ARCHIVED - El Limonar International School Murcia presents its new premises in an online event including a virtual tour

After beginning the school year in September the management reaffirms its commitment to the Region of Murcia during a gala event adapted to the Covid-19 situation

 
Students, teachers and school management staff join representatives of Cognita in presenting the Montevida campus to parents and the educational community at a moving inauguration.

Having begun the school year in September, the El Limonar International School Murcia needed just 15 minutes on 29th October to offer an online presentation of its new premises for secondary education in Montevida (La Alberca) to the educational community as a whole. It may have been a short event but it was also a moving one, and was broadcast on the school’s website and on YouTube in both English and Spanish.  

The event was as ceremonial as is possible in current circumstances, and taking part were representatives of Cognita – the international educational group whose 78 schools include ELIS Murcia - teaching staff, parents and students. There was thus a cast of hundreds of members of the educational community as well as employees of the different businesses which have made it possible to create the new campus, all of them participating via their computer or mobile device screens. 

It goes without saying that this virtual format was not part of the original plan. “The inauguration event for the new campus had been planned since before the summer”, commented head teacher Vanessa Grimward, “but unfortunately the way the pandemic has developed obliged us to postpone it until things improve. However, we didn’t want to deprive out community of the chance to get to know these fantastic new premises.”

As the Covid-19 pandemic has made it impossible for people to visit the school themselves as easily as had been hoped – even parent-teacher meetings are usually held online at the moment – the decision was made to create a virtual inauguration ceremony. 

The event began with speeches given by Chris Eversden, the managing director of ELIS Cognita, and ELIS Murcia head teacher Vanessa Grimward, who explained details of the new campus, built using the very latest construction techniques and based on environmental criteria which make it the most sustainable school in the Region of Murcia. In the words of Vanessa Grimward, “at this time we should have been celebrating the inauguration of our premises in the Montevida development with you. The time for that will come, but in the meantime we felt it was very important to share an online event to present ELIS Murcia Montevida to our community. ELIS Murcia is now 30 years old, and with this project I believe we are well set for the next 30 years.” 

In the same vein, Chris Eversden highlighted the magnificent facilities at the campus for the development of aspects including creativity, design, art and science, and of course subjects like language and mathematics. “One really important thing is that as the body of students grows and changes over the next few years we will have at our disposal enough space to adapt the facilities to their needs”, the group director remarked.
 
This was followed by short contributions from different members of the educational community of Cognita in Europe and Spain, each of whom recorded their congratulatory words of welcome. Joining them were various parents of compulsory and non-compulsory secondary education students, offering their brief comments on the new campus and their opinions regarding how the new facilities will be beneficial to their children’s learning. 

Next came the climax of the event, a guided tour in which parents saw for themselves, from the comfort and safety of their own homes, the new campus where their children are studying, and were regaled with a host of details concerning the sustainability, flexibility and digitalization which characterize the school, all of the material presented by three students in both Spanish and English. They assumed the role of tour guides in a visit of some of the features of the school, including laboratories, the assembly hall and function room, sports facilities, the dining room, the study area, modular classrooms and outdoor leisure and study zones.

IMPROVED FACILITIES IN THE PANDEMIC

Both ELIS Murcia and Cognita informed the educational community of their excitement at inaugurating these modern, functional premises, which are easily adapted to the changes in procedures which have been made necessary by the pandemic. 

ELIS Murcia offers classes to students aged from 3 to 18 and belonging to over 20 different nationalities resident both in the Region of Murcia and in the south of the province of Alicante, and now occupies schools both in El Palmar (for infant and primary education) and Montevida (compulsory and non-compulsory secondary education). The curriculum conforms to the thorough parameters which characterize all Cognita schools.

The new premises have been built on a plot of 15,000 square metres, and in consequence of their opening the same number of students as attended last year are now able to enjoy twice as much space. This improves the conditions for social distancing, especially in outdoor areas, coincidentally just when the pandemic has made it necessary to do so.
 
The environmental features of the Montevida school include self-sufficiency in generating its own electricity, an integrated air temperature control system, the collection and storage of rainwater for use on the premises, the use of low impact construction materials and the maximization of natural light and the environment for teaching and learning.
 
For ELIS this reaffirms its commitment to excellence in education and to the families who have placed their trust in the school over the years, enabling the completion of such an ambitious growth project to offer a quality working and learning environment for students as they prepare for further education after completing their schooling.