Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Work is pressing ahead to open a new school for young children in Hamala, under the banner of one of Asia’s growing names in international education provision.
Eton House Bahrain will open in September aiming to offer creative and research-based pre-nursery, nursery and reception classes for pupils aged 18 months to six years.
Carol Pedersen, Eton House’s executive principal Middle East, who resides in Reef and used to work in Bahrain between 2004 and 2008, said: “We are thrilled to be opening in the kingdom and to be offering our unique teaching philosophy.
“I’ve worked for Eton House for seven years and have found that children and parents enjoy our ‘Inquire, Think, Learn’ approach. Our programme helps children become creative, dynamic critical thinkers.
“I did some research and I could see that Bahrain had some very good schools on the island but they didn’t have our teaching philosophy.
“We are going to start from pre-school age entrants and as we grow, the school will grow, and then we will add on more classes for older children.
“Even though we are a pre-school now, we aim to support children making that transition into other schools as well to primary, middle or high school - whether in Bahrain or outside the country.”
The concept of Eton House came about when Ng Gim Choo, a mother-of-two, wanted to provide a British learning system with an Italian twist for her children in Singapore. She came to learn about this style of teaching when she accompanied her husband on assignment to London in the 1980s and her children, a girl aged four and a boy aged two, were placed in a pre-school there. They loved it so much that they didn’t even want to go on summer breaks, she said.
Mrs Choo was so impressed by its operation and management methods that she decided to establish a similar operation on returning to Singapore. The first opened in 1995 and now there are more than 100 schools in 12 countries including China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Myanmar and Kazakhstan.
In recent months, several opening sessions for families have been staged in the kingdom as its building with five classes has undergone refurbishment.
The MBA Fakhro Group-Bahrain, which holds stakes in companies with diverse interests across the broader region, have been granted the Eton House franchise for the Middle East and has an expansion programme planned.
Carol explained: “Once we open the school in Bahrain in September then we will open next year in Jumeirah Beach Dubai. Also, depending on the demand in Bahrain, we could in the future open in different areas such as Amwaj Islands.”
The school will be offering the Reggio Emilia approach for children, first launched in Italy.
It features an atelierista, an early years’ educator with a background in the arts, who is responsible with a team of fellow teachers for creating different projects aimed at sparking curiosity and creativity and establishing an explorative way of learning.
