The Europa School UK is an all-through, free school and IB world school located in Culham near Abingdon in Oxfordshire. It was founded in 2012 by stakeholders of the European School, Culham and subsumed the former school's campus upon its closure in 2017. It now offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and Middle Years Programme in the secondary section and a bilingual curriculum in primary with English and one of German, French or Spanish. From its foundation until 31 August 2021, it was the only Accredited European School in the United Kingdom. This status was lost due to Brexit.[2]
| Europa School UK | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
Thame Lane , , OX14 3DZ England | |
| Coordinates | 51°39′22″N 1°15′28″W / 51.65611°N 1.25778°W |
| Information | |
| Other name | ESUK |
| Type | Free school; IB World School |
| Established | 21 September 2012 |
| Department for Education URN | 138269 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Principal | Lynn Wood |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Age range | 4 to 18 |
| Enrolment | 901[1] (2019-2020) |
| • Nursery | 174 |
| • Primary | 364 |
| • Secondary | 363 |
| Accreditation | Accredited by the European Schools[1] (2012-2021) and the International Baccalaureate Organisation (2020-Present) |
| Website | europaschooluk |
History
editFollowing the announcement of the closure of the European School, Culham due to the European Commission's decision to redeploy staff based at the Oxfordshire-based Joint European Torus (JET) fusion energy research programme to its successor programme, ITER, in Cadarache, France, stakeholders founded a charitable organisation, the "English Trust for European Education", in 2008, to investigate a means of continuing to provide the school's multilingual and multicultural curriculum, which culminates in the bilingual diploma, the European Baccalaureate.[3][4][nb 1] This resulted in the founding of the Europa School, UK, as an Accredited European School, which opened its doors on 21 September 2012 in a ceremony attended by Lord Hill of Oareford and John Howell MP.[5] The school's Accredited European School status differed from the European School, Culham it replaced, in that its financing and administration requirements must be dealt with under the national educational framework, rather than directly by the intergovernmental organisation of the European Schools.[6] Initially only the primary and nursery sections of the school operated until the formal closure of the European School, Culham in August 2017, where after the secondary school began to operate and the school began offering the European Baccalaureate programme.[5]
However, following the June 2016 UK referendum in favour of leaving the European Union (EU), the UK signalled its intent to withdraw from the Convention Defining the Statute of the European Schools; the enacted Brexit withdrawal agreement provides for the UK to leave the intergovernmental organisation, "the European Schools" — a distinct entity from the EU — at the end of the academic year ongoing at the end of the transition period.[7] Furthermore, regulations of the European Schools restrict its Board of Governors to only providing accredited status to schools operating within the EU.[8] The UK's withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020 prevented the organisation from renewing the Europa School UK's accredited status beyond its current period. Uncertainty over how long the school could continue to offer the European Baccalaureate programme during the protracted withdrawal negotiations led the Europa School UK to cease offering the European Baccalaureate following the 2021 graduation, and to secure accreditation to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme from the 2020–2021 academic year onwards.[9][10][11]
Legal status
editThe Europa School UK is defined as a "free school" academy under English law. It is accredited by the International Baccalaureate Organisation to offer the IBDP. It was also formerly accredited by the Board of Governors of the European Schools as an Accredited European School,[11][1] but that status was lost on 31 August 2021.[2]
See also
editNotes
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c "Accredited European Schools Data: Data valid on 15 October 2019" (PDF). eursc.eu. Office of the Secretary-General of the European Schools. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
- ^ a b "Explanatory Memorandum to The European Union (European Schools) Regulations 2021" (PDF). legislation.gov.uk. National Archives. p. 2. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
Europa School UK on the former site of the European School Culham will lose its accredited European School status on 31 August 2021.
- ^ European Schools (2013). European Schools, 1953-2013 (PDF). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. pp. 22–23. doi:10.2842/11549. ISBN 978-92-9188-143-7.
As the European Schools celebrate their 60th Anniversary in 2013, so we at the European School, Culham will be marking our 35th year since opening in 1978. We were founded to support the JET/EFDA research project based nearby at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. It is an honour that the school continues to be part of a technological revolution that has the potential to change the whole world. Providing high quality multilingual European schooling to the children of EU staff working at JET/EFDA has also supported the recruitment and mobility of a host of top European professionals, researchers and academics in the Oxfordshire/Thames Valley area of England where the school is situated. Our school has attracted hundreds of families and many international businesses to the area. However, JET/EFDA's success, the globalisation of nuclear fusion research and the need to develop on a larger industrial scale in Cadarache in France through the ITER Project means that the European School, Culham will not be able to celebrate its 40th anniversary because we will be closing in 2017.
- ^ a b "ETEE - Home". www.etee.org.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ a b "History". Europa School UK. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ "About the Accredited European Schools". eursc.eu. Office of the Secretary General of the European Schools. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ "Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community" (PDF). gov.uk. Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ "Europa School: 10 Jan 2019: House of Commons debates". TheyWorkForYou. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ Mohdin, Aamna (25 January 2019). "EU state school in UK could lose year of pupils in no-deal Brexit". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ Grubb, Sophie (24 January 2019). "Europa School Culham writes to pupils over Brexit". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
- ^ a b "Secondary Curriculum". Europa School UK. Retrieved 25 October 2020.