Malaysia Review

‘The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year began with heavy snow, a novel coronavirus and economic concerns. Vladimir Putin was in the Kremlin and Boris Johnson was re-elected as Mayor of London as the Olympic torch made its way towards the East End.’

The year 2012 is memorable for many reasons: the excitement of the Games, Murray’s triumphant Olympic response to his Wimbledon defeat by Federer, Wiggins’ Tour de France victory and rain – lots of it, making 2012 the wettest year on record in England. However, 2012 also brought to an end five years of planning for a sun-drenched corner of southern Malaysia where 90 acres of palm-oil plantation had been cleared to create the home for a unique experiment in international education: Marlborough College Malaysia (MCM). Bob Pick (Master 2012-17, CR 1980-2012) recounts the immense planning and the Phase 1 building process in his splendid book, From Vision to Reality, and I commend this to all OM readers, not least because to summarise it here would inevitably leave egregious omissions. At the heart of MCM lies the vision and courage to take a different approach, not to follow the herd. It is often what distinguishes the great from the mundane and we continue to value that heritage ten years later. MCM, therefore, was designed to be and remains unique in conception and innovative in operation and yet, as General Sir John Lorimer (C1 1976-81) remarked on a visit in 2019, ‘It’s more like Marlborough than Marlborough’. Marlborough College Malaysia was conceived as an institution that would offer the quality of broad education, promote intellectual curiosity and provide exceptional British boarding care without compromise in a land to which Marlborough had and continues to have strong ties. The names of the Houses – Wallace, Thompson, Sheppard, Taylor, Munawir – and the composition of its Council attest to a long and enduring relationship between Marlborough and Malaysia.

‘MCM was conceived as an institution that would offer the quality of broad education, promote intellectual curiosity and provide exceptional British boarding care .’

Lest this misleads, the aim at MCM was never simply to ape the symbols and lexicon of Wiltshire; that would be a cynical and insecure exercise. Fundamentally different, MCM remains the world’s only UK international school which is wholly owned by its founding institution. This makes MCM additionally unique in that it is not for profit: no shares are owned or profits owed to investors and all surplus is completely committed to Marlborough’s noble charitable aim of providing the finest quality education in England and Malaysia. Despite being unique in the international market, this is, of course, precisely how most UK independent schools have been operating for generations. So MCM was founded not with the veneer, but with the DNA of Wiltshire, the most important elements of which were (and still are) quality, breadth and innovation. In August 2012, under the leadership of Bob Pick, formerly Second Master of Marlborough, MCM received its first cohort of fresh-faced pupils in familiar, but tropical-weight uniforms. The College thrived and a Sixth Form was introduced.

In 2017, I, formerly Headmaster of Barnard Castle, took over as Master and Phase 2 was completed, providing a magnificent Preparatory School and a second sports hall. A nursery was introduced to the pre-prep and numbers continued to grow. MCM was admitted to HMC (the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference) in its own right in 2018, and won the prestigious 5 Star Award in the Malaysian Ministry of Education’s school inspection regime in 2019. Boarding thrived and pupils from over 40 nations and six continents celebrated the truly global outlook that MCM offers within its very traditionally British ethos; over 90% of beaks are recruited from the UK, largely from HMC backgrounds, including OMs. Tatler Singapore observed that MCM was ‘Asia’s only authentic British boarding school’. Of course, any reasonably watertight vessel can steam along in calm seas, but the best sea trials are in choppy waters. The tempest of a global pandemic and the responses to it tested the College and those in its community, like every organisation, in every conceivable way. Sadly, some international schools in Malaysia and elsewhere closed as a result and will not reopen; others weathered the storm. MCM determined from the outset to control those matters that were within our gift and to influence everything else to the best of our ability. This resulted in remarkable agility, loyalty and resilience by all staff, and a renewed focus on quality of learning and teaching, especially through digital media, a bespoke research-based approach to wellbeing and unprecedented flexibility for boarders during the two years when Malaysia sealed its borders.

As a result, MCM’s reputation was enhanced during the pandemic and the efforts of staff and pupils were acknowledged in 2020 by the Safeguarding Trust’s Safeguarding Initiative Award and the IB Schools’ acknowledgment that the College was performing in the top 2% of schools globally. In 2021, MCM passed its COBIS (Council of British International Schools) inspection with commendations in all categories and the rare award of Beacon School status as an international exemplar of innovative and best practice. The BSA (UK Boarding Schools Association) too acknowledged MCM’s boarding staff with its Boarding Innovation Award and the College was listed in the Spear’s Index among the world’s leading 100 schools, in which Marlborough in Wiltshire naturally also appears. In early 2022, with Malaysia’s borders still closed and education yet to return fully to normal, ISC presented MCM with its International Award for Strategic Leadership. Silverware and titles offer a welcome affirmation to colleagues and some quality assurance to parents, but they are not remotely the focus at MCM, where we return repeatedly to review our educational breadth, quality and innovation. In terms of breadth, in a region where most schools tend to focus exclusively on academic qualifications, the College has a thriving Sixth Form that is enhanced by the superb International Baccalaureate,

‘So MCM was founded not with the veneer, but with the DNA of Wiltshire, the most important elements of which were (and still are) quality, breadth and innovation.’

a qualification with a philosophy that focuses on personal as well as intellectual development and aligns completely with the Marlborough ethos; the IB Organisation has indicated that MCM offers one of the broadest combinations of subjects in Asia. Beyond the curriculum, among a host of activities, music, drama – especially tropical Shakespeare en plein air – and public speaking thrive. Blessed with larger grounds than any other school in Malaysia and Singapore, MCM offers a wealth of sporting opportunity outdoors, has two air-conditioned sports halls, a professional grade gym, two swimming pools, a climbing wall, squash courts and much more. The development of our own pupil-run organic farm, water sports lake and driving range have been welcome recent additions. Along with the obvious transferable skills that all such pursuits cultivate, these opportunities remind us that children’s greatest lesson can be learned anywhere: that is metacognition, the awareness that they have the ability to accomplish things that they previously thought were impossible. The corollary of a privileged education at MCM is service to others and this pillar of the College is universally practised with the focus always being local and on either the marine environment which surrounds MCM – mangroves to the south and west, the flotsam of the South China Sea on the eastern beaches and the most spectacular marine life below the waves – or local children in schools and orphanages with whom strong relationships are built. Our aim is that pupils will leave MCM with not just qualifications and curiosity, but a healthy spirit, a strong sense of the value of service and the conviction that they can continue to make a difference to their communities all over the world.

So, as the Commonwealth celebrated the Platinum Jubilee, MCM joined in marking the occasion by planting an avenue of trees in Queen Elizabeth's honour. The final tree was planted at the start of Michaelmas Term 2022, as MCM reached its 10th anniversary, and signalled a further academic year of celebration. It showcased the very best of Marlborough pupils’ creativity, intellect, sporting prowess, leadership, compassion and senses of fun and community. The Shell exchange for pupils and staff with Marlborough in the UK will resume and the focal point of the year will be our Founders’ Weekend in February 2023. A healthy 10-year-old, MCM is hale, hearty and looking forward to building on its successes in its second decade.

Alan Stevens (Master 2017-)