whole number of nationalities present in the school among the students, it makes the Taipei European School the most diverse and multi-cultural learning environment in the country. The school currently has students and faculty from over 50 different countries.

There are 4 Heads running the operation of the 4 sections. Mr. Duncan Millward - Acting Head of the British Primary Section, Mr. Emmanuel Fritzen - Head of the German Section, Mr. Jean-Yves Vesseau - Head of the French Section, and Mrs. Chrysta Garnett - Head of the British Secondary and High School Section.

Primary Section

This is a section for students aged between 3~11, and is located in the WenLin Campus. It currently enrolls 900 students.

A typical primary school day starts at 7:55am and ends at 3:00 pm. There are 8 lessons in a day, each of them being 40 minutes long.

British Secondary Section (Key Stage Three)

The British Secondary Section (Key Stage Three)in TES is located in the YangMingShan campus. It consists of students between 11~14 years old, and they follow the UK National curriculum . In this programme students have a wide variety of subjects, including mathematics, science, English, two foreign languages (usually French and Chinese), physical education, geography, ICT, history, drama, art and music. The multifarious subjects allow students who continue their education in TES to have full range of choices in IGCSE.

A typical KS3 day starts at 8:00am with ten minutes of registration and meeting with form tutors. There are 8 lessons with 2 recesses and a lunch break. School finishes at 3:00pm, and students are encouraged to participate in extra curricular activities both during and after school. Examples include TES Secondary Choir, sports teams, drama plays and Roots and Shoots.

High School Section

The High School Section is for students from H1~H4 (equivalent to grades 9~12 in the American system). It offers the IGCSE (International General Certificate for Secondary Education) program for the H1~H2s. In this course students take the mandatory courses (English, science and mathematics) and have the freedom to choose between the other subjects (such as the Arts, geography, business and PE).

They are expected to complete a number of courseworks over the 2 years for most of their subjects. These are graded by either Cambridge or Edexcel depending on the course. The school currently adopts CIE (Cambridge International Examinations), the exam board offered by UCLES (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate)

The IGCSE is an internationally accepted qualification which allows students to continue their education at IB if they have met the grade requirements. It is the international equivalent of the GCSE examinations taken in Britain.
The IB Diploma Programme is offered to most students in TES after the completion of IGCSE. In IB students choose from 6 subject groups: Language A1, Language A2 and B, individuals and societies, experimental sciences, mathematics and art and electives.

The IB programme also requires students to take the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course, complete an extended essay on a topic of their own choice, and complete 150 hours of Creativity, Action, Service, in order to incorporate balance with the demanding academic portion of the programme. Without the completion of these requirements a student cannot obtain the IB Diploma.
For those who do not meet the requirements for IB, a TES student can also take the TES diploma that is offered. .

Sports

Sport is regarded highly in Taipei European School, and nearly 70% of the students in each year group participate in at least one sports team every year. TES offers the KS3 teams the opportunity to compete in U13 and U15 FOBISIA, an overseas interscholastic sporting tournament held every year which holds opportunity for the pupils to compete against others of their own age from British international schools across Asia.

TES offers sports such as Football, Basketball, Softball, Volleyball, athletics and Swimming. TES also hosted the U13 FOBISIA teams in March 2015.

In the High School Section, the sportspeople take part in 3 main activities: Football, Basketball, and Volleyball. These teams compete in numerous tournaments hosted at the Morrison Academy and the Taipei American School, with the Soccer programme extending to an overseas tournament for women and men U18 in Phuket, Thailand against numerous international schools. Extracurricular activities such as Swimming, Fitness, Table tennis and Badminton clubs are also offered for those interested.

Within the school, the students are involved in the House Cup, in which they are split into four separate Houses: Bora, Sirocco, Mistral, and Marin (named after different Asian/European winds). Every semester the Houses compete against one another in various sports and competitions for House points, and the House with the most points receives the House Cup at the end of the year.

Extra-curricular activities (ECAs)

Taipei European School offers a wide range of ECAs. ECAs are mandatory for the IB students.

The ECAs that TES offers include: Culinary Club, Fitness Club, Swimming Club, Ensemble, Jazz Band, Secondary School Choir, High School Choir, Formosa Voices, Chess Club, Environmental Action Group, Gardening Club, Journalism Club, Chinese Literature Club, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Model United Nations, International Awards, Robotics Club, Chinese Literature, Peer Mentoring, Bilingual Debating Club, Sudoku Club, Dance Club, Martial Arts, Web Design, Programming, Film Club (filming and editing of films), Table Tennis, and Sports Teams (Football[soccer], basketball, volleyball, swimming).

See also

• International General Certificate of Secondary Education
• Taipei American School
• Taipei Japanese School
• Morrison Academy
• Kaohsiung American School
• American School in Taichung
• Hsinchu American School
• Taipei Adventist American School
• Taiwan Adventist International School
• The Primacy Collegiate Academy

References

External links

• Taipei European School official website
• Taipei European School|Taiwanderful - Taiwan Travel Culture Guide