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A look at some Australian Schools

I have just returned from a fascinating trip to Perth, Australia. En route I had excellent planning meetings in Hong Kong with my associate, Johnson Cheng. Seen here at dinner with my wife, Jean. We provide advice for parents in their school search.

From Hong Kong we travelled to Perth where I visited a number of fine schools. The school structure there is marked by a public-private partnership system. There are many single sex schools and some co-educational ones. With the far-flung nature of the Australian topography, boarding schools in cities provide great service to the country.

Tradition at the Australian schools very much came through the British influence in the country - just about all schools have formal uniforms, and cricket, rugby and rowing dominate the sports offerings. Academic standards are high, and tuition fees are very reasonable due to government grants to private schools.

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I was particularly impressed by Sacred Heart College, a co-ed day school in the Catholic tradition: located across the road from the beach, the setting was spectacular. The other two schools I visited are also excellent. Scotch College is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school and was founded in the Protestant tradition, somewhat similar to the United Church of Canada. Hale School, a boarding and day school, is the oldest boys’ boarding school in Western Australia and was founded in the Anglican tradition. 

All of these schools are highly competitive for entry. It is the same everywhere - competition for the best abounds.

Jean and I were also able to enjoy a couple of Indian ocean sunsets!

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Visiting and contacting leading boarding schools

I am in the U.K. this week visiting and contacting leading boarding schools - or public schools as they are called here.

My outreach has included Wycombe Abbey School, the King's School Canterbury and Westminster School in London.

See the photos attached of my visit to Westminster School, some with Westminster Abbey in focus, as the school and Abbey are inextricably linked. It's a half term holiday so no students were around unfortunately.

In its typical British less is more style, there is no sign to enter Westminster School. The school's quad seen in the photo is known as Dean's Yard. One of England's first founded schools, Westminster has educated a diverse group of students from Sir Christopher Wren to A.A. Milne, as well as seven Prime Ministers. Fun fact: Milne, the Winnie the Pooh creator, left his estate to Westminster!

I am pleased to be overseeing a student application to these fine schools.

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Go Far, Go Together

That is a driving force of the MasterCard Foundation’s philosophy. I was fortunate to have dinner this week with Robin McLay, the former Director of Research, Strategy and Learning for the MasterCard Foundation, based in Toronto.

Robin has returned to Vancouver Island after a glittering career, which also included being a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and being the first Executive Director of McGill University’s Institute for the Study of International Development. His university studies were at McGill, the LSE and Harvard.

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US/Canada Boarding School Placement

In their words, the MasterCard Foundation seeks “a world where everyone has the opportunity to learn and prosper.” One of their programs provides large grants annually to deserving and talented students from around the world - with a focus on Africa - to enable them to study at leading North American universities. Robin’s role was to advance thought leadership within the fields of higher education, financial inclusion and employment programs and to ensure that the Foundation’s programs and initiatives were informed by good evidence.

I was introduced to Robin by my good friend Bill Myles - another McGill graduate - who is Robin’s brother-in-law. We were able to toast Bill’s fine career in Victoria public schools, with just 30 days to go before his retirement.

We discussed education in general and collaborative approaches to help kids on a global level. Robin continues to support many causes through his volunteerism and board appointments with the Fulbright Foundation, The Walrus Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public health, to name a few. He is now working with the BC Government where he is leading their efforts to advance social innovation. We are going to continue our dialog.

J&A endeavors to help its student clients reach their potential. We go far, and go together with students and parents to make dreams happen!

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Talent, Grit and Emotion

In my last blog I made an analogy between the emotions involved in soccer, basketball and boarding school admissions. Today I'm thinking in terms of golf and dance.

At the Masters Golf Tournament last weekend, we saw the epitome of success and emotional release overcoming moments of failure when Sergio Garcia won his first Major Tournament - at the 73rd attempt! This was a perfect example of grit, perseverance and talent working together, and of Winston Churchill’s maxim to “ Never, never, never, never - in nothing great or small, large or petty - never give in!”

 

I couldn’t make it to the Masters in Augusta, but was captivated by the human drama that unfolded on television.

Switching genres, on Saturday my wife and I had enjoyed a powerful evening of dance by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, part of Dance Victoria’s 2017 season. They are a world-class troupe of dancers and their performance was both high octane and emotionally uplifting. Here is a brief clip from their program – Minus One:

 

There were many dancers of high school and college age in attendance. In our boarding schools, we aim to expose our students to excellence in talent and the evoking of emotion. That was certainly on display last weekend to young and old alike.

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