The Cayman International School is set to open its new facilities at Camana Bay this September. The US$20 million facilities will include state-of-the-art classrooms, computer labs, science lab and a library.

Cayman International School, which is owned and managed by International Schools Services, stated that since it is a non-profit organisation and focused on education it would be decades before it could have raised funds to build this type of facility.

This is why Dart Foundation stepped in to fill the gap, financing the construction of the building and leasing those facilities to the school at affordable rates. Signing a lease with Dart Foundation is a landmark moment for the Cayman International School according to the Principal and Director, Greg Hedger.

“A facility by itself does not provide quality education – you must have quality teachers,” said Mr Hedger. “But the building that we are in has been a limiting factor as far as space. So these facilities will enhance the quality of the education that our teachers can provide.”

Currently, Cayman International School educates nursery through tenth grade, which is based on the American system. But it plans to expand its programme through eleventh grade next year and twelfth grade in 2008.

Mr Hedger said that with the additional facilities they will also be able to establish the an International Baccalaureate programme, which prepare high school students for university and frequently replaces the freshman year at university.

Consequently the International Baccalaureate will give parents another education option on Island that would otherwise have sent their children to boarding school overseas. The facilities of the school on Camana Bay will also include music rooms and a recording studio.

Sports facilities include a swimming pool, football field and tennis courts. These new facilities will have over five times its current space at 57,000 square feet on a campus spread over thirteen acres.

The enrolment will be 240 students in September 2006 and is expected to double its capacity to nearly 500 students as the phases are completed.

Representative of the Dart Foundation as well as the Chief Operating Officer of Dart Realty, Mark VanDevelde said the Dart Foundation has high expectations that Cayman International School will become a vital part of the Camana Bay community.

“The International School Services have been managing schools around the world for 60 years and I believe this will provide a great balance for the educational component to Camana Bay,” said Mr VanDevelde.