The Aus

A new school set to open its doors in Sydney is planning to produce the ­nation’s next generation of brain surgeons, astrophysicists and chemical engineers.

The selective, co-educational Westbourne School will be aimed at students who are keen to forge a career in science, technology, ­engineering and mathematics — known as STEM subjects — on the global stage.

Founded in Britain 120 years ago, the school will offer only Year 11 and 12 in Sydney and cap places at 40 in each year group. Students will complete the International Baccalaureate, rather than the HSC.

The new Sydney campus will be the first step in the international expansion plans for Westbourne School, rated as Britain’s top International Baccalaureate school for 2019 by The Sunday Times.

Westbourne School chairman Mark Peters said the school, which plans to take its first Sydney students from January 2021, would charge fees of about $22,000 a year — significantly less than other leading private schools in Sydney, where annual fees have risen to as much as $39,000 for Year 11 and 12 students.

The school did not plan to be all things to all people, Mr Peters said.

“We are focusing exclusively on children who have already made the decision that they want to pursue a STEM career and to do that on the global stage,” he said.

The school will also look very different to other high schools in Sydney. Students will wear business attire rather than uniforms and study in a space that looks more like an open-plan office than a traditional classroom.

Mr Peters, who grew up in Sydney and went to James Ruse Agricultural High School — which is consistently ranked as NSW’s top school for academic results — said it was part of the school’s ethos of treating students as professionals. Student Zoe, who asked for her last name not to be published, hopes to study medicine when she finishes high school. She said she was considering applying for a place at Westbourne for next year.

The 14-year-old said she liked the school’s emphasis on collaboration, and on treating its teenage students as professionals.

“I think it will prepare us for the real world rather than being treated like kids,” she said.

Welsh headmaster Ken Underhill, who has run Westbourne School in Britain for 17 years, will be moving to Sydney to set up the new campus. He said the school would follow a similar model to the one in Cardiff: it would be based in the centre of town but draw on facilities such as the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre, across the road in the inner suburb of Ultimo, and nearby science labs at the University of Technology, Sydney.

As part of the International Baccalaureate program, students would complete a component known as creativity, action and service. This would be student-led, Mr Underhill said.

Whether they were interested in dancing, fencing or snorkelling, the school would connect students to a suitable program.

All students will also have to study mathematics at a high level, two sciences, business management and either Spanish or Mandarin, and will collaborate with each other as part of their learning.

Mr Peters said the school aimed to have eight to 10 campuses around the world by 2025, including in Singapore. Students would potentially have the opportunity to go on exchange to other campuses, or to French business school INSEAD, with which the school already had links.

He said most of the school’s graduates in Britain went on to forge successful STEM careers. Its graduates was currently ranking first or second each year in medicine at Cambridge, he said.

“These are pretty special kids,” he said.