Epsom College in Malaysia is a British-inspired

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

Bandar Enstek Bandar Enstek is a township in Labu, Seremban District, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. It is developed by Tabung Haji. This township is located less than a kilometre from the Selangor-Negeri Sembilan border. Across the border is the Sepang F1 Cir ...

, Labu, Seremban District,

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, teaching children between the ages of eleven and eighteen in English. There is also a prep school, or junior school, for children aged three to eleven.

Origins

The school has been called "the brainchild of

Tony Fernandes Anthony Francis Fernandes (born 30 April 1964) is a Malaysian entrepreneur. He is the founder of Tune Air Sdn. Bhd., which took over the first Malaysian budget airline, AirAsia. Fernandes turned AirAsia, a failing government-linked commerci ...

", a

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

business magnate A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

who had been educated at the original

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orpha ...

in England."Bringing a British Dimension to Malaysia's Education System"
expatgo.com, 13 June 2012, accessed 23 December 2020 Fernandes gained the support of the head of the English Epsom College, Stephen Borthwick, who also played a leading role in the creation of the school. Borthwick announced the project in December 2009, stating that the new school would follow a British curriculum and teach about 900 children between the ages of eleven and eighteen, mostly boarders. He said a high calibre project team had been put in place. In 2010, Borthwick added that it was planned to employ teaching staff mostly from the United Kingdom. The Malaysian government gave the project its support, and the new buildings and campus were built according to designs by a British firm, NVB Architects. In June 2012, the new Epsom College was nearing completion on a fifty-acre campus at Bandar Enstek. Borthwick said there would be "real pollination between the two schools through pupil and staff exchanges".

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noted in September 2012 that the planned new Epsom College was part of a trend for leading British schools to open counterparts in Asia, such as Dulwich College and

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

in China and Haileybury in

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. The school finally opened in September 2014.Epsom College in Malaysia
smapse.com, accessed 26 December 2020 In December 2014,

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

visited the school for its opening ceremony, joining

Tunku Ali Redhauddin Tunku Ali Redhauddin ibni Tuanku Muhriz (born 26 April 1977) is the eldest son of the reigning Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, Tuanku Muhriz ibni Almarhum Tuanku Munawir. He was granted the title of ''Tunku Besar'' (Senior Prince) ''of ...

, eldest son of the Yamtuan Besar of

, the British High Commissioner to Malaysia, Victoria Treadell, and Tony Fernandes, who was the first Chairman of the Governing Body. By 2018, Fernandes and his partners had invested RM150 million in the school.

Campus

The school has a campus of fifty acres. The main building contains some eighty classrooms, and there is a separate music school, with a

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that may ...

and its own classrooms, a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

, an art building, and a medical centre. As well as playing fields for

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cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

, there are

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be u ...

s, areas for roller skating, a swimming pool, an athletics hall, and a squash court, on campus. Most boarders at the school sleep in rooms with between two and four beds, while older students have the option of single rooms.

Curriculum

The school teaches the

National Curriculum for England The National Curriculum for England was first introduced by the Education Reform Act 1988. At the time of its introduction the legislation applied to both England and Wales. However, education later became a devolved matter for the Welsh government. ...

in the

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, aiming to prepare children for English-speaking universities. There are many extracurricular options, such as

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

, art, design technology, music, and dance. In 2017, the school announced that it would launch a

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

programme, with Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi certification, later that year. In the prep school (for children aged three to eleven) there is a broad range of subjects, which include English, Mandarin, mathematics, computing, science and technology, art and design, music, and physical education.

Assessment

'' The Good Schools Guide'' said in 2020 that it was impressed by the school's

A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

results, "with nearly 40 per cent being awarded an A*". Britannia Study reported that in the 2020 examinations, 70 per cent of the school's entrants got an A or A* grade at A Level, while 66 per cent were awarded an A or A* grade in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education. In Mandarin as a second language, theatre studies, drama, and Further Maths, 100 per cent of grades were A or A*.Epsom College in Malaysia
britannia-study.com.my, accessed 5 March 2021

Admissions and scholarships

For children aged three to six, there are no entry requirements. For older children, there is both an entrance examination and an admission interview. For

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

entry at 16 plus, the minimum academic results required are seven A grades at IGCSE or ''

Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national examination taken by all fifth-form secondary school students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GC ...

''. Entry can be at any age, but it is discouraged into Years 11 and 13. In 2021, annual school fees ranged between RM 51,905 and RM94,035. In July 2020, the charitable ECiM Libra Foundation announced that it would be awarding twenty full and thirty partial scholarships to Malaysian students to pursue either an

or an International General Certificate of Secondary Education programme at the school, and in December said that the year's application process was about to close.ECM Libra Foundation's ASEAN Scholarship Programme is an opportunity for these students to live up to their academic potential
'' Taiwan News'', 9 December 2020 In 2020, Yugendran Rajaendran from Epsom was offered admission by many prestigious universities in the world and decided to attend

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

.Mark Ryan Raj
Klang boy gets into 10 top universities, chooses to attend prestigious Stanford University
''

Malay Mail The ''Malay Mail'' is a newspaper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, first published on 1 December 1896 when Kuala Lumpur was the capital of the then new Federated Malay States, making it the first daily newspaper to appear in the FMS. As of May 2014, ...

'', 20 July 2020, accessed 26 December 2020

Notes

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Facilities at Epsom College in Malaysia
YouTube {{Member Schools of Round Square Cambridge schools in Malaysia Schools in Negeri Sembilan