“I am immensely proud of the students and staff,” says the headmaster of Le Bocage International School, David Muddle. And he certainly has good reason for such pride. The 86 students who sat for the International Baccalaureate (IB) last year produced the best diploma results in the school’s history. But the most astonishing thing is that a simple glance at some of them will break any preconceived ideas one could have on brilliant students at school. They are young people who have spent wonderful years at school and have perfectly managed to combine education with a lively and active lifestyle…

When asked if they had time to have fun during these two hard-working years, Olivier Cheung – who achieved distinction level – can’t hold back a small cry of indignation, “Of course, we did!” If they all agree on the need for hard work and remaining concentrated on their objectives during those two years, they are also unanimous on the fact that they did not forget to be… young! And the school helped them a lot to keep this in mind.

“In fact, the programme in itself includes plenty of fun. The ‘Creativity, activity and service’ module is a way of making us achieve an all-round education – not just an academic one… And we certainly had fun during these classes,” comments Patricia Chee Kim Ling – one of the best scorers with 42 points (the maximum score being 45).

This is actually what the headmaster means when he says that his school has nothing to do with a “chalk-and-talk” one. “We have different means of learning and teaching at all levels and, at the top, you have the IB…” This original method is reflected in the way students have been working for their exams. “I know that one of the best scorers, Kelvin Lee with his 43 points, used to help other students a lot. I suppose this has helped him as well as others to achieve a better understanding and I suppose this is why this year was such a special year. Students were very close to one another,” he comments.

And the pupils concerned just confirm what he says. Even though they mention teachers and the staff in general as a reason for their success, they point out how important their friends’ support has been during the year. “For my part, I had individual meetings with my teachers who pointed at my weaknesses and helped me to improve them. But I must say that many of us have worked together and the support we got from each other really helped us a lot,” explains Isabelle Joseph – who scored 37 points, which is above the level of distinction.

For David Muddle, the school is a learning community and students have a really “strong school spirit”. In his opinion, this is one main reason for such good results. The team spirit is growing stronger everyday between our students and this is shown to raise the academic bar. “If we reached 82% this year, we expect 85% next year. It is important as an institution to achieve good results because it reminds us of our mission – which is to provide international education to Mauritius,” the headmaster highlights.

But it may be even more important for students who will soon go to university. “What we try to achieve as from Form I is that our students become independent thinkers and responsible citizens,” says David Muddle. With an academic but also human-oriented programme – philosophy, arts, languages and mathematics – added to three other more practical modules – the students feel more prepared for university. They are taught to learn by themselves and are ready to face the world on their own with an environmental, emotional and academic sensitivity. With such skills, chances are that the top-scorer, Vikram Haer with 44 points, will get the place he wishes for at Harvard or Stanford University to study Finance while Kelvin Lee, with his 43 points, will also be able to move on next year to Harvard or Cambridge.

But, meanwhile, it’s time for “relaxing”… Since they obtained their results on 6th January, the students have enjoyed doing hardly anything… Except enjoying life before the next move!