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Prague British School to get new digs

Students will move into different location in 2008

By Curtis M. Wong
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 14th, 2007 issue

KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
A Prague British School student checks out the new Prague 6 campus, which will be ready by February.
KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Students recently stopped by their new campus in Prague 6, which is currently undergoing major renovations.
As they stroll about the empty hallways inside the Prague British School’s (PBS) future campus in Prague 6, most students aren’t shy when asked what they’re most looking forward to at the new location.
“I like that they’ve got a bigger football pit here,” says 10-year-old Ondřej Hamel. “The old one is asphalt, with smaller nets. This one has AstroTurf and is really soft. There’s more space for the sports as well.”
Adds Mire Chung, also 10: “We’ll have a big new lunchroom here and better food. I don’t really like the food in Bubeneč.”
Of course, youngsters will have more to anticipate than just sport matches and Sloppy Joes at the new PBS campus, which is currently under renovation and scheduled to open in February 2008. In addition to the sport facilities and a spacious cafeteria, the school’s new three-story campus will also offer 20 spacious classrooms, a full-size library and a large assembly hall.
The move will come less than 10 months after teachers and administrators at the now defunct British International School, Prague (BISP) announced they were leaving en masse because of what was described as “differences with the owner.” The group went on to form PBS amid rumblings that money had been mismanaged at the old school. It’s a charge many PBS administrators and parents vehemently deny, recently stating “there was no controversy.”
Having outgrown their previous space in Bubeneč, PBS staff had been searching for a new location for a while in order to accommodate an influx of new students and the burgeoning needs of its growing faculty. On June 28, the school placed a bid on a building in Liboc at the former site of the Vlastina Primary School and won the deal shortly thereafter. Current enrollment sits at 635, but only 130 students will be moving into the new school next year. The remaining kids will stay put at PBS’s Prague 4 campus, explains Fraser Litster, the school’s marketing director.
The school board is making an initial investment of 11 million Kč, which includes extensive structural renovations, which began last month. Although the 50-year-old building is in good standing condition, various updates are necessary before PBS faculty can move in, Litster explains.
“The demands of a school are very different than they were 50 years ago,” according to Litster. “For example, the building has to be fully networked — not something that the architects would have anticipated. Also, on a day-to-day level, a Czech school operates differently than a British school. … These differences necessitate several structural changes.”
The relocation project has already received eager and enthusiastic support from faculty, students and parents alike.
“I think it’s going to be really nice to be able to do something just for our kids and their needs,” says Lynne Edwards, a year-six teacher and the school’s deputy head. “We’ve desperately wanted our own place for a very long time. We’ve all wanted some place to call our own, so everyone’s really excited. There’s just so much to look forward to.”
One feature that will definitely be making a welcome return at the new campus is the “interactive whiteboard,” an e-learning and messaging tool for students that was actually introduced in the Bubeneč location but hasn’t been operating for the past three months. As 10-year-old Joe Cunningham puts it, he’s “even more than enormously excited [about the interactive whiteboard]. … It makes it look like a futuristic classroom.”
School officials hope to make the transition from the Bubeneč location as smooth as possible. The last day at the old location will be Jan. 31, right before the half-term winter holiday, and classes will resume at the new campus Feb. 11. The school will also organize a series of special bus routes in order to accommodate the location change.
Of course, while the students are spending their holidays with their family members, PBS faculty will continue to be hard at work, finalizing the preparations for their incoming classes.
“All of the staff will be giving up holiday time — which shows how much we want this to happen and just how excited we are about it,” Edwards says. “Here, we can really do as much as we like.”
Parents seem equally enthusiastic about the new location, and school officials are making a distinct effort to keep them involved in all aspects of the move. Tours of the building were conducted in the days just before and after the deal was finalized. A permanent socializing room for parents is also in the works at the new location, allowing them to be an active part of the day-to-day school community for the first time. Here, they will be able to mingle with teachers, enjoy coffee and even surf the Internet during normal school hours.
“As a parent, I hope that the spirit that developed in [the old school in] Prague 6 will follow them here and continue to grow,” says Renata Lytle, the mother of two PBS students. “The new campus will allow them to prepare better and plan their future better. They now have enough space to maximize their potential. I know from my experience with the faculty that the potential is definitely there.”
 
 

Curtis M. Wong can be reached at cwong@praguepost.com


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