Brookes Westshore International Baccalaureate (IB) School held its ribbon cutting ceremony in the school’s gymnasium Friday.
Brookes Education Group builds private schools and is a growing global network of IB schools that currently serves more than 1,400 students across six countries.
Board members, teachers, administrators, parents, students and community members filled the brand new gym to celebrate the occasion.
Students from Mexico and Spain shared their appreciation of the tight bond going to school in an international community brings.
Jerry Salvador, director of new school development and co-founder of the school, talked about his plan for an IB school that started eight years ago. He was a teacher and director at Pearson College in Metchosin and during his time there had many West Shore parents ask him how they could get their child into the school.
While Pearson College is open to West Shore and Canadian students, Salvador wanted to give parents another option.
“I asked myself wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could offer IB world education to local students in the West Shore,” he said.
Salvador noted a more personal touch to building the school is that he wanted to be able to give his six grandchildren the opportunity to attend an IB school. His daughters were able to go to Pearson College while he was the director there.
READ MORE: Brookes Westshore on track for fall 2018 opening in Colwood
It took a little more than a year to build the school that has 150 boarding rooms for foreign students, 16 teaching spaces and a gym.
The school is open to Grades 6 through 12.
READ MORE: Brookes Westshore IB School breaks ground in Colwood
***REVISED: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Pearson College is only open to international students. Pearson accepts students from across the country, including the West Shore, and all students are chosen based on merit. We apologize for the error and any inconvenience it may have caused.