Plans are under way for a new high school that aims to cater for 150-200 students and which could be open in September 2025.
CF School has applied for planning permission for a one-storey school, off the Linford Pierson Highway, by the recently opened Island Primary School – part of a planned community development called Buttonwood Park.
The school’s founder Nicola Sowerby currently runs Clever Fish, a small private school on Walkers Road. Clever Fish opened in 2016 as an after-school programme, with camps and tutoring, and began operating as a school in 2020.
Small class sizes
Sowerby told the Compass the school currently has 31 students, and has a reputation for being inclusive and for providing “exceptional levels of individualised support in a very nurturing environment, because our class sizes are so small”.
The Clever Fish she said, is not just driven by academic results, but by ensuring that every child gets the support he or she needs. The school’s slogan is ‘Work Hard, Be Kind.’
“We put as much emphasis on being kind and being good people and being respectful as we do on getting the top grades,” she said.
She added, “We don’t want to lose that,” so, if all goes according to plan and the school opens, as she hopes it will, for the new school year in 2025, classes will be capped at 15 student.
“We think we’ll be one of the smallest high schools, in terms of class size,” she said.
The new CF School, whose slogan is ‘Creating Foundations’, will cater to Years 7 to 11, and will offer the Cambridge IGCSE curriculum.
Sowerby, who will run the school, has been a teacher in the Cayman Islands for 23 years, and prior to opening Clever Fish, taught at Cayman Prep and High School.
In an informal partnership with its neighbour, Island Primary, with whom Sowerby says CF shares an approach and vision, the proposed high school will offer priority registration to students from that school. “Once we know how many we have accepted from Island Primary, we will open up registration to others,” she said.
The two schools were both designed by local architect Derek Serpell.
As well as featuring schools, Buttonwood Park, on the edge of George Town, will also include sports and wellness facilities. It is being developed by a group of 12 investors, including Jenn Cowdroy, who runs Island Primary.
Increasing demand
With Cayman’s population continuing to grow, there is an increasing need for new school spaces.
According to data analysis carried out last year by Cayman Current and the Compass, up to half of the islands’ children could be attending fee-paying private schools by the end of the decade, and there could be up to 2,000 new pupils entering the school system over the next 10 years.
Sowerby says CF School can help to fill that gap.
“The island needs far more schools; they are bursting at the seams,” she said.
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